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Summer learning programs are essential to a young person’s academic and social development. The Youth Initiative unites the campus and community to offer summer learning and enrichment activities for more than 300 neighborhood children and youth from kindergarten to college.
Thank you to our community partners who make these summer learning opportunities possible:
SUYI Summer Fellows. In partnership with Youth Tutoring Program (YTP) at Bailey Gatzert and Parks and Recreation (PALS) at Washington Middle School, we have 14 paid Seattle University students working with kids this summer to improve their academics and participate in enrichment programming.
One of the most important roles of the Youth Initiative is to combat the persistent problem of summer learning loss. For the past several years, we have partnered with Catholic Community Services and the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation to enhance their summer offerings at Gatzert and Washington Middle School, respectively. Each summer, SU Summer Fellows support classroom instruction, lower the student-teacher ratio and provide more personalized instruction. Our college students also infuse some fun into the day.
Summer breaks compound academic difficulties for students who lack access to educational summer experiences, especially those who are struggling to stay on track during the school year. According to the National Summer Learning Association, most students lose two months of math skills every summer, and low-income children typically lose another two to three months in reading. A Johns Hopkins University study found that summer learning loss during elementary school accounted for two-thirds of the achievement gap in reading between low-income children and their middle-income peers by 9th grade. For many young people, the summer opportunity gap contributes to longer term gaps in achievement, employment, and college and career success.
During the Summer 2017, we worked with a new partner, WA-BLOC (Washington-Building Leaders of Change), to launch a Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) Freedom School for rising 6th graders. WA-BLOC has run successful Freedom Schools for the past two summers at Rainier Beach High School. Summit Sierra Public High School (a public charter school) has offered to host the program in its building in the International District. Rising 6th graders need extra support to make a successful transition to middle school. CDF Freedom School engages students in social action learning, building skills for the difficult transition into middle school. The model curriculum supports children and families around five essential components: 1) high-quality academic enrichment, 2) parent and family involvement, 3) social action and civic engagement, 4) intergenerational servant leadership development, 5) nutrition, physical and mental health.
Our Seattle U students are a crucial part of the intergenerational goals. College students and recent graduates will attend a CDF Freedom School training to prepare them for teaching and mentoring the younger children. Since 1995, over 137,000 children and families have attended a CDF Freedom School and 16,000 college students and young adult staff have been trained to deliver this empowering model.
