The National Summer School Initiative 2023
Meet the moment. Tackle unfinished learning. Propel students forward.
Partner with us to deliver accelerated learning and prepare your students to thrive in the next grade.
We help your teachers deliver a five-week summer program that is uncommonly engaging and exceptionally effective.
Participating teachers work in close partnership with award-winning mentor teachers in their grade and subject. Together they craft and deliver extraordinary learning experiences.
Raise expectations for teaching and learning. Propel students ahead. Join us.
The results are in.
In summer 2022, 27,000 students got a head start on the 2022-23 school year, and 2,700 teachers geared up as never before!
In just five weeks, students made major gains in proficiency across grades and subjects. On average, math students with NSSI improved more than 15 percentage points (from pre-test to post-test), and literature students improved 10 percentage points.
Transformative teacher training
Feedback from partner teachers on NSSI’s first round of summer 2022 training is glowing! Of the 1,300 teachers who participated nationwide, 92% or more agreed that:
NSSI’s presenters were engaging and knowledgeable
The session objectives were clear
They met the session objectives
NSSI is proudly upending expectations for what’s possible in the realm of professional development. Our partner teachers are fired-up and ready to accelerate their students’ learning and make-up critical lost ground this summer.
Learn more about our uniquely effective approach to teacher development and accelerating learning.
Hear from a returning partner
One of the key factors in deciding to partner another year with NSSI was the demonstrable impact of the program, with students making gains of 15–40% in priority grade level standards assessed through pre- and post-assessments. Moreover, students, families, and teachers continue to share with us their enthusiasm for the lessons, materials, and for the emphasis on social-emotional learning. We partner with NSSI because they are 'student first.'
Dr. Jeanne Willard, Ed.D., Executive Director of College & Career Readiness and Extended Learning Options, Everett Public Schools
Vibrant instruction every day. Connection. Fun. And extraordinary academic growth. See how NSSI is changing the way students feel about summer school.
Students and parents say time well spent
Survey results from NSSI’s first session of 2022 are in, and stakeholders are overwhelmingly satisfied! Respondents from DeKalb County, Georgia; Ector County, Texas; and locations nationwide raved about the program’s effectiveness in building confidence, academic skills, and excitement!
Rocking it in Gotham
The largest school system in the country has partnered with NSSI for accelerated summer learning. Originally conceived as a 1,000-student pilot, the partnership has ballooned to serve 7,000 students in 33 schools!
Initial reactions from participating teachers to a two-day intensive training before the school doors opened has been off the charts. Across all grades, subjects, and sessions, 97% of participants in the Institute agreed or strongly agreed with the three measures of quality:
1. The presenter was engaging and knowledgeable.
2. The session objectives were clear.
3. The session objectives were met.
Applying their training in hundreds of classrooms citywide, NSSI partner teachers are set to propel their students to new heights!
Building academic skills, confidence, and excitement from Day 1
For the second year, Fulton County Schools is partnering with NSSI to accelerate learning and build teacher capacity, and enrollment this summer is at a record high 15,000 students!
Mom Katie Garrison admitted she was nervous about sending her daughter Vera Kate, but she said the hands-on lesson plans and daily recess break have made it fun for her daughter to go. “Academically she really needed it, so I hoped that socially and emotionally it would be a good thing, and, oh my goodness, I was so surprised. That first day, I mean, she just lit up.”
“I was really nervous and apprehensive about whether to [send Vera Kate to summer school] or not, and I’m so glad that I did,” Garrison said. “She’ll be excited for school to start again.”
Expect more
Welcome to an entirely new approach to improving instruction.
When your teachers watch an admired mentor teacher pitch a lesson sky-high and, by lesson’s end, reliably succeed with every child, it’s a transformative experience.
They start to expect more. And their students rise to the challenge.
Watch your students soar.
In their own voices
Hear how students take intellectual risks and learn from one another in Ms. Shampain’s fourth-grade math class.
Our five-part organizational commitment to leading for racial equity includes:
Rigorous curriculum that tackles texts and ideas that are at or above grade-level
Leveraging students' voices and expertise through discourse and deep thinking
Intentional connection and relationship-building, led by a diverse mentor teacher team
Psychologically safe classrooms
A culturally responsive curriculum that foregrounds and celebrates authors of color and thinkers and elevates their voices and perspectives.
The curriculum both creates windows (to learn about other countries, people, cultures, and ideas) and mirrors (to affirm the beauty and brilliance of people who are similar to our students) that are vital for young people to grow and thrive.
The data are in
A new study from TNTP finds that learning acceleration was far more effective than remediation in addressing skills gaps and racial inequities. TNTP cites “compelling new evidence that school systems should make learning acceleration the foundation of their academic strategies next year and beyond.”
Students who experienced learning acceleration struggled less and learned more than students who started at the same level but experienced remediation instead. Learning acceleration was particularly effective for students of color and those from low-income families.
Thanks to the generous support of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, NSSI is preparing to serve Texas in a big way this summer!
The Dell Foundation, among the world’s leading education philanthropies, is committed to sponsoring 20,000 seats in Texas schools partnering with NSSI in 2022-23 and 2023-24. This support effectively eliminates cost barriers for districts and charter organizations determined to deliver academic recovery and accelerate learning. We can’t wait to team-up with Texas teachers to help every student take-off!
Ideas into action
Ian Rowe shares NSSI's innovation
See highlights of Ian Rowe's presentation at NewSchools Venture Fund Summit 2021. Joining an esteemed group for the opening plenary, in “Provocations for the Future," Ian sets out how NSSI accelerates learning and builds teacher capacity.
NSSI offers quality learning time as a solution to pandemic learning losses.
Steven Wilson shares the importance of increased quality learning time in combatting long-term consequences of the pandemic in Fortune.
“[There’s a] belief that academic learning is something to be suffered and endured, as opposed to something that can be deeply joyful and exhilarating,” Wilson said. “Kids are smart. What they’re going to feel good about is academic success, for which there will be no emotional substitute.”
Harvard and University of Virginia scholars found that students in NSSI last summer improved their academic skills and gained confidence.
I honestly felt like all of my kids, they improved. Pretty much across the board they all said, I read differently now. And I pay attention to what I read. And I'm going to be thinking about what I read and what it means for my life.
—from a summer 2020 ELA partner teacher
Hear from a partner teacher
Hawking STEAM Charter School students take the NWEA MAP assessment three times a year. During in-school learning, the school anticipates an average of four points growth per trimester.
This trimester, my students had an average of 12.6 points growth–3X the target. This is especially astounding because the growth was even across high, middle, and low-performing students—only students with poor attendance had lower scores. Students’ scores were up across areas, including vocabulary, literature, and nonfiction. All this is particularly impressive as most students are ELLs.
Anne Barnes, 6th grade ELA teacher Hawking STEAM Charter School
Our partner network
Join district, charter, and independent schools partnering with us to offer a singular experience next summer.
National Summer School Initiative, Inc. 147 Prince Street, 3-54 Brooklyn, NY 11201
© National Summer School Initiative 2023