Summer school programs help children get better at both reading and mathematics. Students who attend summer school tend to have higher test scores than those who don’t, which means that offering voluntary summer programs is likely to help students catch up from pandemic-related learning slowdowns. And summer learning programs may also improve outcomes beyond test scores, such as by helping students to recover course credits.

“Summer school programs help children get better at both reading and mathematics. Students who attend summer school tend to have higher test scores than those who don’t, which means that offering voluntary summer programs is likely to help students catch up from pandemic-related learning slowdowns,” says Kathleen Lynch, an assistant professor of learning sciences at UConn’s Neag School of Education.