Learning from Summer: Effects of Voluntary Summer Learning Programs on Low-Income Urban Youth

by Catherine H. Augustine, Jennifer Sloan McCombs, John F. Pane

The National Summer Learning Project, launched by the Wallace Foundation in 2011, includes an assessment of the effectiveness of voluntary, district-led summer learning programs offered at no cost to low-income, urban elementary students. In this third report in a series, RAND researchers examined student outcomes at four points during and after the years the programs were held.

110 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2016

About the author

Catherine Augustine is director of the RAND Pittsburgh Office and a senior researcher at RAND, with more than 20 years of experience conducting education research. Augustine focuses on improving academic, social, and emotional outcomes for students, specializing in out-of-school time. She both evaluates implementation of reforms and assesses their impact. For example, she is leading a national study on social and emotional learning in six urban communities. She is also examining academic outcomes of the community school model in a large, urban district. Augustine recently conducted a 9-year study of summer learning programs and a systematic evidence review on summer programs based on the evidence tiers specified in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), adding to the knowledge base of what works in summer programming. A recently-completed RCT examined the use of restorative practices in 44 schools in an urban district adding to our knowledge of SEL interventions.
Augustine is on the boards of The World Affairs Council, The Will Allen Foundation, The Mentoring Partnership, and Eradicate Hate and is committed to mentoring and other pro-social opportunities to local youth in Pittsburgh. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in education from the University of Michigan.