Media Contact: Laura Johnson, Vice President of Communications|
410-856-1370 X208
ljohnson@summerlearning.org
OVERVIEW
High-quality summer and afterschool programs can change the trajectory of a young person’s life. For our nation, the summer months present an opportunity to close educational and opportunity gaps that often begin at birth and to seize the summer months as a time for growth and healthy development for all learners. Typically, the season’s education stories tend to revolve narrowly around the summer slide or academic loss and miss the mark on the many other “lost opportunity” summer issues that affect the physical, mental and emotional well-being of young people in America.
Within a presidential election year, issues like immigration, gun control, national defense and the economy can overshadow the critical need for the next president to focus on the perpetual and structural inequities of the nation’s public education system and the essential role of out of school time enrichment to student success. This story starter aims to provide background on the issue of summer learning and afterschool programs, summer policy considerations and emerging research to inform your story development around key education issues within the presidential campaign and beyond.
The National Summer Learning is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization that tracks and responds to policy, research and practice issues that affect summer opportunities at the federal, state, and local levels, with the goal of ensuring high-quality summer learning opportunities reach as many children and youth as possible, especially those most in need. Its Guidance for 2020 Presidential Candidates on the Importance of Summer was created to inform candidates as they shape their education agendas.