This document analyzes summer program participation, enjoyment, plans, and barriers for students at a middle school (referred to as School D). It finds that 68% of students participated in programs last summer, with 87% of 6th graders attending. Enjoyment varied by program, with Summer Program XYZ rated lower than others. Students are evenly split on future plans. Main barriers were lack of interest, cost, and schedule conflicts. The document recommends highlighting enjoyable programs, focusing on unsure students and those interested but who did not previously attend, and using student data to match interests and needs to programs.

1. GIVE A SUMMER FOR
SCHOOL D
Analysis of the summer participation, future
summer plans, and barriers to summer
programs for School D’s students (grades 6 –
8) and areas for action.
Prepared by Give a Summer
ramon@giveasummer.org
GiveaSummer.org
Analysis from fall 2015
Presented January 2016

2. 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 students. The school is
referred to throughout the report as “School D.”
• Additionally, Give a Summer has anonymized the name of a summer programs that many
School D students attend to maintain School D’s confidentiality. That summer program is
referred to as “Summer Program XYZ.”
• To maintain School D’s confidentiality, Give a Summer has also removed analysis of summer
participation and access for students from different parts of the Boston metropolitan area.
• With School D’s approval, Give a Summer is releasing a public versions of the report to show 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
2

3. Outline of presentation
• Executive Summary
• Findings: Previous summer program participation
• Findings: Previous summer program enjoyment
• Findings: Upcoming summer plans
• Findings: Interest by type of program
• Findings: Barriers to summer participation
• Areas for action
• Appendix
3
Slide #
4
7
9
10
14
18
28
30

4. Executive summary: key facts
Past attendance: 68% of students attended a program last year, with an incredible 87% of 6th
graders attending one. Higher 6th grade participation came from shorter programs.
Satisfaction: Student enjoyment varies considerably between Summer Program XYZ – which
students rated 2.2 out of 5 - and other programs – which students rated 4.0 out of 5.
Future plans: Students are evenly divided across interest in attending a program, not
interested, and unsure.
Types of summer programs: Students participate in math and reading activities – principally
at Summer Program XYZ – far more than their interest for next summer. Students have a wide
variety of interests.
Barriers: Students’ main barriers revolved around interest in programs and program availability
(available space, program cost, schedule conflicts with family plans). They were largely
consistent across grades, student neighborhoods, and previous summer program participation
(at Summer Program XYZ, another program, or not attending a program).
4

5. Executive summary
Interest strong predictor of attendance: Students who last spring were interested in
attending a summer program were 100% more likely to attend a summer program compared to
students who were not interested. Students who were unsure attended at the same rate as
students who did not want to go.
Previous participation – at programs besides Summer Program XYZ – is probably
strongly predictive of future attendance at programs. While we don’t know for sure, this is
likely given the much higher interest in attending a program from these students and their
higher satisfaction in their programs.
Neighborhood differences were not that significant. Program attendance, future interest in
programs, and barriers were similar across neighborhoods. Last year’s difference in program
satisfaction across neighborhoods probably due to effect of different rates of Summer Program
XYZ participation.
5

6. Executive summary: key actions
Highlight great programs to students: Share information about the many programs students are
already attending and really enjoy.
Focus on 3 groups of students:
1) 33% students who are unsure about attending a program. If School D can get these students
interested in attending a program, that doubles their chances of attending one.
2) Students attended Summer Program XYZ last summer. Their low satisfaction with Summer
Program XYZ, low interest in programs, but varied interest in different types of activities and similar
barriers to other students makes them a potentially cost-effective group to target.
3) Students want to go to a program but didn’t go to one last year. With similar barriers to other
students, they may just need an extra nudge and program recommendations to help them attend a
program.
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. It also
includes the name and student reviews of all the programs that School D students attended this past
summer.
[Excel file not publically released]
6

7. 68% of students participated in programs, including nearly 90% of 6th graders
7
• Participation is up from 59% last year
• 6th grade participation increased from 61% last year. Last year, 7th grade had 71% attendance.
• Greater 6th grade participation comes from greater participation in programs less than a month long
(see next slide)
• Participation is moderately above other schools Give a Summer works with (average of 40% - 60%
participation)
Did you attend a summer program?

