Breaking from school during the summer can provide today’s youth with incredible opportunities for growth and continued learning. As an integral part of the educational ecosystem, public libraries’ summer learning programs play a crucial role in reaching all children, offering spaces, resources and programming to enhance students’ lives and increase the likelihood of future success.
The Building Equity: Amplify Summer Learning Toolkit provides methods for libraries to engage every child in high-quality summer learning, emphasizing strategies to center equity, executing effective STEM program design and targeting middle school youth. In partnership with the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA), ULC issued a Statement on Summer Learning in 2022 for public libraries to deepen access and equity in both what and how summer programs are offered. Click here to read more and pledge to drive deeper equity and broader access for all youth in your community.
Building Equity: Amplify Summer Learning Toolkit
I. Making Summer a PriorityResearch shows when schools are on break, learning stops. This makes summer a pivotal period that can result in deleterious learning loss and increases opportunity gaps for children. Public libraries, as essential centers for summer learning, offer reading, STEM and a variety of learning opportunities open to all. Click here to learn more about how libraries are serving their communities during the summer.
STRATEGIES1.1 Recognize Summer as a Critical PeriodBuild knowledge and understanding regarding summer learning loss and its impacts on student outcomes. Click here to read about summer learning loss, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Click here for information on the demonstrated impacts of learning gaps, including high school graduation and college entrance rates.
1.2 Understand How Systemic Barriers are Magnified in SummerBuild an awareness of the inequities and opportunity gaps that typically increase during the summer months. Click here for data on regional, racial and economic barriers and their influence on post-summer student outcomes. Click here for additional insights about the demonstrated disparities in summer learning loss between low-income and higher-income students.
1.3 Establish Summer Learning as a Top Library PriorityInclude summer learning in the library system’s planning. Identify key personnel to lead summer learning initiatives, including a program director. Set annual summer program goals that drive a continuous cycle of evaluation and quality improvement. Ensure program sustainability by seeking multiple and diverse funding sources. Create staffing patterns that allow branch staff to conduct robust summer learning and outreach. Library leadership should declare summer learning as a key initiative both internally and in public messaging.
1.4 Transition from Summer Reading to Summer LearningExpanding what we offer and what we count as learning in summer is at the basis of pivoting from summer reading to summer learning. While many libraries are opting to call this suite of programs and opportunities Summer at the Library, it is still important to move toward counting active learning like 21st-century skills found in STEM. These include, but are not limited to: collaboration, critical thinking and problem solving, creativity and innovation, communication, information management, effective use of technology, career and life skills and cultural awareness (click here for more information). This deepens equity by welcoming diverse learners into our libraries.
Counting STEM as a track of learning increases our youth’s access to critical skills essential for future-ready learners while at the same time welcoming non-reading youth into our programs.
II. Building Equity in Summer ProgramsDue to the history of U.S. public libraries, they have not been universally considered a trusted space. Centering anti-racism goals is key to ensuring a successful library summer learning program, improving its reach, impact, diversity and inclusivity, all earning the right to be called a trusted space by all. This process should be strategic and intentional at all levels of the library. Click here for more information about anti-racism strategies and work for public libraries.
STRATEGIES2.1 Establish and Foster Cultural CompetenceStudy cultural competence, or cognitive, affective and behavioral skills that lead to effective and appropriate communication with people of other cultures, and implement training for anyone engaged in summer programming. Click here to learn about the value of cultural competence in the education system, including detecting biases, implementing equitable behavior management and fostering engagement. Click here for strategies to bake cultural competence into educational environments, including representation, language usage and book selection.
2.2 Engage Trusted MessengersSeek to understand trusted and respected individuals, organizations and other entities in your community, and engage them in your work. Click here for general information about trusted messengers in American culture today. Click here for details about understanding your audience as a path to identifying trusted messengers.
2.3 Prioritize Authentic Co-DesignStudy the concept of co-design, or the participatory approach to designing solutions in which community members are treated as equal collaborators in the design process, and embed it into your programming. In other words, involve middle schoolers who represent the demographics of your service area in your program design process. Click here for more information on serving the Latinx community through co-design.
2.4 Respond to Community NeedsUse data and communication with community members to identify needs before acting on them.
Do not assume. Ask the community what their needs are, listen and actively respond. Click here for more information about authentic co-design.
2.5 Center Anti-Racism EffortsDirectly name anti-racism as a goal (as opposed to less specific terms such as “racial equity”) and work to identify, address and dismantle systemic racism in the library. Click here for case studies and more detailed guidance on anti-racism in public libraries.
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III. STEM Program DesignAs engines for workforce development, race and social equity, technology access and lifelong learning, public libraries occupy a unique space in actively fostering stronger STEM education outcomes in their communities. For additional research, the Building the STEM Workforce: Quickstart Toolkit, a precursor to this toolkit, provides strategies for short-term changes that can help libraries accelerate their progress as STEM equity leaders.
