GIVE A SUMMER FOR SCHOOL CAnalysis of the summer participation, future summer plans, and barriers to summer programs for a Boston area middle school’s students (grades 6 – 8) and areas for action.

Prepared by Give a Summerramon@giveasummer.orgGiveaSummer.org

May 2015

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Background on report

• This is the public version of a report prepared by Give a Summer for a Boston area middle school analyzing the summer participation, future plans, and barriers facing their middle school students. The school is referenced throughout the report as “school C.”

• Give a Summer worked with three peer schools, and when relevant, noted differences between the schools. The other two schools are noted as “school A” and “school B.”

• With all three schools’ approval, Give a Summer is releasing public versions of the three school reports as further examples of how communities can better understand and support youth participation in summer opportunities.

• Give a Summer believes that getting communities to collect and analyze data about where and why kids miss out on summer programs will:

• improve youth access to summer programs by broadly identifying high-need areas and barriers to summer program participation

• empower youth-serving organizations, such as schools and mentoring organizations, to more effectively target and support individual students to make great summer plans

• strengthen advocacy efforts by clarifying the need for opportunities• increase public accountability for improvement

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Outline of presentation

• Executive Summary• Findings: Previous summer participation• Findings: Previous summer enjoyment• Findings: Upcoming summer plans• Findings: Interest by type of program• Findings: Barriers to summer participation• Areas for action• Areas for investigation• Appendix

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Executive summary: key facts

Past attendance: 57% of students attended a program last summer, with participation increasing a little bit in 7th and 8th grades and slightly ahead of the three schools as a whole.

Satisfaction: Students really enjoy their programs: about 85% of students rated their program a 4 or 5 (out of 5), with about 60% giving it a 5. Satisfaction was ahead of the three school average.

Future plans: Students have a strong interest in attending a program, with nearly 70% interested and 20% not sure. Interest is particularly strong in 7 th grade, with 80% interested. Interest is greater than in the three schools as a whole.

Types of summer programs: Students are well matched with programs: the types of programs students attend are very similar to the types of programs they want to go to.

Barriers: The two biggest barriers to summer participation are i) expense of programs and ii) family vacation conflicts, though across the board school C had lower barriers than the three schools as a whole. For students unsure of attending a program, transportation challenges were also a major concern. Barriers were greatest for students in 6 th grade.

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Executive summary: key actions

Highlight programs that have flexible schedules to accommodate family vacation plans: Besides program expense, this was the biggest barriers to participation, and it was the largest barrier for students who are not sure of attending a program.

Lack of interest in program options matters, but can be solved. This was the 3rd largest barrier and a key differentiator between students who did and did not attend a program last year. Yet students who reported a lack of programs that interest them have nearly the same program interests as students who went to programs last year or who want to go to a program this summer.

Personalize support to students interested in attending but who didn’t last year or who are unsure about attending but only have one or two ‘big deal’ barriers. 25 students fall into the first category and 17 more students are in the second group. Personal outreach to these students could be particularly effective to help them access summer opportunities.

Use student-level data on barriers to effectively connect students with programs that match their interests and needs. The accompanying Excel file has student-level data on past and upcoming attendance, interest in different types of programs, as well as student ratings of summer program barriers to help effectively and efficiently connect students with summer programs that match their needs.

Note: Excel file not included with this public report

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Executive summary: key questions

What are parent perspectives on barriers to summer program participation?• Impact: improve efforts to expand summer access by incorporating influential parent perspective

When and for how long do families take vacations?• Depending on when and for how long families take vacations, there are different ways to best

support summer opportunities for students: highlighting programs in July for families that take August vacations or recommending week by week programs for families that travel in July.

• Impact: better target communication and suggestions to students’ and families’ needs

How do students’ plans for summer participation compare to their actual summer participation?• Knowing how well students’ plans for the summer match their outcomes would inform how much do

you want to concentrate on students who are not sure of their plans vs. working more broadly with all students.

• Impact: more effectively help students access summer opportunities

Why do more students from school C attend programs and enjoy them compared to the other two schools?• Impact: share successful strategies with other schools to help them realize similar, great outcomes

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Findings: summer program participation• Overall participation of 57% is slightly higher than in the three schools as a whole. • Participation at school C is slightly lower among 6th graders

Did you attend a summer program last summer?

