Analysis of summer participation, interests, and barriers at a Boston area public middle school.

1. GIVE A SUMMER FOR
SCHOOLA
Analysis of the summer participation, future
summer plans, and barriers to summer
programs for a Boston area middle school’s
students (grades 6 – 8) and areas for action.
Prepared by Give a Summer
GiveaSummer.org
Survey and analysis from fall 2015

2. Background on report
• This is the public version of a report prepared by Give a Summer for a Boston area middle
school analyzing the summer participation, future plans, and barriers facing their middle
school students. The school is referred to throughout the report as “school A.” This is the
same “school A” that Give a Summer worked with last year. A public report of Give a
Summer’s work last year with school A is also available on Give a Summer’s website.
• Give a Summer worked with two other peer schools, and when relevant, noted differences
between the schools. The other two schools are noted as “school A” and “school B.”
• With all three schools’ approval, Give a Summer is releasing public versions of the three
school reports as further examples of how communities can better understand and support
youth participation in summer opportunities.
• Give a Summer believes that getting communities to collect and analyze data about where
and why kids miss out on summer programs will:
• improve youth access to summer programs by broadly identifying high-need areas and
barriers to summer program participation
• empower youth-serving organizations, such as schools and mentoring organizations, to
more effectively target and support individual students to make great summer plans
• strengthen advocacy efforts by clarifying the need for opportunities
• increase public accountability for improvement
2

3. Outline of presentation
• Executive Summary
• Findings: Previous summer program participation
• Findings: Previous summer program enjoyment
• Findings: Upcoming summer plans
• Findings: Interest by type of program
• Findings: Barriers to summer participation
• Areas for action
• Appendix
3
Slide #
3
6
8
9
12
15
28
30

4. Executive summary: key facts
Past attendance: 40% of students attended a program last summer, with participation lower
for 7th graders and about 20% below school C and school B.
Satisfaction: Students enjoy their programs: about 75% of students rated their program a 4 or
5 (out of 5), with about 40% giving it a 5. 8th graders had lower satisfaction (only 20% rated 5).
Future plans: Students and parents have strong interest in attending a program, with 50%
interested and another 30% not sure. Notably, 8th graders had the highest interest.
Types of summer programs: Students are well matched with programs, though many more
students who want to go to programs are interested in overnight camps and performing art
programs than got to participate in those types of activities over the summer.
Barriers: Barriers were higher for school A than at school B and C, with challenges finding
exciting programs, program expense, family vacation conflicts, and transportation all big deals.
Interest in attending and transportation were crucial swing barriers distinguishing
students who attended and did not attend. Expense was actually a bigger deal for students
who attended than for students who did not, suggesting it may not be a decisive factor. Parents
whose students did not attend rated trouble signing up as a bigger challenge, suggesting that’s
another important obstacle, even though students didn’t think so.
4

5. Executive summary: new facts
Year over year attendance: students who attended a program in summer ’14 were 100%
more likely to attend a program in summer ’15.
Interest very strong predictor of attendance: Students who were interested last spring in
attending a summer program were 200% more likely to attend a summer program compared to
students who were not interested.
Student predictions of family vacation conflicts. Students who rated family vacation
conflicts as a big deal in spring ’15 were far more likely to end up going on family vacations –
especially ones longer than a week – than students who said family vacation conflicts were not
a big deal. Still, 50% of students who rated family vacation conflicts as a big deal did not take
more than a week of family vacation over the summer.
Parent perspective: Across school A and its two peer schools, parents and student responses
were very similar on factual questions and reasonably similar on questions of program interest
and barriers to participation, suggesting surveying students is an effective way to get at parent
views as well. At school A, parents had a stronger interest than their children in programs and
were more affected by sign-up difficulties than students were.
5

6. Executive summary: key actions
Highlight programs that offer convenient transportation: This was a major barrier across all grades,
and a crucial swing factor between students who did and did not attend summer programs.
Distinguish program recommendations by grades: for 6th and 7th graders focus on building interest
given how decisive student interest was to eventual participation; highlight programs with flexible
schedules to 7th and 8th graders, as students from those grades who did not attend programs were
strongly affected by vacation plans.
Personalize support to students i) interested in attending but who didn’t last year, ii) who attended
in summer ‘14 but didn’t in summer ‘15, and iii) who are unsure about attending but only have one
or two ‘big deal’ barriers. Personal outreach to those 58 students could be especially effective to help
them access summer opportunities.
Use student-level data on barriers to effectively connect students with programs that match their
interests and needs. The accompanying Excel file has student-level data on past and upcoming
attendance, interest in different types of programs, as well as student ratings of summer program barriers
to help effectively and efficiently connect students with summer programs that match their needs. It also
includes the name and student reviews of all 88 programs that students at school A, B, and C attended
this past summer.
6
Note: Excel file not included with this public report

7. 40% of students participate in programs, with variation between 7th and 8th
graders.
7
• Overall participation of 40%. Notably, 7th grade had 30% participation.
• These 7th graders had low participation last year: as 6th graders only 30% attended.
• Participation – both overall and by grade – below school B and school C (~60% participation)
Did you attend a summer program?

