A Roadmap to Kick-Start Recovery in 2021: Six Principles for Summer Learning and Beyond

When public schools closed their doors in the spring of 2020, an estimated 3 million students went missing from formal schooling of any sort. During the beginning of the 2020-21 school year, a mixture of public confusion and mistrust of guidelines coming from state and federal authorities led to a churn of reopening and reclosing schools. However, the tides changed within the first 100 days of the Biden Administration when the U.S. Department of Education created a clear pathway for reopening schools and re-engaging students. Compared to summer 2020, districts are now well positioned to implement robust summer learning and enrichment programs this year. This report proposes the following six principles for summer learning that synthesize research on the topic with field-based practices related to COVID-19 recovery and planning: (1) Tie summer plans to long-term recovery goals; (2) Make the most of limited summer learning time; (3) Center attendance strategies in relationships and responsiveness; (4) Leverage community expertise to expand learning and enrichment options; (5) Create new pathways to recruit, train, and pay high-quality educators; and (6) Ensure that students and families have support networks for critical social services. [This report was co-produced by COVID Collaborative.]