State Leadership of Summer Learning
“Being in network with other districts across the country, but also in the same state has been crucial to helping us do better and serve scholars in a more robust way.”
–DSLN participant
Overview
What power do states have to improve summer learning for their students?
Beginning in 2022, FHI 360 expanded DSLN’s reach by partnering with six state education agencies (SEAs)—Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island—all of which have districts participating in the network. The six states’ varied contexts and approaches offer fertile ground for learning about the role of the state in creating high-quality summer learning.
DSLN provides SEAs ongoing coaching for a state lead, networking opportunities, a site visit where SEA leads can share ideas, and funding for each SEA to host a convening in their state.
It’s clear that the state can and should have a strong role in this work. The need is great. Young people need high-quality summer learning opportunities now, as they have experienced devastating academic losses during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. And districts benefit from clear guidance and support from the state.
The following snapshots illustrate a few ways we’ve seen states support effective, engaging summer learning.
Opportunities for states
Create a coherent vison
Our partner SEAs help districts envision what summer learning can look like and achieve—a vision that includes academic acceleration, quality enrichment, and partnerships within the community.
Alabama
The Alabama State Department of Education recently created an Office of Expanded Learning to lead and coordinate summer learning across multiple statewide initiatives. The department also publishes a summer learning guidebook that includes legislative requirements, funding information, and evidence-based suggestions. Those steps have made potentially competing statewide initiatives more coherent, leading to more focused efforts to support young people.
North Carolina
The North Carolina Office of Early Learning (OEL) oversees literacy camps mandated by the state’s Excellent Public Schools Act. They partner with DSLN to help districts shift from remedial or punitive camp models and think beyond compliance to develop engaging, enriching summer programs. Through DSLN, OEL co-hosted a statewide convening to introduce districts to its summer learning vision and support evidence-based design and planning. OEL has also revised its North Carolina Reading Camp Guide and developed a North Carolina Reading Camp Roadmap, adapted from the DSLN Roadmap. The statewide OEL consultants and Early Literacy Specialists are using the roadmap to support districts in planning summer camps.
Recognize the limits of compliance
One issue that states share is the challenge of compliance. One one hand, states set certain expectations for what districts provide for summer learning. On the other hand, those expectations can unintentionally become limits rather than baselines.
For example, legislation about summer math support does not mean that districts are limited to providing only math support in summer. But sometimes, districts understand it that way.
Rodney Green, superintendent of Blount County Schools, gives a high-five to a student in the Dreamcatchers summer learning program at Susan Moore Elementary School in Blount County, Alabama. Photo by Bita Honarvar for FHI 360.
Provide funding
DSLN SEA partners use funding as an incentive and accelerant to move districts to create high-quality summer learning. By offering funding opportunities, state agencies can both signal the importance of summer learning and provide the means to make it happen.
Jose, a rising third-grader, uses a laptop to work on math problems at the Dreamcatchers summer learning program at Susan Moore Elementary School in Blount County, Alabama. Photo by Bita Honarvar for FHI 360.
The Alabama legislature sets aside funding to address literacy and math (with priorities around different grades for each), a practice other states share. Districts can use that funding to create summer learning opportunities for students who need them the most. That funding also supports year-round coaches in math and literacy so summer programs can benefit. On top of that, the SEA designates over $2.25 million per year for a summer-specific, competitive grant program to help districts and local organizations strengthen summer learning in their communities.
In 2021, South Carolina gave a small two-year grant to 12 districts that joined DSLN. Those districts could then braid and blend their regular funding streams for summer learning and use these additional funds to pilot enhancements to their programming.
With DSLN’s support, Minnesota’s SEA team developed a funding guide highlighting various eligible funding streams so districts can strengthen their summer learning through more nimble funding practices. The guide is particularly powerful in dispelling some myths districts hold about which funding streams can be used in what circumstances.
Want to learn more about being a part of the network?
Find out how DSLN can help you improve your summer programs.
Email us at summerlearning@fhi360.org.
Support partnerships
Oklahoma and Rhode Island invested in networking and partnerships so districts were not working in isolation to provide high-quality summer learning.
Rhode Island
The state worked with DSLN to hold a convening that brought together over 75 leaders from across the state who were committed to improving summer learning opportunities for students. The state led a panel discussion of districts and partner organizations that were already collaborating on summer learning. Rhode Island also provided networking time for community organizations and districts to share their needs and opportunities for partnerships in summer.
Oklahoma
The SEA supports a network of districts collaborating on improving summer learning by providing the districts with examples and regular learning opportunities. As a result, districts are now sharing summer learning themes and activities, as well as co-hosting summer events for students.
Facilitate learning and spotlight success
Minnesota and North Carolina created opportunities to spotlight effective practices, collect stories about impact, and help districts learn from one another about what works in summer learning.
The Minnesota SEA partnered with DSLN to host a gathering of districts to share promising practices. The convening included a panel on district successes, and the state education commissioner recognized summer learning programs that highlighted specific evidence-based practices.
As the state agency developed its summer learning vision, it worked with DSLN to create two convenings—one on the east side of the state and one on the west—to help districts strengthen summer learning. Districts learned about evidence-based practices, heard from successful summer learning leaders about their strategies, and received an array of tools to improve summer programs.
District Summer Learning Network
From 2021–2025, FHI 360 built a network of over 100 districts and states to transform summer learning across the country. Big changes happened.
Find out how DSLN’s insights can help you.