1. Engaging Families in the Summer

2. Compared to your school year program, what’s different about your summer program?
As compared to your regular school year program, what kinds of things are different during the summer?(Respond)
-Staff
-Time
-Location
-Lower key/less formal
-Field trips
-Outside
Want to think about how to build on those strengths of your summer programs to engage families in a different way.

3. Does your program meet families’ needs?
Want to think about first things first…

4. Does your program reach a maximum number of children?
Parents consistently cite summer as the most difficult time to ensure that their children have productive things to do.
(Duffett et al, 2004)

5. Does your program provide healthy meals and snacks?
1 in 7 children who qualify for federally subsidized meals receive them during the summer.
FRAC, Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation
In July 2009, 16.1 children received Summer Nutrition for every 100 low-income students who received free and reduced lunch in the school year
von Hippel, Powell, Downey & Rowland – 2007
K and 1st graders gained BMI nearly twice as fast during the summer as during the school year
Children who were already overweight or minority were most at risk for unhealthy weight gain
Kids’ health and Body mass index is impacted over summer. Research out of Ohio State University has shown that kids who tend to be overweight tend to get more overweight in the summer months. Kids who are underweight tend to get more underweight. One reason we think that is—is because only 1 in 6 kids who qualify for free and reduced meals actually access meals during the summer.
Out-of-school time is dangerous for unsupervised children and teens. In a study done in 2000, unsupervised youth are more likely to use become victims of violent crime; experiment with and become addicted to alcohol, drugs, and tobacco; engage in criminal and other high-risk behaviors; receive poor grades; and drop out of school than those who have the opportunity to benefit from constructive activities supervised by responsible adults (Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2000).

6. Does your program provide physical activity?
Most children—particularly children at high risk of obesity—gain weight more rapidly when they are out of school during summer break.
(Von Hippel et al, 2007).

7. Does your program provide learning opportunities?
All young people experience learning losses when they do not engage in learning activities during the summer.
Consider printing out each of these slides (All young people through Parents Consistently Cite) and giving one blurb to each small group. Have the small group act out (without words) what the blurb is indicating. The whole group should guess.
We know from over 100 years of research that all kids (regardless of socioeconomic status) fall behind if they don’t have access to high quality summer learning experiences.
White, Heyns, Cooper, Alexander & Entwistle, etc.
Cooper, H., Nye, B., Charlton, K., Lindsay, J., & Greathouse, S. (1996). The effects of summer vacation on achievement test scores: A narrative and meta-analytic review. Review of Educational Research, 66,

8. Does your program target important learning skills?
Most students lose about two months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer months. Low-income students also lose more than two months in reading achievement, despite the fact that their middle-class peers make slight gains.
Low-income students also lose more than two months in reading achievement, despite the fact that their middle-class peers make slight gains (Cooper, 1996)

9. Does your program ensure access?
More than half of the achievement gap between lower- and higher-income youth can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities. As a result, low-income youth are less likely to graduate from high school or enter college.
(Alexander et al, 2007).
References: Alexander, K. L., Entwisle D. R., & Olson L. S. (2007a). Lasting consequences of the summer
learning gap. American Sociological Review, 72,
Alexander, K. L., Entwisle D. R., & Olson L. S. (2007b). Summer learning and its implications:
Insights from the Beginning School Study. New Directions for Youth Development, 114,

10. How does your program engage families in the summer?

11. Three things you can do to promote summer family engagement
Communicate with families
Invite families along
Encourage families to read with their children
Before the program starts or at the beginning of the program, call homes or do a home visit. Connect w/parents & let them know the purpose of your program.
Use this as an opportunity to set or change the tone of the program. Can be less formal—summer time.
Think about your recruitment messages and how you talk about your program. We know that parents want the best for their children. And they should have the best. They should have great, fun opportunities just like kids from higher income families.
Highlight:
Safe space
physical activity
healthy foods
Important learning activities—academic and skill building
fun
Summer pgm in rural Maine; parents have to bring kids in to drop off & pick up. Teachers are stationed in lobby to greet and connect with parents. They talk about children’s activities/successes/challenges and also invite parents to field trips.
As a result, the school has seen more active engagement by parents in teacher conferences and annual events.
*NSLA tips on choosing a summer pgm
2. Many summer programs offer field trips or walking field trips. Invite families along. Of course, many of us invite parent volunteers to help chaperone, but consider inviting parents also just as a way to connect and communicate with them. Another program I’m working with currently invites families (including younger children) to come along on the field trips to local destinations like museums & parks. In this particular case, they bring families on the bus, but you could also simply ask families to meet you there. This provides a great way to connect with families informally, and also gives parents the opportunity to have a shared learning experience with their child.
In addition to field trips, successful summer programs often offer a culminating event at the end of the program where children share and celebrate what they learned. Invite parents to this. I’ve seen programs hold art shows, dance performances, field days, barbeques and graduation-like activities. It should be something fun and celebratory where families can see what the kids learned from your program. You can have kids create invitations.
3. The largest set back during the summer is loss of reading skills. Clearly, in your programs, you practice reading skills with kids. But, you also want to encourage families to read with their children. You can tell families about how important reading practice is. Also,
Reading Rockets tips for parents, translated

12. Summer Learning Resources
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Reading Rockets tips for summer learning; parent reading reminders in 9 languages.