The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships among summer reading camp participants' initial prosocial efficacy, reading motivation, and their reading skill changes. Despite the theoretical explanation of social and emotional learning (SEL), there is a lack of empirical studies demonstrating the complex relationships and processes…

This study explores students' perspectives on the satisfaction of basic psychological needs in the classroom and the potential effects on their learning growth in a summer reading program. The summer reading program was free for students in grades 1-8 and was designed to prevent reading-level losses during the summer for students from lower-income…

A substantial amount of evidence suggests that students, particularly those from economically disadvantaged households, experience summer reading loss. Available evidence suggests this is due to a lack of participation in literacy-focused activities and access to books during the summer break from school. The current study investigated whether…

Decades of research have focused on the impact of summer learning loss and effective tools in stemming the flow of knowledge lost during summer break. While reading lists have become a standard practice for addressing students' needs to maintain learning levels over the summer months, very little research has been conducted on the book lists…

Low-income and racial/ethnic minority children are at increased risk of experiencing summer reading loss or declined reading levels due to time away from school. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a 6-week summer reading program would help children maintain or improve reading levels. Four-hundred-fourteen African American and…

The tenth annual Boston Opportunity Agenda Report Card takes a closer look at the impact of two years of pandemic on the achievement of students on key indicators from kindergarten through college and adult education. It finds mixed results for Boston's public and public charter school students, with some areas seeing much larger changes triggered…

The ninth annual Boston Opportunity Agenda Report Card looks at how the pandemic has affected many of the indicators used to track how Boston students are doing in education from early childhood through adulthood, as well as tracking the landscape of the Opportunity Agenda's efforts to strengthen the education pipeline. This report card contains…

The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with Dollar General Literacy Foundation, is proud to present this issue brief examining the vital role afterschool programs play to build students' literacy skills. This issue brief will explore the additional support needed to help students with their reading, writing and critical thinking skills, as well…

Summer vacations interrupt the rhythm of learning and may result in a loss of knowledge and skills. This study investigates summer learning losses in an Austrian sample with nine-week summer vacations. The results show losses as well as gains for students in lower secondary education (182 students between 10 and 12 years old). Students experienced…

The present study examined the impact of the Simultaneous Multisensory Institute for Language Arts (SMILA) approach on the reading proficiency of 39 students between the ages of 7-11 participating in a summer reading program. The summer reading clinic draws students from the surrounding community which is located in a large urban district in the…

Making postsecondary education more accessible has highlighted the issue of what it means to be prepared for college. A significant number of students enter college with preparedness issues--academic and otherwise--that challenge potential success. For African American students, educational, social, and economic factors combine to create barriers…

This "Eighth Annual Report Card" tracks progress on Boston's goals for educating learners of all ages. The report lays out Boston Opportunity Agenda's current metrics, the baseline that has been established for the future, and the progress to be made over the course of the next five years. This report card contains the most up-to-date…

This study investigates the benefits of no-stakes educational testing during students' summer vacation as a strategy to mitigate summer learning loss. Fifty-one students in Grades 3-8 from the Every Child Valued (ECV) and Lawrence Community Center (LCC) summer programs in Lawrenceville, NJ, took short, online assessments throughout the summer,…

This report examines the implementation and effects of the academic summer program for middle school students offered by Building Educated Leaders for Life (BELL). BELL's middle school program serves rising sixth- through eighth-grade students who are performing one to two years below grade level. The goals of the program are to increase students'…

The "Seventh Annual Report Card" provides the most up-to-date information available on Boston's education pipeline, from kindergarten through college graduation, including measures for school readiness, 3rd-grade reading proficiency, 6th-grade mathematics proficiency, 10th-grade academic proficiency, high school completion, dropout…