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Findings: summer program enjoyment• Students really enjoy their programs, with 85% rating it a 5 or 4 (out of 5)• Average satisfaction (of 4.4) is very consistent across grades, though 8 th grade has fewer

students rating programs a 5. • Satisfaction is above the three schools as a whole (school C average of 4.4 compared to 4.0

average across the three schools)

Did you enjoy the program? (5 is yes, 1 is no)

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Findings: upcoming summer plans• Students are very interested in attending a program, with nearly 70% interested and another 20% on

the fence. • Interest is spectacularly high amongst 7th graders (80% interested), though lower with 6 th and 8th

graders• Student interest is slightly greater than in the three schools as a whole.

Do you want to attend a summer program this coming summer?

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Findings: upcoming summer plans vs. previous participation

• Student interest in attending a program this summer outpaces attendance at programs last summer.

• Action: This leads to our recommendation to support the students interested in attending a program but who may need help making it one.

• Additionally, given attendance is below interest in attending programs, very few students who are not sure of attending a program will get to attend one, leading Give a Summer to also recommend a focus on these students.

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Findings: types of programs students attend and want to attend

• Overall, students are well matched with the programs they attend: The types of programs that students went to last year and that students are interested in for this summer are similar.

• Notably, for students who are unsure about attending a program this summer, they are interested in similar programs to the types of programs that students have previously attended

• Action: recommending those programs can help unsure students find programs that interest them.• Action: hook students not interested in attending programs with sports programs. This was the only

type of program these students were interested in.

What do students do over the summer and what do they want to do?(students grouped by interest in attending a program this summer)

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Findings: types of programs student attend vs. types of program students with program barriers attend

• Students who said program-related barriers (i.e., programs are too expensive, tough to get to, etc.) are a big deal attended very similar programs as other students.

All students: types of programs students attend vs. types of programs students with program barriers attend

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Findings: desired types of programs: detail for students for whom program barriers are a big deal• Students who said program-related barriers (i.e., programs are too expensive, tough to get to, etc.)

are a big deal have very similar program preferences for this coming summer as students overall. • This, in addition to the previous slide which showed that students with large program barriers

attended very similar programs to students as a whole, suggests that students confronting these barriers are not doing so because they have unique program interests (i.e., they are attracted to day camps) but because of their unique circumstances as well as the programs they are aware of.• Action: When looking for programs that are low cost or are easy to get to, look for the

programs all students want to attend.

All students: overall student interests vs. interests of those students who rated barriers a big deal

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Findings: description of different barriers

• Students were asked to rate how important various potential barriers were to participating in summer programs.

• Below, the text of those barriers is presented and barriers are grouped into categories.

• Students rated barriers as a “Big deal”, “Small deal”, or “Does not apply”• Those descriptions were converted to scores: “Big deal” is a 2, “Small deal” is

1, “Does not apply” is 0

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Findings: barriers to summer participation

• Program expense and schedule conflicts with family vacations were the largest barriers• Barriers across the board were lower for school C than the other two schools• Lack of interest in program options and transportation challenges were also modest

barriers• The impact of each barrier is greatest on 6 th graders (see appendix).

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Findings: barriers to summer participation based on previous attendance

• Students who did not attend a program last summer rated lack of interest in programs, family vacation conflicts, and transportation challenges as higher barriers than students who attended.

• That finding suggests that those factors may be crucial swing factors that affect students’ eventual participation in programs. See dark green

• These findings were consistent across grades• Action: Help students find programs that match their interests, that have flexible schedules, and

are easy to get to.

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Findings: barriers to summer participation based on upcoming interest

• Students who are unsure about attending programs rated program expense, conflict with family vacations, and transportation challenges as their largest barriers and as a bigger deal than students interested in attending a program.

• Action: To help students who are unsure about attending a programs, this suggests especially working with them to find programs that are low cost, offer flexible schedules, and convenient transportation access.

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Findings: barriers to summer participation for interested students who didn’t attend last summer

• As a result of high student interest in attending programs, there are 25 students who want to attend a program but who didn’t last year.

