The vast majority of superintendents say summer programs are critical to their students’ academic success, and they plan to maintain or increase spending on them this summer despite the end of federal pandemic relief aid.
Districts over the past several years have relied on infusions of pandemic relief money to pay for learning recovery and acceleration efforts to catch students up following the school building closures of 2020.
A majority invested some of that money into new and expanded summer school programs to get students more instructional time. The end of that funding leaves districts at a crossroads: Do they find new ways to pay for those initiatives themselves, or do they end them?
Most superintendents say they plan to continue their summer programs in 2025 at the same level as in 2024—or even invest more money to expand access or programming—with money from their districts’ budgets or grants, according to the results of a new survey by AASA, The School Superintendents Association, Gallup, and the National Summer Learning Association.
“This research underscores what superintendents across the country know to be true—high-quality summer learning programs are not just beneficial; they are essential to student success,” said David Schuler, AASA’s executive director. “Even as federal emergency funds expire, district leaders remain committed to sustaining and expanding these opportunities because they see firsthand the positive impact they make on academic achievement and student engagement.”
Almost two-thirds of the 421 superintendents who participated in the survey reported using pandemic relief funding on summer programs between the 2021-22 and 2024-25 school years.
They used the relief money for a variety of summer program-related purposes: Eighty-one percent reported using the funds to establish new programs, and 62 percent used relief money to expand pre-existing programs. A majority also reported using some relief funding to pay for programs they had run before the pandemic.
Many superintendents said they’d rely on a combination of funding sources to keep those new and expanded programs running. Eighty-one percent of superintendents said they plan to use money from district budgets; 52 percent said they’d use grants, according to the survey, which was conducted from November to January.
In keeping summer programming in place, district leaders could be tapping into robust demand for the summer options.
About 58 percent of superintendents said their summer programs were at capacity in 2024, and another 5 percent said they were over capacity. The rest (37 percent) said their programs were under-enrolled. About three-quarters of superintendents said the biggest barrier to student participation was conflicts with parents’ work schedules.
Most superintendents said their districts offered summer learning programs for remediation (73 percent) and for students with disabilities (55 percent) last summer. A much smaller percentage offered broader programs like summer school for all students (27 percent) and enrichment for high-performing students (24 percent).
Superintendents generally indicated they planned to offer the same types of summer programs this year as they did last year.
The percentage of district-run summer programs might not fully capture the constellation of summer enrichment programs available to children in many communities, said Bryan Joffe, the director of children’s programs at AASA.
In some communities, local nonprofit organizations and for-profit entities offer camps and other learning opportunities for students that don’t necessarily follow district curriculum but feature hands-on, fun, and creative experiences for all types of students, Joffe said.
Ideally, he said, those organizations will have worked with the school district to incorporate at least some of its “goals and areas of emphasis,” such as improving basic math and reading skills for young students.
“What we really want is to make sure that all kids have an opportunity in the summer to engage in great learning, in whatever form that may take,” Joffe said.
Superintendents base summer success on student achievement rates
About 73 percent of superintendents primarily view summer school as a way for students to maintain and improve academic skills, rather than chiefly as a social opportunity or a chance for students to just have fun, according to the survey.
District leaders judge their summer programs’ success based on participating students’ reading and math scores (33 percent), students’ general academic performance at the start of the next academic year (25 percent), and enrollment in the program (25 percent).
Overall, 91 percent of superintendents say summer programs are either very important or important to “reaching strategic goals” in their district. Those goals vary, Joffe said, but often have to do with preparing students for college, careers, and life after high school, such as boosting high school graduation rates.
Superintendents serving in urban and suburban districts, as well as districts with more than 1,000 students, were more likely than those leading rural and smaller districts to say summer programs are very important.
Ultimately, Joffe said, it’s encouraging that superintendents are leaning into a strong, research-based practice to boost students’ learning opportunities.
Studies have shown that summer programs are effective tools to improve academic outcomes—but that students have to show up for the programs to work, posing a challenge for districts to design a summer program that will draw students. Even more research has shown generally that the more time students spend learning and engaging with academic concepts, the better.
“What summer can help us do is really hit the ground running for the start of the school year—if you have a strong summer that keeps students where they were at the end of the year, or even, ideally, moves them a little bit forward,” Joffe said.
It’s not surprising that superintendents want to maintain or expand their summer programs, Joffe added.
“But the idea that they’ve made the commitment with their board and their budget to say, ‘We’re going to continue to do summer the way we’ve been doing it these last few years,’ or some even saying, ‘We’ve seen such a value in it that we’re going to increase our commitment,’ it was definitely a pleasant surprise,” he said.
