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Learn from the success of Summer Boost and invest more in making summer programming free for all

“My aunt said that me and my sister were not going to be sitting around in the house all summer,” student Malaysia Speight shared with Linda Jacobson at the 74 Million. As a student at Legacy Prep Charter in Alabama, Malaysia had a different option: “Lights, Camera, Action,” a three-week summer camp at the school that blends academics to prevent the summer slide with drama, music and dance as students create a theatrical production.

That program, and over 450 others at charter schools across the country, were made possible through Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Summer Boost program, which 50CAN has proudly helped administer as part of our work to build proof points of the future of education. Originally launched as an emergency response to pandemic learning loss, the benefits of making these summer opportunities a permanent part of the promise of public education are clear: Legacy Prep moved from a D school to a B school on the Alabama School District Report Cards last year, and network head Reneta Johnson points to Summer Boost as the major reason for the gains: “Our test scores were in the tank,” she told Linda. During summer school, “our kids have more time to talk to the teacher. They know what they need to focus on.”

The results from across the country affirm this view: participating students learned more in both reading and math, with the biggest gains for the most vulnerable student groups. In an analysis of the program from Arizona State University, lead researcher Geoffery Borman was particularly impressed that results stayed consistent as the scale of the program increased and became available in more states and districts: “We’re talking, in this case, about tens of thousands of students per year,” Borman told The 74, citing Summer Boost as an example of a “one-off effort that produces groundbreaking impact.

Key to any scaling effort will be finding the funding to make it free to more students. As the Afterschool Alliance recently put it in a newly released a report: “With 1 in 2—or 12.6 million—children whose parents want them to be in a structured summer experience missing out, it is clear that communities across the country need additional resources to create more quality, affordable summer programs.” With philanthropy alone insufficient to reach all of the students and families desirous of summer programs, prime among the Afterschool Alliance’s policy recommendations is increasing public investments to scale up what’s working.

Celebrate a big step forward in Delaware

Delaware’s existing student funding formula was first put in place in the 1940s and has remained basically unchanged ever since. Or at least that was the case until last Wednesday, when DelawareKidsCAN helped secure a big legislative win. The new formula modernizes how schools are funded to put kids’ needs first. Here is what you need to know: 
 

• It applies equally to all traditional public schools and public charter schools.
• It provides “opportunity funding” on top of a baseline, weighting schools based on low-income students and English Language Learners, as well as students participating in CTE programs.
• It allows districts or CMOs to have the state update balance sheets when students change schools or districts based on a twice-annual student count, so that money follows the child.
• Invests an additional $150 to $200 million a year in education.

Adjusting the formula has been a priority for DelawareKidsCAN for the past six years. “The first thing Daniel, my predecessor in this role, told me as I was onboarding was that, ‘You have to keep fighting for a better funding formula,’” Executive Director Britney Mumford told us. “And that’s what we did.” 

Using momentum from a legal challenge to the existing formula, last year Britney successfully fought for the creation of the Public Education Funding Commission. That commission, in turn, made recommendations of a weighted system that was taken up by the legislature this year in SB 302, which officially passed both chambers last week and heads to Governor Matt Meyer’s desk, who has been a strong supporter.

“This win belongs to so many people that have been fighting this fight for over a decade, including my predecessors in the ED role here, Atnre and Daniel, the advocates and coalition partners that have been with us since the lawsuit, and the parents and families that have been fighting for greater equity in the system. This win is for all of them,” Britney said.

Key Resources

Fordham considers whether the federal education tax credit should be expanded to early childhood education, where choice is already baked-in to the system. 

EdChoice’s Robert Enlow, writing in Education Next, takes note of the winners and losers now that universal school choice is a reality in a growing number of states.

Education Next puts a spotlight on “sports academies” that aim to combine rigorous academics with top tier training programs at a top tier price.

Removing friction from dual enrollment programs, such as offering college courses on high school campuses during the school day, has an impact on dual enrollment rates, according to new research at EdWorkingPapers.