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The National Comprehensive Center leads technical assistance and professional learning opportunities for state summer and afterschool leaders.
Seven state teams and the U.S. Department of Education currently participate in the Strategic Use of Summer and Afterschool Set Asides Community of Practice. State representatives interested in joining the second cycle should contact Hillary Oravec.
The Summer and Out-of-School Time site provides information to “get smart quick” on key topics, including research evidence and policy, learning and enrichment strategies, addressing a range of student needs, and finance and budgeting.
The Summer Learning and Enrichment Collaborative shares resources provided to field leaders during summer 2021 to explore summer and afterschool as key strategies to accelerate learning for students through COVID recovery and ARP | ESSER set-asides.
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)’s State Summer Learning Network in partnership with National Summer Learning Association and Supported by The Wallace Foundation, provides universal technical assistance and supports states through informational webinars and a small network of state education agency leaders and their community partners committed to implementing a broad vision for equity in summer learning. All of the resources are available to anyone interested.
Afterschool state networks have relationships with providers across the state. Find your afterschool state network.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Care, The National Center on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment (NCASE) provides training and technical assistance to the state, territory, and Tribal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) lead agencies and their designated networks, which include the statewide afterschool networks, State Education Agencies, provider associations, and Child Care Resource and Referral agencies. The goal of NCASE is to ensure that school-age children in working families of low income have increased access to high-quality afterschool and summer learning experiences that contribute to their overall development and academic achievement.
NCASE offers a number of services to help expand the supply and quality of school-age afterschool and summer programs. This includes research, publication, and technical assistance, as well as coordinating peer learning communities for cross collaboration between state education, statewide afterschool networks, and child care agencies. In addition, NCASE maintains a robust Resource Library containing issue briefs, tools, and other publications on a range of out-of-school topics. Reach out to [email protected] for more information or visit the NCASE website. Also consider connecting with your statewide afterschool network about their cross-sector work in school-age care.
Helpkidsrecover.org is a resource designed specifically for education leaders about tapping ARP funds for summer and afterschool programs. The site includes: principles of quality programming; funding available to districts; the evidence base for afterschool and summer programs; and a map showing examples of how districts around the country have formed partnerships with afterschool and summer providers using ARP funds.
The Wallace Foundation’s Summer Learning Toolkit includes free planning and resources that are directly aligned to the largest, most definitive study of summer learning programs offered by districts in collaboration with community partners.
The Wallace Foundation’s District Summer Learning Network provides planning support to member districts to create evidence-aligned 3-year roadmaps and implementation plans that center equity, partnerships, and whole child development. Districts interested in learning more or joining the SY22-23 cohort should contact [email protected].
Power of Partnerships website: The School Superintendents Association (AASA) offers this collection of resources supporting why local educators should invest in afterschool and summer opportunities and partnership using ARP and other funds.
Learning 2025: Student-Centered, Equity-Focused Education: An initiative of The School Superintendents Association (AASA) that calls for holistic redesign of the public school system by 2025, including out-of-school time learning opportunities.
50 State Afterschool Network. Afterschool state networks are a good resource for connecting school districts to providers in their community. Find your afterschool state network.
Reach out to your local elected officials about the city’s ARP investments in afterschool and summer learning programs. Find out if your community is making investments using the National League of Cities’ interactive map. This is an opportunity to create city-school partnerships to fund programs jointly and expand impact. Schools can connect students to city programs if none are available from the school.
The National Summer Learning Association works with communities on Summer Landscape Assessments to create a snapshot of summer, including data mapping and identifying gaps, redundancies, and opportunities. This systems building work includes a Community Indicators of Effective Summer Learning Systems (CIESLS) Self-Assessment, production of a public-facing report summarizing the results and recommendations, and strategic planning to create a summer learning system action plan. Here is a sample of the Greater Atlanta Community Report produced in partnership with the United Way of Greater Atlanta and the Georgia Statewide Afterschool Network.
The Afterschool Alliance ARP site has background on ARP funding in your community and tools to help you reach out to school districts.
The Afterschool Alliance funding database has more than 100 sources of funding for afterschool and summer learning programs.
Check with your state afterschool network for resources and tips for your area.
The National Summer Learning Association offers training and support for program providers to plan, train staff, prepare, and measure effectiveness for the coming summer. Sessions and workshops include Program Planning, Program Management, Positive Youth Development, and Summer Starts in September Program Planning. Thoughtfully planned summer programs with well-trained staff members can offer young people an enriching summer experience, better preparing them to be successful in college, career, and life.