8. Attendance in summer 2014 is a strong predictor of attendance in summer
2015.
8
• Previous attendance (or non-attendance) at a summer program is a strong predictor of future
attendance (or non-attendance).
• Students who attended a summer program in summer ‘14 were 100% more likely to attend a program
over the summer compared to students who did not attend a program in summer ‘14.
• Previous attendance was a very strong predictor for 7th graders, a weaker one for 8th graders.
• Notably, of the students who attended both summers, only 40% went to the same program both
summers, suggesting that even students who attended a program last year will actively explore
other programs.
Attendance at summer programs in summer ‘15 based on attendance in summer ‘14

9. Students enjoy their programs, though 8th graders less so.
9
• Students enjoy their programs, with 70% rating it a 5 or 4 (out of 5).
• 8th graders were significantly less happy than other students with their programs: only 20% give it a 5.
• By comparison, those same students had 55% rate their program for summer 2014 a 5.
• Enjoyment is a bit below school B and school C for 6th and 7th graders, and much below for 8th graders.
Did you enjoy the program? (5 is yes, 1 is no)

10. • Students have a strong interest in attending a summer program, with 50% interested and another
30% on the fence.
• 8th graders – who had much lower satisfaction – have very strong interest in attending a program.
• Lower 7th grade interest in line with lower participation, though lower interest comes from more
students who are not sure of attending a program, not more students uninterested in programs. .
8th graders have a high interest in summer programs given their lower satisfaction
with last summer’s programs.
10
Do you want to attend a summer program this coming summer?

11. Student interest outpaces program attendance
11
• Student interest in attending a program this summer outpaces their attendance at programs last
summer.
• This suggests opportunities to support students unsure about attending programs to help
them find programs that work for them.

12. Previous student interest is very strongly related to subsequent program
participation
12
• Student interest in attending a program is strongly related to eventual summer program attendance.
• Using data from last spring’s survey, students interested in attending a program are 200% more
likely to attend a program than students not interested in attending one.
• Action: This suggests increasing student interest is a key way to increase summer program
participation.
• This is not always the case: at school B the connection between student interest and subsequent
participation was much weaker, suggesting they’re better focusing on barriers or parent interest.
Attendance at summer programs based on previous interest in attending a program

13. Students are interested in – but not often attending – overnight camps and
performing art programs
13
• Students who want to go to programs are strongly interested in overnight camps and performing art
programs. However, far fewer students who went to a program participated in those activities.
• Action: highlight overnight camps and performing art programs to students
• To a smaller degree, this is also true of science or technology programs as well.
• Action: Hook students not interested in attending programs with sports programs. This was the only type
of program these students were interested in.
What do students do over the summer and what do they want to do?
(students grouped by interest in attending a program this summer)

14. Lower 8th grade programsatisfaction not driven by mismatch between types of
programs they attend and want to attend
14
• More 8th graders want to attend overnight camps or performing arts programs than attended them over the
summer, but that is similar to what all students report.
• This suggests lower 8th grade program satisfaction driven by unique experience at programs, not because
students were doing activities they did not want to.
• Action: to increase 8th grade program satisfaction, highlight programs with high satisfaction (as
opposed to highlighting particular types of programs that students are missing out on).
What did 8th graders do over the summer and and what do 8th graders who went to a
program want to do?

15. Program-related barriers (expense, transportation, vacation conflicts) are not
particularly associated with certain types of programs
15
• This suggests that the types of programs (day camp, overnight camp, etc. ) you recommend do not need to
be tailored to students who reported large program-related barriers.
• The one modest exception is performing art programs where students concerned about program expense
report greater than usual interest in them, indicating that students may being having trouble finding
affordable performing art programs.
• Action: look for and highlight affordable performing art programs.
Do students with program-related barriers have different activity preferences than other
students?

16. Students and parents rated the impact of the following barriers to attending great
summer programs.
16
• Students and parents were asked to rate how important various potential barriers were to
participating in summer programs.
• Below, the text of those barriers is presented and barriers are grouped into categories.
• Students and parents rated barriers as a “Big deal”, “Small deal”, or “Does not apply”
• Those descriptions were converted to scores: “Big deal” is a 2, “Small deal” is 1, “Does not apply” is 0

17. Overall, students have several moderate barriers: expense, transportation, lack
of exciting options, and family vacation conflicts.
17
• Barriers are similar to school A last year, though transportation challenges have increased
while family vacation conflicts are less of a barrier.
• Barriers are similar to though greater than for school B and school C.
• While overall barriers provide a useful backdrop, the key insights are in the following slides
that unpack which barriers may be driving program participation.

