Why Summers Matter

When the school year ends, children in high-poverty environments struggle not only with basic needs like healthy food and safe places to spend their days, but with losing precious time during the summer months to continue their learning. The cumulative effect is a crisis in the making: by the fifth grade, summer learning loss can leave low-income students two-and-a-half to three years behind their peers.

Students who fall behind over the summer are less likely to graduate from high school or go on to college. NSLA believes that diversity of every kind is critical to our nation’s success. Creating opportunities for summer learning sets the stage for innovation, creativity, and leadership in every community: the young people we nurture today are the foundation of our society tomorrow.