September 17, 2018

Whether you’re an old hand or just had your first experience with summer programming, you know the best time to start planning for next summer is now. Here are some ideas from 21^st CCLC sites that participated in the Y4Y Summer Learning Initiative and used a planning process designed to produce high-quality programming.

Market your program to build interest before summer begins.

In Kansas, a summer program for elementary school students once struggled to enroll students in what was described as a “summer school” focused on academics. Using strategies from the Summer Learning Initiative, staff decided to call the program a “summer camp” instead of summer school and created a fun “summer safari” theme. They emphasized engaging, hands-on learning experiences that build students’ academic skills. The program sent personalized invitations to the students who would benefit most from participation, and followed up with phone calls. For the summer 2018 program, they were at capacity with a waiting list, and parents were calling to ask if their child could get into the program. The program director attributed this success to the Y4Y Summer Learning Initiative’s marketing and intentional student recruitment strategies.

Offer activities that keep students engaged throughout the summer.

Incorporating student voice is essential to creating a summer program that students want to attend. A high school program in California provided a variety of opportunities for student input. For example, the site coordinator turned his office into a resource center and encouraged students to stop by to talk. The program also used student surveys. Staff members set up an outdoor canopy during lunch to conduct informal focus groups with students. The site coordinator said these efforts to incorporate student voice improved program quality.

Some programs used educational field trips that were connected to their learning goals and program themes. For example, a program in New Jersey with a theater theme took students to local performing arts centers for learning events, then had them write about their experiences in a journal. Structured experiences like this provide real-world learning opportunities that motivate student attendance and engagement.

"They don't have to be here — they want to be here." 

State Coordinator, California

Your work’s not over when summer ends.

Once your program ends, taking the time to learn from your successes and struggles can help you make improvements the next time around. Summer Learning Initiative participants created continuous improvement plans that included performance measures and measurement tools. They assigned staff, targeted groups for assessment, and set time frames to help them determine if they met their goals. Comparing actual outcomes to intended outcomes will help you understand the effectiveness of your program. Analyzing data and discussing lessons learned can help you make adjustments that will lead to greater satisfaction and success for staff and students.

For example, a program for high school students in Oregon struggled with student attendance — until staff members decided to incorporate more student voice and offered engaging science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) activities that matched student interests. A program in Kansas learned that many students were struggling during the school year, so the staff tried a new approach for the summer, using project-based learning to target specific skills and content. Students and teachers alike enjoyed the hands-on activities, and the program director reported increases in staff capacity.

"This helps them see different ways to teach. It's making them better teachers."

Project Director, Kansas

Summer Learning Initiative resources are free and available on Y4Y.

Even if you’ve never helped plan a summer learning program, you don’t have to start from scratch! Visit the Y4Y Summer Learning Initiative webpage to watch short videos of Initiative participants and download the tools they used on. You can learn more about the steps for planning and implementing high-quality summer learning experiences by exploring the resources on that page and ones in the Y4Y Summer Learning course.

June 20, 2018

Many site coordinators describe feeling frantic as they wrap up the school year and sprint into summer trying to get things ready at the last minute. Sound familiar? Y4Y can help: Over the past two years, 40 programs across seven states have engaged in structured planning to increase the quality and intentional design of their summer programs and end the summer sprint. Now, you can use their process and learn from practitioners like you across the nation.

The Summer Learning Initiative section of the Y4Y website presents a seven-step process for planning a high-quality summer program. Starting the September before, you will follow a path that begins with building your program team and concludes with reflecting on successes and ways to continuously improve. And, believe it or not, the planning process will have you completely ready for summer before the school year ends!

You can start by downloading a comprehensive Program Implementation Planner to support your planning process. The planner will keep you organized and on schedule while helping you capture important details. It’s also useful for orienting new program leaders, and for getting a head start on planning future summer learning. (Try using it in Google Sheets to achieve a truly collaborative team experience.) As you scroll down the page with the Planner, look for the helpful Sample Planner and and the User Guide, and listen to a podcast that will walk you through the planner tab by tab.

Y4Y’s Summer Learning Initiative section describes each planning step in detail, offers downloadable tools and resources, and provides engaging videos to give you a peek into the experiences and programs of the participating sites. If you missed the Summer Learning Series of webinars, you can access the recordings to help launch your planning. To avoid the dreaded last-minute sprint, start now, and you’ll spring into next summer feeling stress-free and ready for a season chock full of exciting learning!

Seven Steps to a High-Quality Summer Program

1. Build Your Planning Team
2. Conduct a Needs Assessment
3. Set SMART Goals
4. Plan Your Logistics
5. Intentionally Design Activities
6. Intentionally Recruit Students
7. Continuously Improve Your Program

June 20, 2018

You developed a high-quality summer learning program for your students and worked with your staff to design a continuous improvement process. Now, how do you ensure the plan is being implemented with fidelity (in other words, implemented as planned)? The Y4Y Summer Learning course tools and resources can help you monitor to stay on track.

Observations

Use Y4Y’s Observation Checklist to observe academic and enrichment activities. Are you doing what you said you would do? If you planned on a student-to-teacher ratio of 10 to 1 but ended up at 18 to 1, this difference is likely to impact your outcomes. Observations are one way to track important areas of implementation so you can make modifications along the way, assess outcomes and plan for future programming. Make sure to visit all the activities, spread observations across the summer, and observe transition and dismissal times.

Feedback

Students and families are your “customers” and you want to know how well your program meets their needs. Surveys are effective and easy ways to find out. The Y4Y Summer Learning course has sample surveys for families and students that you can customize to your program. Administer them in person or online through Google Forms, which collects your feedback into a spreadsheet. Be sure to schedule time with your program team to discuss the results and follow-up action steps. Feedback is only valuable if it leads to action.

