YOUR SOURCE FOR SUMMER LEARNING NEWS
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February 11, 2021
Issue No. 33
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Photo credit: ANYTOWN®, CAMP EDMO®, and Canoemobile (Excellence in Summer Learning Award-Winning Programs)
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Greetings!
We are living in a major moment for our summer learning community. Education leaders across the spectrum from school districts, nonprofit programs, camps, and government agencies to policymakers across the U.S., all agree we must utilize this summer to help young people learn, grow and recover like never before.
While we are excited to see more investments being made in high-quality summer learning opportunities, we want to keep in mind our best practices. Stand out programs are those that feel fresh and different from traditional school. They are fun, hands-on, high energy, engaging, and informed by research and models our field knows works—a combination of academic, enrichment, and health and fitness, school-community partnerships, youth voice and choice, caring peer and youth-adult relationships, trauma-informed and social-emotional supports, family engagement, age-appropriate and culturally responsive curriculum.
This summer and next will be critical to helping all students, and communities recover from COVID learning loss and prepare for the school year. Our field has an opportunity to make an immediate and lasting impact on young people's lives. You are the essential leaders needed right now to help our students and communities heal and rebound stronger. Our NSLA team is here to support you and your team every step of the way.
In partnership,
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Aaron Philip Dworkin
Chief Executive Officer, NSLA
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SAVE THE DATE - MARCH 1-5, 2021
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NSLA won’t let COVID-19 steal the joy of summer learning, and it starts with leaders like you. Program leaders and their teams are at the heart of high-quality summer learning experiences for kids across the nation and lead the movement to make every summer count. To achieve this goal, summer learning programs must be intentionally designed, planned, and implemented to support the whole child in a safe, inclusive, high-quality experience.
The Summer Bootcamp Series will provide program leaders with the tools they need at this moment to keep kids healthy, learning, earning, and thriving through this pandemic and beyond. We’ll dive into strategies to accelerate learning, build critical partnerships, and plan successful programs with evidence-based practices relevant to any scenario of summer plans emerging this season.
Among the many summer learning experts and leaders joining us for the series are:
- Robin Berlinsky, executive director, Engaging Creative Minds;
- Matthew Boulay, founder, NSLA;
- Kurtis Donnelly, chief operating officer, Young Audiences/Arts for Learning Maryland;
- Emma Dorn, education practice manager, McKinsey & Company;
- Lauren Kellner, managing program director, Breakthrough Miami;
- Megan Kuhfield, researcher, NWEA;
- Sam Obeid, program director, ANYTOWN®, Community Tampa Bay (2020 Excellence in Summer Learning Award Winner);
- Jennifer Peck, president & CEO, Partner for Children and Youth;
- Tom Rosenberg, president & CEO, American Camp Association; and
- David Shapiro, chief executive officer, MENTOR.
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Start Recruiting for Your Summer Learning Program Now with Tools from The Wallace Foundation
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Research shows that voluntary summer learning programs that offer a mix of academics and
fun enrichment activities can help address learning disparities, potentially helping students from low-income families achieve better academic and social-emotional outcomes.
In this guide from The Wallace Foundation, you’ll learn from five school districts how to launch a summer learning recruitment effort with principles that can guide any logistical scenarios you might be imagining. The guide outlines 8 Keys to Success for summer learning recruitment from understanding your program's audience, staffing needs, building relations with parents, outreach, and engaging directly with students.
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K-12 Dive Talks Building Community Partnerships for Summer Learning with NSLA CEO Aaron P. Dworkin
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In this article "3 Summer Program Strategies to Address Learning Loss, Support Emotional Health" by K-12 reporter Kara Arundel, NSLA CEO Aaron Philip Dworkin discusses ways that districts are using new strategies for summer learning, forming new partnerships, and applying lessons learned during the school year to make virtual and hybrid learning equitable and fun.
“Interest in offering summer instruction and enrichment programming for greater numbers of students is building amid pressure for school systems to address students’ learning loss and social-emotional health, said National Summer Learning Association CEO, Aaron Dworkin.
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Originally Published, February 2, 2021
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NSLA Gathers Experts to Help Programs Make the Most
of Summer 2021 to Boost Learning
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On Tuesday, February 2, 2021, NSLA CEO Aaron Philip Dworkin, led a discussion with leaders from award-winning summer learning programs and program culture experts focused on their effective models and how they pivoted last summer to provide virtual and at-home programming in literacy, STEM, social and emotional learning (SEL) and more.
During this GLR Learning Tuesday session, presented by the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, these experts also shared their experience and tips for scenario planning for summer 2021, considering various setting options. While we cannot predict what will unfold this summer, presenters encourage program providers to begin planning now and to maximize time to boost learning.
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On February 9, the Education and Labor Committee reported, out of committee, its reconciliation bill, which includes $130 billion for K-12, including allowable uses to support summer learning. The bill’s funding will be administered via the same language and programs as passed in the second COVID-19 relief bill. In a win for NSLA, the reconciliation bill includes a 5% set aside at the state level and a 20% set aside at the local level to support learning loss via afterschool and summer programs.
While the Senate HELP Committee has not released its reconciliation text or scheduled a markup, we expect that both chambers will have a conferenced bill by some point in mid-march, and it is likely this language will be retained in the final bill as there appears to be strong Democratic support for summer learning in the Senate.
In anticipation of the Senate’s reconciliation bill coming soon, Democratic Senators Murphy (Ct.), Smith (Minn.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Brian Schatz (Hawaii), Ron Wyden (Ore.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Michael Bennet (Colo.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) and Tim Kaine (Va.) signed onto a letter urging for increased support in summer learning programs.
NSLA is grateful to the House and Senate Members that support summer learning to mitigate learning loss and encourages the passage of a reconciliation bill with these provisions into law.
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The STEM Careers Coalition – the first-of-its-kind national STEM initiative powered by corporate leaders and anchored in schools by Discovery Education – invites educators, students, and communities to celebrate Black leaders in STEM year-round with the launch of dynamic careers content and a series of virtual educator events beginning Tuesday, February 16.
Celebrating Black Leaders in STEM: Resource Tour
Tuesday, February 16 at 6 p.m. EST
Join a professional learning session led by Dr. Robert Corbin to learn how to integrate the new collection of STEM careers content spotlighting Black leaders into lessons. During the session, dive into the over 200 resources designed to uncover students' STEM skills to activate future solution seekers while also exploring the many benefits of diversity in STEM. Additional details and registration information can be found here.
This feature is an excerpt from Discovery Education's February 8, 2021 media release, which can be found here along with additional virtual event dates and registration .
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Why I Love Summer Learning!
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Here at NSLA, we love seeing the powerful and lasting impact high-quality learning experiences have on children's lives and the communities where they live. With Valentine's Day just around the corner, we asked fellow summer learning champions why they love summer. Here's what they said.
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