Summer Program Planning for Districts: Tips and Resources

4 Things Districts Should Include In Their Summer Planning Process

There are a variety of factors to consider in your summer planning. For a summer program to be successful, it must meet the needs of the students, be aligned to district goals, and most importantly–it should feel like a summer program. Here are four things to include in your summer planning process:  

1.) Assessing How Student Needs Have Changed

Most districts start the school year with a strategy to address areas of student need. Academic achievement, social and emotional support, attendance, student behavior and family engagement are all part of the overall strategy heading into the year. As the year progresses and summer plans start to solidify, it’s important to identify how student needs have evolved since the start of the year, and where your summer program can meet students where they are at when the school year ends.  

2.) Giving Students a Voice

Identifying student needs means talking to your students, and a summer program is a great opportunity to show students they are being heard. Incorporate student feedback during your summer program planning process. Give students and their families an opportunity to provide input about what activities and experiences they are hoping to see, and then show them how that input is helping shape the summer program. Not only can this have a positive impact on participation in the summer program, but it can increase student and family engagement during the school year as well.

3.) Assessing Your Capacity to Provide Services

Once you develop a clearer picture of what you need from your summer program, you’ll need to determine if your district has the capacity to provide those services, or if you will need to partner with a program provider. There are multiple factors to consider in this assessment, including:

• Capacity to manage the program (enrollment, attendance, staff supervisions, family engagement)
• Ability to staff the program consistently (recruitment and retention)
• Training staff (initial and ongoing)
• Summer curriculum development (ensuring a variety of fun, engaging experiences that meet state requirements, district goals, and student needs)

Based on your own assessment of your district’s summer programming needs and your capacity to meet them, you may decide to work with a partner to provide some or all of the programs and services in your district.

4.) Ensuring the Summer Fun Factor

For students, the word summer often conjures visions of free time, fun with friends, and infinite possibilities. So you need to be asking yourselves: “How can we make our summer program feel like summer vacation?”

Fun needs to be present in every aspect of your program–every activity and every interaction. A summer program should not feel like a slightly modified version of the after school program, it should feel like a summer adventure that students are going on with their friends.

Having a great summer curriculum can set your program up for success, but even more important is the people who will be delivering that curriculum, and providing the day to day experience for your students. They need to bring that sense of enthusiasm and adventure every single day. 

Choosing a Summer Program Partner

In searching for the right summer programming partner, you should be asking the same of them that you have asked of your own district:

• Can they meet the needs of your students? 
• Do students have a voice in their program?
• Do they have the capacity to provide the services?
• Are they bringing the summer fun factor?

Every district’s needs are going to be different, and it’s important to choose a partner that fits yours. Identifying the need for a partner, conducting your search, and making a decision should ideally be completed before the end of March. The earlier you have a plan for summer, the more time you can work with that partner to ensure the summer program is aligned to the school year. This will also give your program provider ample time to recruit, hire, and train staff.

Our Full-Service Elevate Summer Program

The Elevate Summer program invites students into a safe, inclusive, and supportive environment that offers a variety of physical activity, nutrition, enrichment, academic, and social and emotional learning opportunities. Elevo coaches receive 12-hours of training on restorative practices, social and emotional supports, curriculum implementation, and classroom management. Continuous support is provided at each program from the coach’s Regional Program Manager and Training Manager on program implementation and research based, best practices on supporting youth development. 

The Elevo team carefully accommodates the needs of each school district by offering half day and full day programming. Within each program, districts can select ElevoEQ or two of our many Sport options. ElevoEQ supports foundational movement and both cooperative and competitive games for students to engage in. Sport rotation options include soccer, flag football, track & field, basketball, volleyball, pickleball, and kickball. 

Each week of Elevo’s summer enrichment programming focuses on a different theme, including Olympics, Space Odyssey, and Mystery Detective, to name a few. The curriculum is intentionally designed to be culturally responsive, where students are encouraged to express themselves through the arts and STEM while building connections with their peers. 

Our full day programming incorporates both the arts and STEM, while building 21st Century Skills. While the first half of the day offers an arts-based enrichment component, the second half of the day incorporates hands-on, experiential STEM rotations. Additionally, programs are provided academic supports that include thematically-related read alouds with comprehension building, interactive activities. 

Supplemental Support for Your Summer Program

For districts who are running their own summer programs, Elevo can also provide supplemental support to ensure those districts have everything they need to keep the fun going for students. We have been hearing concerns from some districts about summer staffing challenges, staff burnout, the need for additional enrichment activities, and more. We can help!

Elevo has grown to become one of the largest ELO-P providers in the state, and we are currently providing supplemental ELO-P support for more than 47 Districts. We have the capacity to recruit, hire, and train the staff you need. We can also bring elements of our curriculum to provide themed enrichment activities, rotational sports programs, and more.

A Summer Journey Toward a Successful School Year 

A great summer program will provide fun and engaging activities, experiences, and learning opportunities for your students, while helping them build momentum for the upcoming school year. As your summer plan comes together, don’t hesitate to reach out if you are searching for a full-service partner, or for supplemental support. Elevo would love to spend our summer with you and your students!