Get Ready for Summer Series
The pandemic’s impact on our youth is startling. We know that by the end of the 2020-2021 academic year, students on average were five months behind in math and four months behind in reading, and the U.S. Surgeon General has raised a flag on young people’s mental health. So while summer is a time of joy, fun learning, and experiencing new connections to help youth thrive, it is also a time for healing.
Register Now for The National Summer Learning Association's free and virtual Summer Planning Bootcamp to gain tools and best practices to meet this moment head on. Led by dynamic out-of-school time leaders, sessions will delve into strategies to accelerate learning, build critical partnerships, and plan successful strategies to scale impact in a sustainable and measurable way.
Our nation’s children, especially the most vulnerable, can no longer wait to tap the power of summer. Get ready for summer now.
Who Should Attend?
Anyone who cares about summer learning! Leaders from schools, community-based programs, camps, libraries, outdoor education programs, and more. If you are working with youth during the summer months, you will benefit from these ideas and strategies.
Summer Planning Bootcamp
Day 1 - March 29, 2023
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Session 1 - The Impact of COVID-19: What We Know about Young People Today
Knowing the landscape helps us design summer learning opportunities that meet the acute needs of young people today. In this session, we explore the research and data telling us the current state of the academic, mental, and physical well-being of children and families. With the data in hand, we’ll consider how to create strategies that meet this moment in time and help young people recover and thrive.
Session 2 - Recruitment, Retention, and Relationships: Supporting Staff to Support Youth
Everyone is talking about the workforce crisis in all sectors, including the youth-serving fields. Could the “great resignation” be the “great opportunity” for people seeking interesting, flexible opportunities to help young people thrive. What’s known is that we need to think creatively and plan strategically to find and retain excellent staff that knows how to build relationships with young people. In this session, we’ll share tools and strategies to develop a strong workforce ready to make a difference this summer.
Day 2 - March 30, 2023
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Session 1 - Engaging, and Important Content: Incorporating Innovative Health, Fitness, Arts, and Academic Learning in Summer Learning
Summer learning should be fun. And it must be enthralling so young people engage and gain the skills and knowledge they need to recover and get ahead. In this session, we’ll dive into programs that have proven strategies, tools and curriculum that can be applied in your summer learning program. We’ll talk about how to access and apply learning strategies that ensure children and youth enjoy their summer.
Session 2 - Investment of a Generation: Accessing and Leveraging Funding and Partnerships
It’s clear: summer learning matters. Policymakers and funders at national, state, and local levels are aware of the impact of summer learning and are making big bets that it will be a key strategy to helping young people in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. In this session, we’ll explore how to access those investments and ensure impact. We’ll consider how to leverage partnerships across sectors, including schools, community-based organizations, business and more to make the most of the investment of public funding.