8. Attendance in summer 2014 is a strong predictor of attendance in summer 2015
8
• Students who attended a summer program in summer ‘14 were 110% more likely to attend a program
over summer’15 compared to students who did not attend a program in summer ‘14.
• This was equally true for current 7th and 8th graders
Attendance at summer programs in summer ‘15 based on attendance in summer ‘14

9. Student program enjoyment varies considerably and is lower with 8th graders
9
• Lower program satisfaction result of high attendance at Summer Program XYZ and low satisfaction: average of
2.2 (out of 5).
• Average satisfaction at other summer programs was 4.0
• Those other summer programs had far less of a focus on reading and math, activities students are less
interested in.
• 6th graders – who had by far the highest attendance – also had the highest satisfaction, suggesting lower
satisfaction not driven by on the fence students being pushed into programs
Did you enjoy the program? (5 is yes, 1 is no)

10. • The pattern of student interest is similar across grades and similar to last spring’s survey
• 6th grade interest, while the highest, Is still well below exceptionally high attendance
• 8th graders have stronger interest than they did last spring as 7th graders
• Interest is below other Give a Summer schools (where interest was about 50%)
Student interest varies, with a 1/3 interested, 1/3 not interested, and 1/3 unsure
10
Do you want to attend a summer program this coming summer?

11. High attendance outpaces lower student interest, as requirement that new students
attend a program substantially boosts program attendance
11
• Dynamic very similar to last spring, suggesting that parents and School D are able to generate
program attendance well above student interest – principally through School D’s requirement that
new students participate in a summer program – but also that they’ll need to keep doing so to
sustain high program attendance
• School D differs from other Give a Summer schools where fewer students attend program than are
interested in them. Those schools do not have any required summer program attendance.

12. Previous student interest is strongly predictive of subsequent attendance
12
• On the other hand, students unsure about attending a program are no more likely to attend a program
than students who did not want to go
• Action: Focus on increasing student interest – which seems like a factor that makes program
attendance much more likely – and particularly focus on getting students unsure about attending to be
interested in attending (as opposed to trying to persuade students who do not want to go)
Attendance at summer programs based on previous interest in attending a program
Get unsures to want to go to programs to boost attendance

13. Students who attended a programother than Summer Program XYZ are much
more interested in attending a program in the future than other students
13
• Among students who attended a program other than Summer Program XYZ, 48% of them want to go to
a program this coming summer, with another 37% unsure.
• These students are far more interested in attending a program than students who did not attend a
program or attended Summer Program XYZ
Interest in attending a summer program based on previous attendance

14. Students who attended Summer Program XYZ do lots of reading and math, while
only a 1/3 of students who attended other programs did
14
• 50% of students at other programs participated in camp-like activities, with substantial minorities also
participating in a wide variety of other activities: performing arts, reading and math, and visual arts.
What did students do at summer programs?
% of students who attended who said they did that activity

15. Students who went to Summer Program XYZ have almost identical interests to
students who attended other programs
15
What do students who attended a program last summer want to do at a program next
summer?
% of students who want to do that activity

16. Due to high participation in Summer Program XYZ, students attend programs with reading or
math far above their interest in those activities
16
• Program interest fairly similar across students regardless of their overall interest in programs
• Action: Hook students who say that overall they are not interested in attending a program with
program that have sports activities, the one activity those students are interested in
• Students participate in and are interested in a wide variety of activities over the summer
• Overall, there are 4 activities that more than 25% of students are interested in, with another 4 activities
that more than 10% of students are 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)

17. Program-related barriers (expense, transportation, vacation conflicts) are not
strongly associated with certain types of programs
17
• Students with large program-related barriers are not disproportionally interested in certain types of
programs, which might have suggested that students were confronting those barriers at those programs.
Do students with program-related barriers have different activity preferences than other
students?

18. Students rated the impact of the following barriers to attending great summer
programs.
18
• 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 “matters a lot,” “matters a little,” or “does not matter”
• Those descriptions were converted to scores: “matters a lot” is a 2, “matters a little” is 1, “does not
matter” is 0

19. Overall, students face many moderate barriers to attending programs, with
general lack of interest and expense / family vacation conflicts standing out
19
• Lack of interest in programs was an undercurrent to several large barriers (don’t want to go,
programs don’t interest me, went but didn’t like)
• Other large barriers related to the availability of programs: programs are full, too expensive,
or conflict with family vacation conflicts
• Surprisingly, transportation was a lower barrier than at other Give a Summer schools even
though School D has a more geographically dispersed student body
• Student barriers are largely similar to last spring’s survey
Low interest Program availability

20. Barriers are generally similar for students who attended Summer ProgramXYZ
or another program(or no programat all)
20
• Family vacation conflicts is a bigger concern for students who went to Summer Program
XYZ, perhaps as it is a slightly longer program than other summer programs.
• “Went but didn’t like” is a bigger barrier for students who went to Summer Program XYZ,
consistent with lower satisfaction scores at the program.

21. Overall, program barriers are similar for students who did and did not attend a
program, suggesting other factors driving attendance
21
• This overall picture hides different dynamics between 7th and 8th graders (see next slides)
• Some barriers here – such as program expense – are rated more highly by students who previously
attended. One explanation may be that students who attended are more familiar with the challenges of
program expense than some of their peers who did not attend and did not research program costs

22. General lack of interest and family vacation conflicts are swing barriers for 6th graders
22
• Students who did not attend a program over the summer rated don’t want to go and conflicts with family
vacations as greater barriers than students who did attend, suggesting these may be crucial swing
barriers affecting eventual attendance.
• Students who did attend rated programs are full and program expense as greater barriers than students
who did not attend. Given that students who attend programs may be much more familiar with these
barriers, this suggests that if students who do not attend try to attend, these barriers will loom larger than
those students currently expect.

