The Impact of a Summer Learning Program on Urban Students Attendance, and Academic Achievement

With federal legislation shifting from No Child Left Behind (NCLB) to Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), districts are actively seeking effective and innovative approaches to narrowing the achievement gap. Urban school districts generally consist of racially and socioeconomically diverse student populations, numerous high poverty schools, and fewer teacher resources. They struggle to meet achievement measures each year and the gap continues to widen. This quantitative study examines a large urban school district to determine if its Summer Learning Academy helps students retain previously taught skills in order to prevent the phenomena know as summer learning loss.