Summer School: Unfulfilled Promise

by David R. Denton

Summer school can be the last chance for low-performing students to avoid repeating a grade. Quality summer school has been proven to help low-performing students narrow the achievement gap between them and more successful students. Without summer school, the gap widens. Unfortunately, few states provide either adequate funding or program standards to ensure that quality summer school is available to all students. This report looks at state policies on summer school, summarizes the research on what makes a quality summer school, and makes recommendations for state policies.

Key words: social promotion, remediation, summer slide, reading, at-risk students

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