18. Parents and students are in very strong agreement about the impact of different
barriers.
18
• Parents are less concerned they do not know exciting program options, while finding programs
with convenient hours is also a challenge for them (students were not asked this question).
• 50% of parents responded – which was higher than school A’s two peer schools – and the
students whose parents responded were very similar to all students (in the % who attended a
program, wanted to attend, barriers, etc.), suggesting that the parents who responded are fairly
representative of all parents.

19. Exception: Program expense and transportation challenges are a much bigger deal
for 6th grade parents than for their children
19
• Program expense and transportation were significantly greater concerns for parents than students.
• Action: Focus on program expense and convenient transportation for 6th graders as parent’s
perspective seems very informative here (younger students may not know as much about expenses).
• On the other hand, students were far more worried about family vacation conflicts than their parents
were.
• Action: Work through 6th grade concerns about family vacation conflicts as their perceived vacation
conflicts may not in fact be that big of a deal (though see slide 25 that shows 7th and 8th graders were
good predictors of eventual family vacations).

20. Vacation conflicts, transportation challenges, and interest were swing barriers that
affectedstudents who did not attend a programa lot more
20
• That finding suggests that those factors may be crucial swing factors that affect students’ eventual
participation in programs.
• For both students (and parents, next slide), program expense was a slightly bigger deal for students who
attended.
• Program cost then might be a big deal for families, but not a decisive factor in their eventual
attendance or non-attendance.

21. Like students, parents rated vacation conflicts and transportation challenges very
differently dependingon student’s attendance; sign-upunique factor for parents
21
• Like their children (see previous slide), parents rated family vacation conflicts and transportation
challenges as a much bigger deal if their child did not attend a program over the summer.
• Convenient program hours, about which students were not asked, was also a key swing barrier for
parents, consistent with transportation being a challenge.
• Difficulty signing up was a much larger swing barrier for parents as opposed to students.
• Action: focus sign-up help on parents (not students), and keep in mind that students may not be aware
of the difficulty of signing up for a program.
• Like with students, program expense was a greater barrier for parents whose children did attend

22. Interest in programs crucial swing barrier for 6th graders; vacation conflicts and
transportation challenges also significant.
22
• This is in line and a separate confirmation of the importance of student interest to eventual participation
for 7th and 8th graders (see slide 25).
• Action: Build excitement among 6th graders about attending programs, perhaps by highlighting some
of the great programs students have enjoyed attending.
• While there is not enough data to reliably compare 6th grade parents whose children did and did not
attend, interest also looks like a swing barrier them, along with family vacation conflicts and
transportation challenges.

23. Interest, vacation conflicts, and transportationcrucial swing barriers for 7th graders
23
• For parents, vacation conflicts and convenient hours were also large swing barriers.
• Action: Highlight programs with flexible schedules or convenient transportation to 7th graders.
• Action: Build excitement among students for programs by sharing with them some of the great programs
students attended and enjoyed.

24. Vacation conflicts and transportation swing factors for students. Notably, interest in
programs isn’t.
24
• Action: For 8th graders, focus on highlighting programs with flexible schedules and convenient
transportation. Not as important to build excitement for programs.
• Similar picture from parents, though vacation conflicts weren’t a swing factor for them either.

25. Students accurately predict greater family vacations, though even 50% students
for whom that was a big deal ended up taking a week or less of vacation.
25
• Students are good at predicting family vacation conflicts: those who rated it a larger barrier last spring took
significantly longer vacation that students who did not.
• However, even for students who rated vacation conflicts a big deal, 50% ended up not taking a vacation or
only a week-long vacation.
• Action: highlight week to week programs even to students who say family vacation conflicts are a big deal
as 50% of them would have been able to attend that type of program.

26. Barriers are similar across students based on their interest in attending a program,
suggestingthat assessments of barriers aren’t coloring student interest.
26
• The exception to the similarity is with “don’t’ want to go” and “went but didn't’t like” where very naturally
students who separately said they are not interested in attending rated that a bigger deal.
• Action: to build student interest, focus on getting them excited, not problem solving other barriers for
them.
• Similar story with parents, though program expense was a bigger deal for parents who were interested in
summer programs, consistent with earlier findings.

27. Students who were interested but didn’t go last year didn’t have any distinctive
barriers, suggesting there is no particular barrier holding them back.
27
• There are 23 students who want to attend a program but who didn’t last year.
• Action: These students face similar barriers to other students, suggesting that personal support and
encouragement – as opposed to problem solving any particular barrier – is the key to helping them.

