Successful Summer Programs Under ESSA

Format	File Size	Notes
PDF file	3.3 MB	»

Research Questions

1. What summer programs serving K–12 students in the U.S. education system have been recently evaluated?
2. What summer programs have yielded evidence that meets ESSA evidence standards?
3. What are the characteristics of summer programs that meet ESSA evidence standards?

Research evidence suggests that summer breaks contribute to income-based achievement and opportunity gaps for children and youth. However, summertime can also be used to provide programs that support an array of goals for children and youth, including improved academic achievement, physical health, mental health, social and emotional well-being, the acquisition of skills, and the development of interests.

This report is intended to provide practitioners, policymakers, and funders current information about the effectiveness of summer programs designed for children and youth entering grades K–12. Policymakers increasingly expect that the creation of and investment in summer programs will be based on research evidence. Notably, the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) directs schools and districts to adopt programs that are supported by research evidence if those programs are funded by specific federal streams.

Although summer programs can benefit children and youth who attend, not all programs result in improved outcomes. RAND researchers identified 43 summer programs with positive outcomes that met the top three tiers of ESSA's evidence standards. These programs were identified through an initial literature search of 3,671 citations and a full-text review of 1,360 documents and address academic learning, learning at home, social and emotional well-being, and employment and career outcomes. The authors summarize the evidence and provide detailed information on each of the 43 programs, focusing on the evidence linking summer programs with outcomes and classifying the programs according to the top three evidence tiers (strong, moderate, or promising evidence) consistent with ESSA and subsequent federal regulatory guidance.

Key Findings

• A relatively small fraction of research on summer programming includes a rigorous examination of youth outcomes. There are clearly challenges to conducting rigorous outcomes research. First, randomized controlled trials are expensive. Second, identifying a comparable group of nonparticipants in the absence of randomization can be difficult, particularly when there is not a large administrative database (such as school data) to draw upon.
• Most studied programs were academic learning programs offered in schools, focused on reading, and targeting elementary students. There were far fewer rigorous studies conducted for other types of programs or outcomes.
• Summer programs can be an effective way to address students' needs. The majority of programs studied (about 75 percent) were effective in improving at least one outcome.
• The authors identified 43 summer programs that met ESSA's top three tiers of evidence standards. Although few of these programs can be purchased "off the shelf," the components of these programs can be replicated.
• Many types of summer programs were effective. The authors found evidence of the effectiveness of academic learning, learning at home, social and emotional well-being, and employment and career summer programs, and evidence of effective programs offered to all grade levels.
• Programs did not tend to be effective in improving all measured outcomes. Although the rigorously studied programs showed high rates of effectiveness in terms of promoting at least one youth outcome, few programs met all measured goals.
• Targeting program content to the needs of specific children and youth may improve program effectiveness.