The Wallace Foundation, in partnership with the RAND Corporation, released a major report: Learning from Summer: Effects of Voluntary Summer Learning Programs on Low Income Urban Youth. The study is the largest of its kind and sought to find out whether voluntary, six-week district-led summer programs help low-income elementary students succeed in school. The study researched the impact of two consecutive summers of academic and enrichment programming on students’ knowledge in language arts, math, and social and emotional skills. Five urban school districts were used as the sample base for the study. Some of the findings from the report include that summer learning programs increase attendance (which can lead to stronger social and emotional competencies) and students who attended summer learning programs performed better on state math tests than those who didn’t attend. To learn more about the outline of the study and its findings, click here.