Year in Impact: Stopping the Summer Slide

In recent years, there’s been a push to have more local summer learning programs – a move that many parents agree with – but the demand for these programs exceeds the supply in our state. As a result, not every child will have the same opportunities, and educators say a lack of enriching activities can result in a summer learning slide for students. Today’s effective summer learning programs are helping prevent the summer learning slide that disproportionately affects low-income students, while at the same time provide enriching opportunities that will excite children about learning.

United Way’s Summer Learning Collaborative is generating results for its participating students. United Way has been focused on providing summer literacy programs in communities where there are higher numbers of children not reading proficiently and where children are at greater risk of falling further behind during the summer months. Evaluations of United Way’s Summer Learning Collaborative last year revealed 85% of participating children avoided summer learning loss and 64% maintained or increased reading skills.

Read more about how summer is increasingly the new 5th quarter of the school year.