• When compared to all students interested in attending a program, the students who didn’t attend one last year rate most barriers slightly higher, with difficulty signing up increasing the most.

• Action: To help students interested in programs but who didn’t attend last year, there is no silver bullet barrier to focus on. One barrier to keep in mind, though, is the challenge of signing up for programs, something these students may not have much experience with from previous years.

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Areas for action: general

Highlight programs that have flexible schedules to accommodate family vacation plans: Besides program expense, this was the biggest barriers to participation, and it was the largest barrier for students who are not sure of attending a program.• Action: Find and highlight programs that have week-by-week schedules• Action: Find and highlight programs that are daily, such as these run by BCYF

Lack of interest in program options matters, but can be solved. This was the 3rd largest barrier and a key differentiator between students who did and did not attend a program last year. Yet students who reported a lack of programs that interest them have nearly the same program interests as students who went to programs last year or who want to go to a program this summer.• Action: recommend to students unexcited by their options some of the great programs students

have previously enjoyed. • Action: for students uninterested in programs, recommend sports programs, the one type of

program these students they are strongly interested in.

Look for programs that are low cost or convenient to get to across different types of programs. There aren’t particular types of programs where cost or transportation seems to be a particularly big deal. So, when looking for low cost or convenient programs, look for programs that match students’ interests, like day camps, sports programs, overnight camps, and performing arts programs.

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Areas for action: student specific

Two groups of students seem like promising ones to focus personalized support on:• 1) Want to attend but didn’t last year: 25 students across school C fall into this

category which seems a promising area to focus individual attention on. No barriers stand out for these students compared to their peers. Use the student-level data to help each of them.

• 2) Not sure of attending but only have one or two big deal obstacles: this applies to 17 students and is another promising group of students to support with individualized help. Again, see the accompanying Excel for more information on these students.

Use student-level data on barriers to effectively connect students (and families) with programs that match their needs. The attached Excel file has student-level data on attendance and summer program barriers to help effectively and efficiently connect students with summer programs that match their needs. • Action: Use data to best match students with programs visiting school.• Action: Share “5 students to focus on” with each homeroom teacher.

Note: Excel file not included with this public report

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Areas for investigation

What are parent perspectives on barriers to summer program participation?• For example, students don’t rate difficulty signing up for programs as that big a deal, though teachers often

describe this as a big challenge. What do parents think? • Impact: improve efforts to expand summer access by incorporating influential parent perspective

When and for how long do families take vacations?• Depending on when and for how long families take vacations, there are different ways to best support

summer opportunities for students: highlighting programs in July for families that take August vacations or recommending week by week programs for families that travel in July.

• Impact: better target communication and suggestions to students’ and families’ needs.

How do students’ plans for summer participation compare to their actual summer participation?• Knowing how well students’ plans for the summer match their outcomes would inform how much do you

want to concentrate on students who are not sure of their plans vs. working more equally with all students. • Impact: more effectively help students access summer opportunities

Why do more students from school C attend programs and enjoy them compared to other two peer schools?• Impact: share successful strategies with other schools to help them realize similar, great outcomes

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Appendix

• Methodology and response rates• Length of program attendance• Distribution of barrier ratings• Barrier ratings by grade• Findings from student comments

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Appendix: survey response rates

• Survey (example is linked here) is given to all the middle school students at the three schools, with student ID, grade, and classroom prepopulated.

• The survey received a very high response rate that was consistent across grades and schools.

• Below are the responses rates at this school:

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Appendix: length of program attendance

• When students go to programs, they generally attend for at least a month, with another large percentage attending for a few weeks.

• Results are consistent across grades and similar to the three schools as a whole.

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Appendix: distribution of barrier ratings

• Consistent with their higher average scores, program expense and family vacation conflicts had the most students reporting their barriers were a big deal.

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Appendix: barriers by grade

• The impact of each barrier is highest on 6th graders and about the same for 7th and 8th graders.

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Appendix: breakdown of additional student comments

• Student comments reveal diversity of student concerns and preferences

• Family vacation conflicts was the most frequent comment by far