28. Parents strongly prefer help by sending home list of programs.Aminority of parents
would like presentations of programs at schools.
28
• Action: Send parents home lists of programs. Refer to accompanying Excel for ideas about programs
students particularly enjoy. [Excel not included with public report]
• Sending home a list of programs may be a first step that subsequently sparks parent interest in other
types of school support.
• These findings are very consistent across grades and in line with peer schools.

29. There are several school and grade-wide steps to increase student access and
participation in summer programs.
29
Highlight programs that have flexible schedules to accommodate family vacation plans:
• Action: highlight programs that have week-by-week schedules or are drop in, such as those by BCYF.
Distinguish program recommendations by grades:
• Action: for all grades, recommend programs that offer convenient transportation and keep in mind sign-up
challenges which affect parents but don’t register with students.
• Action: for 6th grade, work through student concerns about vacation conflicts given parents think it is much
less of a problem.
• Action: for 6th and 7th grade, build interest in programs given how sharply that separated students who did
and did not attend.
• Action: for 7th and 8th grades, adjust to vacation conflicts that strongly affected students who did not attend
a program.
Increase student excitement – and therefore, likely participation – by highlighting great programs to
students and parents
• Action: recommend to students unexcited by their options some of the great programs students have
previously enjoyed. Messaging to students can emphasize that their peers really enjoyed those programs.
• Action: highlight overnight programs and performing art programs which students are interested in but
rarely get to attend.
• Action: to help 8th graders find programs they enjoy more, highlight programs students enjoyed; no need to
highlight particular types of programs.
• Action: for students uninterested in programs, recommend sports programs, the one type of program
these students are strongly interested in.
• Action: send home lists of programs to parents.

30. schoolAcan also provide potentially high-impact personalized support to certain
groups of students
30
Three groups of students seem like promising ones to focus personalized support on:
• 1) Want to attend but didn’t this summer
• 2) Attended summer ‘14 but didn’t attend summer ‘15
• 2) Not sure of attending but only have one or two big deal obstacles
• In total, 58 students students across school A fall into one of these categories. To narrow down that
list, you can overlay judgment about individual student needs or eliminate one of the above
categories.
Use student-level data on barriers to effectively connect students (and families) with programs
that match their needs. The attached Excel file has student-level data on attendance and summer
program barriers to help effectively and efficiently connect students with summer programs that match
their needs.
• Action: Use data to best match students with programs.
• Action: Look at data on all the programs that students from school A and its two peer schools
attended for ideas about other programs that may be great suggestions for your students
• Action: Share “top students to focus on” with each homeroom teacher.
Note: Excel file not included with this public report

31. Appendix
31
• Response rates
• Length of program attendance
• Year over year program attendance
• Barriers by grade
• 7th grade student and parent barriers
• 8th grade student and parent barriers
• Distribution of barrier ratings
• Year over year barrier ratings, all students
• Year over year barrier ratings, 7th grade
• Year over year barrier ratings, 8th grade
• Program attendance, enjoyment, and type
Slide #
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41

32. Avery high proportion of students responded, and a significant number of
parents responded as well.
32

33. When students did attend programs, they overwhelmingly did so for at least a
few weeks, significant given the short vacation for schoolA’s students.
33
• This was true across grades and school A and its peer schools

34. Students attended programs at very similar rates as they
did last year.
34
• Notably, current 7th graders continued their lower participation from when they were 6th graders,
suggesting that these current 7th graders – and not anything particular about the 6th grade year – face
challenges accessing programs.

35. Barriers were very similar across grades
35
• This is consistent with peer schools, though different from last year at school A
were 6th graders faced higher barriers than 7th graders.

36. 7th grade students and parents rated barriers very similarly
36

37. 8th grade students and parents rated barriers very similarly
37

38. Some barriers strongly affect some students, while other barriers have a broad
but modest affect on students.
38
• Expense, conflict with family vacation, program expense, and lack of interest in
program options are intense barriers, affecting some students strongly.

39. Barrier ratings were similar from last year, with transportation challenges
increasing in importance and vacation conflicts decreasing.
39

40. Current 7th graders have very similar barriers to when they were 6th graders last
year.
40

41. Transportation challenges have significantly increased in importance for 8th
graders.
41

42. Students at schoolAattend a tremendous variety of programs
42
• See accompanying Excel for data on all the 88 programs that students attended across
school A and its two peer schools.
• At school A, only 3 programs had more than 3 students attend them.
• As a result, it is tough to draw meaningful conclusions about programs just from school
A’s experience at them, though by looking at all the programs students at school A and its
peer schools attended, stronger conclusions can begin to be made about programs
students particularly enjoy.
• See tab on Excel that highlights overnight camps and performing arts programs that
students enjoyed. These program ideas could help respond to student interest in these
types of programs that exceeds student attendance at these types of programs.
Note: Excel file not included with this public report