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A national call to action for summer learning: How did states respond?

youth summer camp and learning program award: happy children raising hands outside
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Source

The Wallace Foundation

Summary

“The backdrop to this report and the study overall is the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which led to major disruptions to education—and, consequently, widespread learning loss for U.S. students. In March 2021, the U.S. Department of Education called on state education agencies (SEAs) and school districts to try to address the problem by delivering high-quality K-12 summer learning opportunities on a large scale. Unprecedented federal funding, provided through the American Rescue Plan, came through, giving districts and SEAs new opportunities to shape summer learning and ensure it featured the elements of high-quality programming, such as enrichment activities in addition to academics.

The study examines how this played out in summer 2021. The first report, published in fall 2022, captures how school districts across the country mobilized in response to the Department’s call. Researchers found that fully 94 percent of school districts delivered summer learning programming in 2021, reaching, on average, nearly one-fifth (18 percent) of their student population.

This report captures how state education agencies responded, drawing on an analysis of American Rescue Plan spending plans from the 50 states and Washington, D.C., as well as interviews with knowledgeable education officials from 37 states.”
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The Wallace Foundation is a funder of Youth Today. Read our editorial independence policy.

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