Join the National Summer Learning Association’s free Professional Summer Learning Communities (PSLC). Planned, led, and facilitated by expert out-of-school time program providers quarterly, the PSLCs convene to train youth development staff through networking, webinars, national conferences, professional development and tools. Communities include:
Environment & Outdoor
New Vision for Summer Schools
Public and Affordable Housing
Special Populations
Libraries and Literacy
Health & Fitness
Arts Education
Youth Employment & Internships
College Access & Summer MELT
Research & Evidence
Health Sciences
Reach out to your local elected officials about the city’s ARP investments in afterschool and summer learning programs. Find out if your community is making investments using the National League of Cities’ interactive map. Many cities have not determined their investment strategy yet, so connect with your mayor and city council members to make the case for why afterschool and summer programs are worthy investments right now using messaging and data from these Afterschool and Summer Learning Briefs.
The American Rescue Plan (ARP) provides resources that states, school districts and their partners can use to collaborate with high-quality out-of-school time programs.
Find ARP funding available for afterschool and summer programs at HelpKidsRecover.org.
Contact your state afterschool network to find a partner.
Use this interactive map to find examples of state and local partnerships with out-of-school time programs.
Review evidence-based practices for quality afterschool and summer programs and their impact on student outcome.
Key Principles for Expanded Learning offers a guide to implementing quality out-of-school time programs.
The National Municipal Afterschool and Summer Learning Survey Report and Data Dashboard demonstrates the increased value that local elected officials place on afterschool and summer learning programs for addressing student needs.
Three briefs from the National League of Cities outline how city leaders can leverage afterschool and summer learning programs as strategies to improve public safety, workforce development, and college and career readiness in their communities.
This brief by the National League of Cities provides an overview of Community Learning Hubs as a strategy for pandemic recovery, and discusses how mayors, city council members, and other local elected officials can leverage their leadership, bully pulpit, and convening authority to bring together partners and create spaces that support the young people in their community.
A Wallace Foundation report: Getting to Work on Summer Learning: Recommended Practices for Success provides guidance for running summer learning programs, including recommendations for early planning, hiring and sticking to firm enrollment deadlines.
In this Wallace Foundation report: Investing in Successful Summer Learning Programs: A Review of Evidence Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, RAND details 43 summer programs backed by research strong enough to meet federal ESSA requirements.
This webinar from the National Comprehensive Center, Making Summer a Successful and Sustainable Strategy for Student Growth, features a school district’s collaborative effort to create, implement and sustain a successful summer program and previews findings from two studies on the state of summer learning in districts across the country.
This Wallace Foundation report: Supporting Quality in Summer Learning: How Districts Plan, Develop, and Implement Programs details how mutually beneficial partnerships with community organizations can support successful school-district-led summer programs.
Working with the Wallace Foundation, Westat is conducting the National Summer Learning & Enrichment Study to gather nationwide data and examples of how states and districts delivered their summer 2021 programs.
This Summer 2021 study Building Resilience in Youth Through Summer Experiences helps practitioners, policymakers, and researchers understand the parent perspective on two kinds of summer experiences—structured programs and unstructured experiences outside of programs—including what children do under each scenario, and what they learn academically, recreationally, and socio-emotionally from those activities.
This digital toolkit for National Summer Learning Week, an annual celebration dedicated to elevating the importance of keeping kids learning, safe, and healthy every summer, is full of resources, including sample proclamation language, tip sheets, graphics and logos, social media copy, and ideas to help celebrate in your community.
Using R.E.A.L. to Strengthen Summer Learning: Showing up Matters for R.E.A.L. Schools and summer program providers can use the concepts in Attendance Works’ R.E.A.L. (Routines, Engagement, Access to resources and Learning) framework to strengthen their summer learning efforts as well as their attendance initiatives during the school year.
A guide to help parents and caregivers find the right afterschool program for their child at any age.
Tips for finding a local afterschool program and what to do if your community doesn’t have a program.
Designed in partnership with Learning Heroes, National PTA, Univision, and National Summer Learning Association, this online guide and readiness check for parents helps keep kids on track academically while staying active and engaged.
DiscoverSummer.org: An online destination for parents and caregivers from the National Summer Learning Association that aims to help children discover the joy of summer and prepare for a great school year ahead.
Discover Summer Family Guide: Summer is a great time to enrich and inspire youth, and prepare them for the school year ahead. Download the National Summer Learning Association’s Family Guide to discover the joy of summer learning in math and literacy, STEM, the arts, and career readiness.
Summer Learning Ideas at Home and in Your Community: Designed for parents and caregivers with fun ways they can help the children in their lives tap the power of summer learning to help them thrive in school, and in life.