Summer Learning Day is Friday, June 21, 2013! Sponsored by the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA), Summer Learning Day is a national advocacy day to spread awareness about the importance of summer learning for our nation’s youth in helping close the achievement gap and support healthy development in communities across the country.

Camp is the most comprehensive summer learning environment there is! Kids enjoy healthy doses of: experiential learning, inquiry, activity and nutritious meals, skill acquisition, relationship building, and more — all while having fun!

The following are some summer learning facts from NSLA. Your child can make the most of summer by enjoying a camp experience, and there is a camp for every child and every budget. For ACA’s Find a Camp database, expert advice, planning tips, and more, visit CampParents.org.

• It is important for every child to learn during summer to avoid losing skills they have gained during the school year.
• There are free or low-cost resources available for summer learning any family can use — check out NSLA's Summer Learning Day for Families Resources.
• High-quality summer programs can help disadvantaged children avoid summer learning loss and even register gains that will keep them on track for high-school graduation and productive careers.
• Summer is also a time that puts nutrition at risk for disadvantaged children. They are more likely to gain weight during summer without structured activity and balanced meals.
• Many of the school children who qualify for federally funded meals during the school year do not have access to those meals in summer.
• Most students lose about two months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills over the summer months. Low-income students also lose more than two months in reading achievement, despite the fact that their middle-class peers make slight gains.
• Summer learning programs are a cost-effective vehicle for boosting school-year achievement that school districts can accomplish at a high level in a variety of ways, even in a very tight economy.
• Summer learning programs will be instrumental in building a competitive 21st century economy.
• Summer is an untapped space for instructional innovation that can transform teaching and learning all year and help prepare all students for both the Common Core standards and college.
• As more children than ever slide into poverty, summer learning programs are an important link in the safety net, supporting their development with healthy meals and physical activity that in turn increases their readiness to learn.

Photo courtesy of Tom Sawyer Camps, Altadena, California