The nonprofit has worked with Big Thought, Dallas ISD and SMU鈥檚 Center of Research and Evaluation to start, then study, summer programs designed to thwart learning loss. That happens when students are away from teachers for months.
Dylan Farmer is Assistant Director of Strategic Partnerships at SMU鈥檚 Center on Research and Evaluation. She says the organization鈥檚 30-day summer programs have been in place since 2014. They had to change things up in 2020, she said, when virtual learning became the status quo. But classes changed again last summer, after in-person learning returned for many students.
鈥淲e found that one summer is good, two summers is better and that these programs mattered the most for the kids who needed them the most,鈥� Farmer said.
Do summer programs work?
The number of summer participants has spiked since the pandemic began, Farmer said. It was up 124% from the first pandemic summer to the last, in 2021.
鈥淧reliminary evidence demonstrates that students attending summer programs during summer 2020 and summer 2021 started school in fall of 2020 and/or fall of 鈥�21 with stronger course performance and that this was consistently true for elementary school, middle school and high school students.鈥�
The conclusion so far: these summer programs make a real difference, especially now.
A study looking at how the pandemic has hampered learning shows students of color took the biggest hit. A suggests they could be six to 12 months behind compared to four to eight months for white students.
Got a tip? Email Reporter Bill Zeeble at bzeeble@kera.org . You can follow him on Twitter @bzeeble.
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