Adding an 'S' to LIA

By Sam Piha

We know that young people learn across the day regardless of whether they're in school or out of school. We also know that much is to be learned during the summer months when school is closed. What is new is the knowledge that children suffer learning loss if they do not have quality learning experiences during the summer. Also, accumulated summer learning loss results in the serious achievement gap between those young people of means and low-income youth.

Because the quality of learning experience during the summer makes all the difference, we have expanded our Learning in Afterschool project to include learning in the summer. We have changed our banner to read Learning in Afterschool & Summer and will be adding additional outreach efforts to reach summer program providers and placing new resources on our website. We look forward to working closely with the Partnership for Children and Youth, the National Summer Learning Association, the Afterschool Alliance, and other important advocates for summer learning.