https://www.acacamps.org/blog/program-quality-matters-youth-development

Greetings camp evaluators! Congratulations on making it to the end (or very nearly the end) of your summer season. I am so excited to present the following guest post for this week’s Research 360...

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/5-tips-surviving-your-childs-first-overnight-camp-experience

Your child’s at summer camp? That’s so exciting! And hard. For some of you, an internal “WA HOO!” went off as the bus filled with excited campers and their duffle bags pulled away. But for...

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/5-reasons-not-worry-while-your-kids-are-camp

Worrying when our kids are away from us is normal for parents. Every time I’ve ever dropped my kids off for a new adventure without me, I’m excited for them. But I’m also concerned about their safety...

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/introducing-new-free-friend-camp-program-quality-staff-checklist

Before I get started, I have a confession: I lied. I said in the title that in this post I was going to introduce you to a new friend, but that’s not entirely true. The Camp Program Quality Staff...

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/happy-campers-how-camp-relationships-promote-social-emotional-learning

Young people are diverse and dynamic, and they have myriad pathways to success. Unfortunately, youth development research often highlights watered-down averages of sample sets that offer limited...

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/summer-camp-unique-environment-social-emotional-learning

As an education research organization affiliated with the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University, we thought it was an exciting opportunity to investigate camp as a unique learning...

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/findings-phase-1-5-year-research-project

ACA Director of Research Dr. Laurie Browne shares the emerging themes from Phase 1 of the Five Year Impact Study.  These preliminary findings point to the numerous ways camp...

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/how-kids-autism-can-have-successful-camp-experience

In honor of #AutismAwarenessMonth, Addie Angelov, PhD, and Pamela Wright, EdD, discuss how to set up a successful camp experience for children with autism. Sending your child to camp for...

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/what-greater-gift-gift-camp

Let me introduce myself. My name is Harriet Lowe and I’ve worked for the American Camp Association (ACA) for almost 16 years—first as the director of communications and now in a part-time role as...

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/noticeable-impact-camp-kids

Hi parents!  My name is Deidre Pettinga and I’m the Chief Marketing Officer for the American Camp Association (ACA).  In this role, I work with our communications, business development, and...