SCRInsider: Plan Comprehensive Evaluations to Go Beyond Tests Scores

A comprehensive summer evaluation plan is about more than math and reading tests. Gathering holistic data on your summer program allows you to go beyond answering how your program did, to understanding what was delivered and why your results look the way they do. To help you answer these and other common questions, this month we’re sharing our new Summer Learning Program Evaluation Guide. Check it out for quick, practical tips and key considerations for developing your comprehensive evaluation plan.

Summer Learning Program Evaluation Guide

A comprehensive evaluation plan is critical to summer program quality and sustainability, and will provide you with a 360-degree view to identify program strengths as well as opportunities to improve in future summers. Use this guide to support you in creating evaluation plans that are aligned to research and evidence in order to understand your impact, reflect on quality, identify program strengths and challenges, and develop processes for continuous improvement and long-term sustainability.

SCRInsider: Make Your First Day Your Best Day

After more than a year of postponements, closures, and breaks, summer 2021 is poised to be an exciting and productive time – a time for reconnecting and re-engaging. The infusion of stimulus dollars for summer learning has the potential to allow for bigger and more robust summer programs than ever before, albeit with less time for planning.
Never fear. This month, we are sharing three new resources designed to ease your summer planning and take a few things off your long to-do list.

SCRI Day 1 / Week 1 Checklist

This tool guides summer learning leaders through a series of questions to help them prepare for their program’s Day 1 / Week 1 and avoid common missteps.

SCRI Site Visit Checklist

An essential part of any program’s sustainability plan is cultivating and strengthening buy-in from your key stakeholders, including funders, school, district, and community leaders. A great way to engage stakeholders and stay top-of-mind is to offer the opportunity to see the program in action through virtual or in-person site visits.

The checklist below will help you plan and execute site visits so that guests leave the experience feeling enthusiastic about your impact and invested in the long-term success of your program.

Families Are Key to Building Back Better: Unpacking Elements of Effective Engagement in Remote Learning

Tasked with planning and implementing remote learning for over 55 million children in the U.S. in the wake of COVID-19 school closures, districts and teachers relied heavily on families to support youth learning. SCRI discovered that remote summer programs using the BellXcel model were able to established supportive and consistent relationships between staff and families which empowered families to support their children’s learning. Staff integrated high-quality family engagement strategies throughout the program which included frequent communication and meaningful outreach to support participants.