23. Barriers are consistently greater for 7th graders who did attend programs
23
• This leaves us without any swing barriers that might be preventing students from attending
• Other factors besides student assessment of barriers – student or parent interest or parent assessment
of barriers – must be driving participation.
• It is likely that if students who did not attend were helped to attend a program this coming summer that
they will likely run into greater barriers than they now expect (and more in line with the barriers reported
by students who did attend a program last summer).

24. In contrast, 8th graders have several swing barriers to target
24
• In contrast to 7th graders, 8th graders who did not attend programs rated almost all barriers more highly
than 8th graders who did attend programs. This suggests that 8th grade student assessment of barriers is
predictive of eventual program participation, unlike for 7th graders.
• Lack of interest, programs are full, family vacation conflicts, and being needed at home stand out as
swing barriers to focus on with 8th graders

25. Many students take short vacations. 8th graders were somewhat able to predict
vacation, while 7th graders were not.
25
• 8th grade students are somewhat able to predict family vacation conflicts: those who rated it a larger
barrier last spring were 35% more likely to take a vacation than those who said vacation conflicts did not
matter.
• On the other hand, 7th graders were not able to meaningfully predict family vacations or long family
vacations.

26. Students rate barriers similarly regardless of interest in summer programs, suggesting
that other factors are driving student interest.
26

27. Support students interested in going to a programbut who didn’t last year by
suggestinglow-cost programs with flexible schedules
27
• There are #A students who want to attend a program but who didn’t last year, students who seem like
key candidates for effective support.
• Action: Help these students by suggesting low-cost programs with flexible schedules that address
student obligations at home, the three largest, unique barriers facing these students.
Numbers replaced with placeholder letters to maintain client confidentiality.

28. There are several school and grade-wide steps to increase student access and
participation in summer programs.
28
Address students’ main barriers – program expense and conflicts with family vacation plans –
by highlighting lower cost programs and ones with week by week schedules.
Increase student excitement – and therefore, likely participation – by highlighting great
programs to students and parents
• Action: Share some of the great programs students attended with students who did not attend a
program last year. Incorporate students who attended a program to spread the word.
• Action: for students who attended Summer Program XYZ, highlight summer programs in their other
areas of interest, such as day camps or performing arts programs.
• Action: for students uninterested in programs, recommend sports programs, the one type of
program these students are strongly interested in.

29. There are 3 key groups of students to focus on:
29
Focus on 3 groups of students:
1) #A students are unsure about attending a program. If School D can get these students
interested in attending a program, that doubles their chances of attending one.
2) #B students who attended Summer Program XYZ last summer. Their low satisfaction with
Summer Program XYZ, low interest in programs, but varied interest in different types of activities
and similar barriers to other students makes them a potentially cost-effective group to target.
3) #C students want to go to a program but didn’t go to one last year. With similar barriers to
other students, they may just need an extra nudge and program recommendations to help them
attend a program
There are #D students – about #E per classroom– who either i) want to go to a program but didn’t last
summer or ii) are unsure about attending a program and went to Summer Program XYZ.
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
• Action: Look at data on all the programs School D students attended for ideas about other
programs that may be great suggestions for your students
• Action: Share “top students to focus on” with each classroom teacher.
Numbers replaced with placeholder letters to maintain client confidentiality.
Excel file not publically available

30. Appendix
30
• Response rates
• Barriers by grade
• 7th grade student and parent barriers
• 8th grade student and parent barriers
• Most common programs
Slide #
31
32
33
34
35

31. Ahigh proportion of students responded, with exceptionally high response rates
from 6th and 7th grade.
31

32. Barriers were similar across grades, with 6th graders having slightly higher
barriers
32

33. For 7th graders, barrier ratings this fall were similar to last spring.
33
Question was not
asked last spring
• Conflict with family vacation is a larger barrier.
• On the other hand, lack of interest in programs and transportation challenges are smaller barriers.

34. For 8th graders, barrier ratings are similar though slightly higher than they were
for these students last spring.
34
• 8th graders have higher barriers this fall around lack of interest in programs and not sure of
programs that interest them than they did last spring.

35. Students at School D attend a wide variety of programs
35
• See accompanying Excel for data on all the #A programs that #B students attended
across School D’s middle school.
• #C programs had two or more students attend them. #D students attended Summer
Program XYZ, while another #E attended Program 2. No other program had more than #F
students attend.
Program names and number of students who participated in programs
deleted to maintain client confidentiality.
Excel file not publically available