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Prior research has determined that low-income students lose more ground over the summer than their higher-income peers. Prior research has also shown that some summer learning programs can stem this loss, but we do not know whether large, district-run, voluntary programs can improve students' outcomes. To fill this gap, The Wallace Foundation launched the National Summer Learning Study in 2011. This five-year study offers the first-ever assessment of the effectiveness of large-scale, voluntary, district-run, summer learning programs serving low-income elementary students. The study, conducted by RAND, uses a randomized controlled trial to assess the effects of district-run voluntary summer programs on student achievement and social and emotional skills over the short and long run. All students in the study were in the third grade as of spring 2013 and enrolled in a public school in one of five urban districts: Boston; Dallas; Duval County, Florida; Pittsburgh; or Rochester, New York. This report, the second of five that will result from the study, looks at how summer programs affected student performance on mathematics, reading, and social and emotional assessments in fall 2013. A bibliography is included. [For the brief of this report, "First Outcomes from the National Summer Learning Study. Research Brief," see ED561107. For the technical appendices, see ED561141.]

Many students lose knowledge and skills over the long summer break, and research suggests that low-income students fall further behind over the summer than their higher-income peers. Voluntary summer learning programs may provide an opportunity to stem summer learning loss and give struggling students additional learning opportunities. The Wallace Foundation is funding a five-year demonstration project in five urban school districts in Boston, Dallas, Duval County (Florida), Pittsburgh, and Rochester (New York). These districts have been pioneers in offering full-day voluntary programs for five to six weeks free of charge to large numbers of struggling elementary students, not just those facing grade retention. Over 5,000 third-grade students applied to participate in the district programs, and were randomly selected to participate in two summers of programming (summer 2013 and summer 2014). This study, commissioned by The Wallace Foundation, is the first randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of large-scale, district-run, voluntary summer learning programs. The overarching question addressed in this research is whether voluntary, district-run summer programs that include academic and enrichment activities improve low-income students' outcomes. [For the full report, "Ready for Fall? Near-Term Effects of Voluntary Summer Learning Programs on Low-Income Students' Learning Opportunities and Outcomes," see ED561140. For the report's technical appendices, see ED561141.]

High-quality out-of-school-time (OST) programs have a positive effect on youth development, but many cities have found it difficult to address the challenges of expanding and improving the quality of programs offered to underserved and high-need students. In response, The Wallace Foundation sponsored an initiative to help five cities increase collaboration, access, quality, information sharing, and sustainability in their OST systems. The third in this three-volume series presents in-depth case studies of the five Wallace Foundation grant cities: Providence, Boston, New York City, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. A review of the history of the grant in each city, the role played by the local context in which it was implemented, the initiative's progress toward a range of goals, and enablers and challenges to implementation reveals both lessons learned and best practices for the OST field. For example, strong interagency coordination and mayoral involvement, gaining stakeholder buy-in, a comprehensive approach to training and professional development, and shared goals were all associated with the more successful OST improvement efforts. However, all the cities faced challenges in implementing their respective initiatives, including staff turnover at the agency and program levels, funding constraints, obstacles to coordination, and issues related to data entry and tracking student outcomes. Individual chapters contain footnotes. (Contains 10 figures and 5 tables.) [For the related reports, see Volume 1 (ED514586) and Volume 2 (ED514587).]

High-quality out-of-school-time (OST) programs have a positive effect on youth development, but many cities have found it difficult to address the challenges of expanding and improving the quality of programs offered to underserved and high-need students. In response, The Wallace Foundation sponsored an initiative to help five cities increase collaboration, access, quality, information sharing, and sustainability in their OST systems. In many cities that provide financial support for OST, funding is funneled through a variety of youth-serving agencies that lack basic information about the programs they fund. The second in this three-volume series describes how the grantees and three other cities used management information systems to collect and use data on OST programs, including enrollment, attendance, and student outcomes. Cities' use of management information systems to collect and report data on OST programs is relatively new, so the experiences of the case-study cities offer valuable lessons for the field. For example, management information systems are capable of supporting OST system improvement but require careful planning, the use of data from these systems can lead to additional funding and support, the customization of web-based systems encourages their use, providing high-quality training to providers increases the use of the systems, and many providers are overburdened by requirements to use multiple management information systems, so eliminating redundancies and coordinating data requirements can ensure more efficient program provision and reporting. Survey Administration, Sampling, Weighting, and Modeling is appended. Individual chapters contain footnotes. (Contains 15 tables.) [For the related reports, see Volume 1 (ED514586) and Volume 3 (ED514588).]

High-quality out-of-school-time (OST) programs have a positive effect on youth development, but many cities have found it difficult to address the challenges of expanding and improving the quality of programs offered to underserved and high-need students. In response, The Wallace Foundation sponsored an initiative to help five cities increase collaboration, access, quality, information sharing, and sustainability in their OST systems. The overall goals of the initiative were to increase access, improve quality, develop information systems for decisionmaking, and plan for financial stability. Each city received a planning grant, which it focused on particular efforts tied to city context and area of need. The first in this three-volume series describes the cities' early work under the grant and analyzes the conditions and activities that contributed to their progress in building a coordinated system of services to meet the initiative's goals. Specifically, it addresses how city context affected the approaches implemented, the effectiveness of these approaches, and important enablers of progress, particularly in the areas of collaboration and coordination. Of particular note was the finding that city context and the involvement of the mayor had a significant influence on both decisionmaking and outcomes. In addition, the cities depended on the ability to gain buy-in from the schools and other key stakeholders, as well as financial assistance through city budgets and grants to ensure sustainability. Individual chapters contain footnotes. (Contains 10 tables.) [For the related reports, see Volume 2 (ED514587) and Volume 3 (ED514588).]