Summer Learning: It’s in the Bag

Summer Learning: It’s in the Bag

Monday, April 3rd, 2023

Building on Beaverton Education Foundation’s decade-long tradition of supporting the best strategies that mitigate the summer slide for Beaverton’s elementary school students, BEF announces a $134,000 investment in Summer Boost. The educator-driven program, first piloted last year, will combat summer learning loss and help students at 12 elementary schools engage with reading and math over summer break. Summer Boost is one of seven new Kids Count Grants, providing a total of $194,000 in support of summer and after school enrichment.

Summer slide, the academic regression known to happen when school is out for the summer, is a significant problem for young readers, Beaverton educators say, and it builds on pandemic-related learning losses. Oregon’s 2021-22 student test scores revealed that reading, writing and math skills plummeted compared to pre-pandemic levels, especially for the most vulnerable students.

Summer programming can not only help reduce summer learning loss, but also lift students up to grade level. Over the past ten years, BEF incubated and helped grow Camp Achieve, an in-person summer school program that successfully counters the summer slide by integrating academic learning with positive school experiences for elementary students. During the pandemic, Camp Achieve was adopted by the district for summer learning, and the district is bringing it to scale with public funding.

Now BEF is partnering with the same district educators who created Camp Achieve to develop the next generation of summer interventions for students — a program that provides students and families with the tools they need to engage in reading and math at home. Summer Boost started last year at five schools with 400 students, and expands this summer to 16 schools with 2,000 students. 

“Summer Boost brings programming to the students, and makes it easier for families to help students maintain the daily habit of reading,” says Amy Chamberlain, principal at Cedar Mill Elementary, one of the driving forces behind Summer Boost. “We remove barriers like transportation and scheduling, while providing reading materials that really interest and engage the students.”

Before summer break, students will “shop” for free books that have been pre-selected by reading specialists to be good fit, high interest books for all levels. They’ll fill a bag with books, math games, and other supplies that will encourage their love of reading and math. Families will receive information about why daily reading is important and how to engage their children in the reading and math activities. To build community and excitement, Summer Boost begins and ends with celebrations, and there will be a mid-summer opportunity for educators and students to connect in person.

“Summer Boost allows us to place high interest, just-right books in the hands of our striving readers. Because they are books the students chose, they are more likely to read them,” explains Christina Batsell, principal at Terra Linda Elementary, who’s working closely with Chamberlain to scale up Summer Boost. “Our data from last summer shows that many students who needed a reading intervention in the spring no longer needed it in the fall.” 

Summer Boost is funded by BEF’s Kids Count Grants program, recognizing extended day and summer programs that encompass the full range of BEF’s impact areas. Other grants for 2023-24 include Middle School Band Camp, Trades Exploration summer and after school programming, Stoller and Meadow Park Middle Schools’ collaborative multilingual libraries, and school-specific summer and afterschool enrichment at three elementary schools. 

Generous support from our thousands of individual donors make Kids Count Grants possible, and our foundation and business partner support is being leveraged for specific projects. Thank you to First Tech Federal Credit Union, Genentech, Intel, Juan Young Trust, Meyer Memorial Trust, OCF Joseph E. Weston Fund, and additional donors through advised funds at the Oregon Community Foundation.