Summer Learning School Leaders and Educators

 Rand: Getting to Work on Summer Learning 

Recommendations

Planning 

• Conduct early, robust planning
• Plan for both enrichment activities and academics
• Engage in a continuous improvement process

Teacher Selection and Professional Development

• Recruit and hire the district's most highly effective teachers. 
• Provide teachers with sufficient professional development before the program

Sufficient Time of  Task

• Operate the program for five to six weeks with three to four hours of academics per day
• Provide time for transition in the master schedule
• Schedule academic classes to occur in one continuous block
• Minimize the loss of instructional time by attending to summer site logistics
• Communicate the importance of maximizing instructional time to site leaders
• Provide teachers with strategies for maximizing instructional time

Student Recruitment and Attendance

• Establish consistent attendance and a clear policy
• Develop accurate, timely recruitment materials
• Personalize recruitment of students and their families
• Establish a firm enrollment deadline
• Track the numbers of  both attendees and never attended

Academic Curricula and Their Instruction

• Engage experts to anchor the program in written curricula that align with school-year standards and student needs
• Encourage instructional leaders to observe the instruction of the curriculum and provide feedback
• Serve students in small classes or groups

Enrichment Activities and Their Implementation

• Select a model for providing enrichment activities
• Ensure that enrichment instructors have strong content knowledge
• Train enrichment instructors in behavior management strategies and monitor their implementation
• Plan lessons to include sequenced activities
• Plan carefully if enrichment is integrated with academics
• Keep class sizes small

Positive Summer Climate

• Train all staff on the importance of positive adult engagement with students throughout the day—not only in classes
• Develop a clear, positive message about the summer site culture and ask staff to convey it consistently to students
• Ensure that site leaders observe instructional and noninstructional periods
• If resources allow, consider hiring staff to support positive student behavior

Summer Cost and Funding

• Hire staff to achieve desired ratios based on projected daily attendance, not the initial number of enrollees
• Consider cost-efficiencies in the program's design, but weigh them against potential impacts on program quality

Read RAND’s full set of recommendations in Getting to Work on Summer Learning: Recommended Practices for Success, 2nd Edition. 

 Covid Relief Playbook 

Covid Relief Playbook: Smart Strategies for Investing Federal Funding

www.future-ed.org/covid-playbook/