Technical Assistance

Circle up: Teaching social-emotional skills year round

/in , , /by

Creating places that feel safe for students has been the raison d’être of summer programs like Aim High, as it has been for hundreds of after-school programs in school districts across the state. Yet for many school principals who are casting about for ways to improve students’ sense of physical and emotional safety — and in doing so, students’ interest in being at school and learning — the idea of calling on summer school and after-school experts hasn’t occurred to them. But that is starting to change.

Read more →

End of Summer Program Reflection

/in , , , /by

Meeting Objectives to:
Celebrate the accomplishments of program
Generate solutions to common program challenges
Share programs best practices
Apply a strategic management model to turn data into action plans
Determine root causes of performance gaps and develop strategic responses

Meeting Outcomes:
 Participants have identified actions and ideas to improve their program in 2017

Read more →

End of Summer Program Reflection

/in , , /by

Meeting Objectives to:
Celebrate the accomplishments of program
Generate solutions to common program challenges
Share programs best practices
Apply a strategic management model to turn data into action plans
Determine root causes of performance gaps and develop strategic responses

Read more →

Tools and Strategies to Improve your Summer Program

/in , , /by

Tools and Strategies to Improve your Summer Program
Making your program better doesn’t happen by accident. It takes focus, persistence and data. Using a model developed with the National Summer Learning Association, this workshop will help participants understand the cycle of quality improvement and how a newly-released assessment tool (the Quick CASP) can gather the date to improve quality over time.

Read more →

Supporting the Summer Learning Strategy to Boost Student Achievement

/in /by

Research indicates that summer learning can be an effective approach to closing opportunity gaps for students from low-income families. Many county offices of education and school districts offer summer learning as part of a complete educational strategy: two-thirds (66%) percent of respondents to a 2013 CSBA survey reported offering some type of summer learning program.

Read more →

OSLN 2016 Summer Learning Landscape Assessment

/in , , /by

Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) partners with a number of community-based organizations (CBOs) to serve more than 6,500 students. Through the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth (OFCY), the city provides funding to CBOs to serve more than 2,400 students, many in partnership with OUSD programming. Still more students are served by Oakland Parks and Recreation, city libraries, and community based organizations operating alongside this system. With such great diversity of programs, funding, and partnerships, there is a need for coordination and collaboration to ensure as many young people as possible are provided with high-quality summer learning opportunities.

Read more →

Why do summer learning and wellness programs matter?

/in , , /by

This is the first in a series of articles focusing on strategies to promote student learning and wellness during the summer break from school. This installment presents an overview of the topic and the importance of effective summer programs in helping to close the achievement gap.

Read more →

Resource for Summer Programs & TA Providers to Support the Sustainability of Summer Programs

/in , , , /by

Activity

TA Providers were asked to walk around the room visiting each of the eight sustainability domain posters on the walls and discuss these guiding questions as a group.

What are some best practices for this element?
With no limits, what are other ideas you envision for this element?
Providers wrote ideas on notes for each poster. To read the responses, download the pdf.

Read more →