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Have you ever wondered what opportunities kids have during the summer? Summer is a time of unmet opportunity for low-income children who experience summer learning loss (SLL) and the many risks associated with unsupervised, unengaged time. On average, students’ achievement scores decline over summer vacation by one month’s worth of school-year learning.
Income-based reading gaps grew over the summer, given that middle class students tended to show improvement in reading skills while lower-income students tended to experience loss. Most children in poverty are disproportionately affected by SLL, with low-income students losing 2-3 months in reading achievement over the summer, while their middleincome peers make slight gains.
Researchers concluded that two-thirds of the 9th grade reading achievement gap can be explained by [lack of] access to summer learning opportunities during elementary school.
Learning can't afford to take the summer off. Freedom School helps to close the gap so students can keep pace and raise their self-esteem.
CDF Freedom Schools provide summer and after-school reading enrichment for children who might otherwise not have access to books to help curb summer learning loss and close achievement gaps. These schools seek to build strong, literate, and empowered children prepared to make a difference in themselves, their families, communities, nation, and world today, give children safe spaces as they are taught by college student mentors from the communities where they live and who look like them. It’s hard to be what you can’t see, and teach students they are not citizens in waiting but can make a difference right now.
Click HERE to learn more about CDF Freedom Schools!