This document provides strategies for communities to address summer learning loss through better collection and use of data. It recommends that communities: 1) Talk to local funders to understand their data needs and priorities around literacy goals, and research how local school districts currently assess and track summer learning loss. 2) Work with community partners to define a shared approach to measuring summer learning loss in order to establish a baseline and track progress toward reducing it by 20%. 3) Use school data to identify students who would benefit from summer learning support and prioritize them for summer program opportunities.

1. What Your Community Can Do:
• Talk to local funders about their data priorities, including what they already collect,
how they use data, and what they need to collect to better understand progress on
literacy goals.
• Research the literacy assessment systems currently in use by local school districts,
and strategize how to use available data to understand summer learning loss in
your community.
• Work with coalition members to define a shared measurement approach to summer
learning loss that will help establish a baseline for tracking progress toward the
2016 goal of reducing summer learning loss by 20 percent.
• Use school assessment, attendance, and demographic data to identify students
who could benefit from summer reading support and to prioritize those students for
summer learning opportunities.
• Collect data on attendance from summer learning programs to track participation
and identify if there are potential issues that may impact the school year.
• Collect data on the number and ages of children served, as well as the average
program hours and costs of major providers, including school districts, recreation
centers, libraries, and high-quality, high-capacity nonprofit providers.
SUMMER LEARNING: STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS
Key Messages to Use in Your Outreach:
• Every summer, low-income youth lose two to three months in reading achievement
while their higher-income peers make slight gains. Year after year, these losses
accumulate.
• Informed and collaborative action in our community allows partners to effectively
pursue common summer priorities and helps ensure that low-income children are
progressing toward grade-level reading proficiency.
• Better data on student needs and progress not only helps strengthen the
effectiveness of summer learning resources in the community but also demonstrates
the impact of investments in summer.
• Tracking the right data on individual programs and community-wide summer
learning opportunities is crucial to moving our community toward success in
achieving a 20 percent reduction in summer learning loss.
Summer Learning Day Ideas
for Your Community:
Convene a task force of
community-based organizations
and district leaders to develop
a plan focused on collecting,
tracking, and evaluating summer
learning data.
Ask your mayor or superintendent
to issue a community-wide
call to action on sharing and
tracking data.
Share your community’s
commitment and the
infographic on summer learning
loss on your website, and
in newsletters and coalition
communications.
Write a blog post or article
to share the impact of your
community’s data on summer
learning loss.
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Visit summerlearning.org/GLR or
email glrpartnership@summerlearning.org
for more information.
FOLLOW THE NUMBERS
Cross-sector coordination and partnerships around data sharing,
collection, and analysis that result in joint commitment and accountability
for making measurable progress on student outcomes.
Robust, accurate data is crucial in designing summer learning opportunities to address
student needs, evaluate progress, and inform outreach strategies. Use this tip sheet as
a resource to help guide your community’s plans and actions on this strategy.