Should You Build or Buy Your Summer School Program?

Summer learning has become more than a seasonal offering—it’s an opportunity to accelerate learning, close achievement gaps, and support teacher development. But with limited budgets, stretched staff capacity, and competing priorities, school and district leaders face a difficult question:

Should we build our summer school program in-house or partner with an external provider? As Keri Hubbard, Chief Program Officer at the National Summer School Initiative (NSSI), put it: “There’s no right answer. Some districts build, others buy—and many do a bit of both.”

In conversation with two experienced education leaders—Erica Godfrey, MTSS Coordinator at City Schools of Decatur, GA, and Sarah Campbell, Consultant at the Oak Island Group, supporting KIPP DC—we explored how districts are navigating this choice and what’s really at stake.

Their insights offer a candid look at what districts are gaining—and giving up—when they choose to build their summer learning programs, buy from a provider, or do a mix of both.

Define District Goals Before Building or Buying a Summer Program

Whether you're focused on expanding access, improving instruction, or boosting student engagement, the right summer school model should align with your district’s strategic goals. For Campbell and her partners at KIPP DC, those goals shaped every step of the decision-making process.

Alignment with existing curriculum mattered deeply—both to create coherence for students and to reinforce teacher growth.

Done well, summer school isn’t just an academic band-aid—it’s a strategic lever to grow teacher capacity, deepen student engagement, and extend district impact.

District Considerations: The Hidden Costs of Building In-House

One of the biggest lessons from both leaders: building your own summer school program is expensive—even when it seems cheaper on paper. The true cost often shows up in staff time, leader capacity, and teacher burnout.

Godfrey described it: 

Campbell agreed, adding that even when curriculum is created externally, it still pulls focus from the school year:

Both leaders emphasized that relying on strong teachers to write curriculum is not always the best solution. “Not all great teachers are great curriculum writers,” Godfrey said. “We’ve seen inconsistent quality and burnout when we’ve asked too much.”

Why Schools Buy: Beyond Curriculum to Professional Development and Support

While some assume that buying a summer curriculum is just about getting lessons in hand, both Campbell and Godfrey pointed to the broader support NSSI provides—including aligned professional development, leadership coaching, and consistent instructional expectations.

For Campbell, the promise of high-quality instructional materials and ongoing teacher support was a major selling point: “We hope our teachers walk away from summer better than they started. With NSSI’s PD, we believe they will.”

Are you making this decision for your own district or school? Use our free Build or Buy Checklist to weigh the tradeoffs and move forward with clarity.

How Districts Are Measuring Impact: Data, Engagement, and Staff Buy-In

District leaders also saw early signs of success from their summer pilots—both in terms of student learning and program satisfaction. “Our students were bought in,” Godfrey said. “They liked having a voice and choice in math. And we’re already seeing promising data when we compare their progress to students who didn’t participate.”

Campbell added that using thoughtfully chosen novels and writing scaffolds in ELA isn’t just about rigor—it also boosts engagement. “We want more kids to want to come to summer school,” she said. “When the content is strong and relevant, it helps us reach more families.”

Advice for Schools and Districts: Pilot First, Then Scale Smart

If you’re still on the fence about whether to build or buy, both leaders recommend starting small and being strategic.

Consider these steps as you evaluate your options:

1. Start with one subject area, like ELA or Algebra.

2. Align summer programming with year-round curriculum to boost coherence.

3. Collect both student data and teacher feedback to assess impact.

When it comes to summer learning, the decision to build or buy shouldn’t rest on assumptions about cost or tradition. It should be based on what’s best for your students, your staff, and your system.

“We did the math,” Campbell said. “You can’t pay someone to design 20+ days of curriculum—with quality texts, edits, scaffolds, and alignment—for less than what NSSI charges. It was a no-brainer.”

Want to explore how NSSI could support your goals? Reach out to our team for a conversation.

Note: These insights were derived from a LinkedIn Live event hosted by Keri Hubbard, and featuring Erica Godfrey from City Schools of Decatur, and Sarah Campbell from KIPP DC.