STRATEGIES3.1 Center Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)Study NGSS’s Three Dimensions of Science Learning, which form standards and combine to help students build a cohesive understanding of science over time. Work to frame summer programming around this national standard for STEM learning. Click here to study the basic cross-cutting concepts. Click here for well-organized and vetted resources to help translate STEM concepts into implementable lessons and activities.
3.2 Pair STEM and LiteracyIntegrate literacy learning into STEM programming to support overall computational skills and reinforce other skills that are needed by thriving adults. Click here for detailed suggestions on weaving reading and writing skills into STEM lesson planning.
3.3 Center PlayHigh-quality interactive learning supports cognitive and social-emotional development. Click here for more about successful models that incorporate play at the library.
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IV. Middle School YouthUnderstanding the developmental stage of middle schoolers is crucial to developing engaging summer programming. Through age-appropriate programming, creativity and approaches such as Positive Youth Development (PYD), libraries can positively impact early adolescents.
STRATEGIES4.1 Focus on Positive Youth DevelopmentStudy and implement the PYD approach, engaging youth through constructive activities, treating them as equal partners and generally fostering a positive environment. Ensure that the PYD approach is a throughline in all summer learning activities. Click here for more information about the PYD approach including training resources. Click here to explore more in-depth resources about the connection between PYD and justice prevention. Click here to explore training offered by the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) to develop deeper expertise in PYD.
4.2 Study Adolescent Brain Development, "Ages and Stages"Along with physical changes, adolescents experience cognitive changes as well. It’s important for those who work with teens to encourage them toward independence where they understand the ways in which their brains are developing and take advantage of those changes in a way that leads to future success. Click here for more and see also AACP.org and NIH.
4.3 Find the Children Who Need You the MostExamine community data and perform a community needs assessment, focused on data points related to economic outcomes such as school performance and median household income. If available, explore data disaggregated by zip code to precisely identify neighborhoods of need. Work to target summer programming and outreach to serve children in these neighborhoods. Click here for a repository of publicly-available economic mobility data points. Click here for zip code level information about opportunity for children in any given zip code. Click here for an overview of building a community needs assessment as a public library.
4.4 Implement Hart's Ladder of ParticipationStudy Roger Hart's Ladder of Children’s Participation, which describes eight ascending levels of decision-making agency, control and power that can be accorded to children and youth by adults. Integrate this framework into your programming from conception to execution. Click here for more background and information about Hart’s Ladder of Participation. Click here to learn more about strategies for utilizing Hart’s Ladder of Participation to assess library engagement.
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V. Example ResourcesExecution of an effective summer learning program requires significant planning and program design. Members of ULC’s Building Equity: Amplify Summer Learning cohort have contributed sample resources that may provide you with a starting point.
STRATEGIESExamples and Instructional Materials for Field Trips- Lexington Public Library: Back to the Roots Field Trip Descriptions
- Lexington Public Library: Field Trip Learning Objectives
- Lexington Public Library: STEAM Powered Program Permission Slip
Memoranda of Understanding- Boston Public Library: MOU (redacted)
Mission StatementsHarris County Public Library: Summer Learning Mission Statements
Pima County Public Library: Tween Services Team Mission
Program Goals- Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library: Summer 2023 Goals
Program Schedules- Milton Public Library: Program Plan & High-Level Schedule
Marketing Materials- Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library: Discover Summer 2.25-Inch Button
- Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library: Discover Summer 8.5x11 Display Sign
- Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library: Discover Summer 8.5x11 Poster Characters
- Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library: Discover Summer Bookmark
- Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library: Take and Make Template
- Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library: This Summer Learn About Fillable Signs
- Lexington Public Library: Social Media Flyer
- Lexington Public Library: STEAM-Powered Flyer
Target Audience RecruitmentSan Mateo Public Library: Target Audience Worksheet
VI. ULC Summer Learning BenchmarksDeveloped in collaboration with ULC’s Building Equity: Amplify Summer Learning Cohort, these Summer Learning Benchmarks support public libraries in strengthening learning and expanding equity and access into the design and delivery. Public libraries have historically offered summer reading opportunities to bolster literacy for students in their communities. As public libraries continue to play this integral role in the learning ecosystem, library staff will broaden their focus from summer reading to summer learning and honor the multiple styles and modalities of learning to increase the appeal of and access to library programs.
These benchmarks, informed by the peer-learning cohort and NSLA’s Comprehensive Assessment of Summer Programs (CASP) Guide, present a set of best practices for public library staff members to craft quality, equitable and sustainable summer learning programs. As libraries assess the impact of their participation in this program, they can identify opportunities for growth related to their local community needs and define future impact.
Click the link below to download the benchmarks.
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This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services grant number LG-250115-OLS-21.
