In an EdSource Today commentary piece, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Superintendent John Deasy calls on California superintendents to invest in summer learning in order to advance school districts’ top priorities. Deasy asserts that summer learning programs create a learning laboratory for teachers to practice Common Core techniques, such as encouraging students to tackle complex, open-ended questions, make active choices related to what they are learning, and connect with themes and knowledge across subject matters. He also argues that summer learning programs enhance students’ social and emotional skills, which will subsequently improve student engagement, overall school climate, and advance the student achievement priorities of the Local Control Accountability Plans that districts are charged with completing as a component of the new Local Control Funding Formula. To learn more about summer learning programs already operating in LAUSD and other California districts, Deasy urges members of the education community to read a new series of reports by the Summer Matters campaign, entitled Putting Summer to Work: the Development of High-Quality Summer Learning Programs in California, which profile summer learning programs and explore their impact on teachers and students.
The commentary piece was written in collaboration with Collaborative members Jonathan Raymond and Gary Yee, along with superintendents Michael Berg of Central Unified School District and Ron Carruth of Whittier City School District.