Continuous Improvement

If you used the Y4Y Summer Learning course, you have already developed a continuous improvement plan. If not, download the Continuous Improvement Process Diagram and Continuous Improvement Planner to get started. The Continuous Improvement Planner helps to keep you on track with goals and outcomes. As you complete each data collection window, analyze your data and record outcomes. Take time to discuss why you met or fell short of your goals (or exceeded them!) and consider implications for the coming school-year program.

Celebration

Many programs plan a culminating event to showcase summer activities and student achievements. With students and staff, plan a fun event that will engage families while giving students a chance to show off their learning and express themselves. You might add a reflection element such as an open discussion about what worked well and what could be tweaked in the future. Review results from your observations and stakeholder surveys, and discuss your continuous improvement plan. Celebrating with your students and staff is the perfect way to wrap up an amazing summer.

May 4, 2018

Guest blogger: David Mazza, Y4Y Educational Technology Specialist

If someone mentions summer vacation, do you picture yourself on a sandy beach with an adventure story in hand? Nothing wrong with that! But the laid-back days of summer can also be a time for online adventures in professional learning. Here are four ways technology can make professional learning feel like play.  

Easy listening. Podcasts let you explore topics and perspectives without investing a lot of time. TED Talks, for example, last 18 minutes or less. Plus, podcasts are free and available on demand, so you can listen as you pack your bags and head out for that beach vacation. New to podcasts and not sure where to start? Google topics of interest (e.g., afterschool, youth development, education, teaching, career development) plus “podcast.” Hint: Try the short podcasts in each Y4Y Click & Go for professional learning specific to 21^st CCLC programs.

Social hour. You can use social media to connect with educators from around the world. If you’re on Twitter, search the hashtag #MTBoS, and you’ll find the MathTwitterBlogosphere. Thousands of math teachers follow the site, contribute ideas, share resources and suggest activities. It’s a terrific place to ask questions, swap stories and get inspired. If math isn’t your thing, use Twitter’s search feature to find sites related to your professional interests, from art to productivity to zoology. 

App time. Downtime? Download an app you’re curious about. Some have interesting features with multiple uses. For example, you could try using SurveyMonkey to poll family members on where to meet for dinner. If you like the way it works, maybe you’ll decide to survey your colleagues on which professional development book or class to try next. Could the app be useful on the job — for example, to poll students about their interests? Experimentation is the gateway to ideas and expertise!

Virtual expeditions. Stuck at home? Broaden your knowledge of science, culture, history and more with a virtual tour of a city, beach, mountaintop, museum or campus. Speaking of campuses, the Y4Y professionalization resources page has a clickable map of higher education opportunities relevant to out-of-school time careers and ongoing professional development. Free Y4Y courses are available anytime you want to explore topics like citizen science, continuous education or project-based learning. Take a virtual expedition on Y4Y and explore the possibilities.

Skywriting. Unless you and your colleagues are all on the same beach, here’s one more way to use technology for summer learning — to stay in touch via your favorite messaging platform. Keep one another revved up about learning by sharing tidbits of interest from books you’re reading, messages of encouragement and links to blog posts like this one (hint, hint). Happy summer!

April 25, 2018

It’s May, and if your 21^st CCLC program offers a summer learning program, you’re already far along in the planning process. What’s left?

You’ve been clear all along about why: Research and experience confirm that much of the academic achievement gap between children from lower- and higher-income families is due to summer learning loss — loss of academic knowledge and skills while students aren’t in school, especially in reading and math.

You know what you’re going to focus on to prevent summer learning loss, and how. Depending on student needs, you’re probably planning to combine academic enrichment with fun activities or an engaging theme.

You know who you’re targeting: which students in your program and partner school especially need support to hold on to academic learning and retain skills related to attentiveness, organization and interpersonal relationships.

But, if you’re like many 21^st CCLC program leaders, you wonder how to make sure those young people show up. It can be harder to recruit and retain students for the summer session than for school-term sessions.

One effective way to plan for recruitment is to look at the barriers students and families face. Then target your messages to address those barriers. For example:

Barrier: Parents and students confuse your summer learning program with “summer school,” which they might associate with failure.

Message: Emphasize that your 21^st CCLC summer program isn’t “school.” Students are invited, not forced, to attend.

Barrier: Some parents think their child deserves to rest and have fun after a long, hard school year.

Message: List the program’s fun activities. Remind families that interacting with other children and caring adults is more fun and valuable than staying home alone with video games.

Barrier: Parents worry about practical matters, such as safety, transportation, timing and cost.

Message: Describe how you intend to address these practical concerns. For example, working parents can be drawn to a full-day program that offers breakfast and lunch.

Barrier: Caregivers might think they can teach the child at home using workbooks and online games.

Message: Let parents know that your summer program is designed and implemented by professional educators. They know how to create enjoyable activities that will keep students’ minds and bodies active while school is out.

How will you get these messages across? Every way you can! Use posters, public announcements, and send flyers home with students — more than once. Some of those flyers may stay crumpled in the bottom of the backpack until August, so you’ll need a variety of strategies:

• Speak to families in person at pick-up.
• Call or send a text.
• Visit homes.
• Recruit school staff to help. Most families see school teachers, principals and counselors as trusted messengers.

The Y4Y Summer Learning Youth Recruitment Planner can help you identify recruitment strategies, action steps, needed materials, team assignments and due dates. There’s room for you to write in and track additional strategies that will work for your families and students.

With intentional messages, delivered in a variety of ways, you can make sure that many students benefit from the summer program you and your staff have so carefully planned. Thanks for all you do to make it happen!