Strategic Use of Summer and Afterschool Set Asides Community Resources
The Strategic Use of Summer and Afterschool Set Asides Community of Practice (Summer and Afterschool Community) is comprised of cross-agency teams from states and the United States Department of Education that are committed to demonstrating the lasting benefits of summer and afterschool stimulus funding for youth, families, and out-of-school time systems. Teams convene a broader group of local education agencies and community partners with whom they can test out strategies and new tools and resources. Together, they address problems of practice by identifying, testing, and reflecting on strategies to promote strategic and sustainable use of set aside funding.

Community Co-Leads

Hillary Oravec

Brenda McLaughlin

Brytani Cavil
Year 2: Session 4 Preparing for Summer and Sustainability
External Resources
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US Department of Ed: Raise the Bar
"Raise the Bar: Lead the World" is the U.S. Department of Education's call to action to transform P-12 education and unite around what truly works—based on decades of experience and research—to advance educational equity and excellence
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RESTART Network
The RESTART Network is a clearinghouse for pandemic-related learning recovery research.
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Engage Every Student
The U.S. Department of Education has partnered with the Afterschool Alliance, AASA, the School Superintendents Association, National League of Cities, National Summer Learning Association, and the National Comprehensive Center to provide schools and communities the connections and assistance they may need to expand access to afterschool and summer learning programs.
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Best Practices Clearinghouse
We know that as States and districts pursue the strategies within each pillar, they seek opportunities to share with and learn from each other. The Best Practices Clearinghouse serves as one mechanism for them to do so. The Best Practices Clearinghouse remains focused on student well-being and now aligns that focus with the Raise the Bar pillars.
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Future Forward Ohio
Future Forward Ohio encompasses the state’s strategic priorities for using federal funds to help students recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on students who experienced the greatest disruptions to learning. Please visit the Student Recovery Dashboard to see the impact of the pandemic on Ohio students, as well as the progress towards academic recovery.
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Connecticut's EdSight
Connecticut's official source for education data.
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• Louisiana Department of Education | Education Progress and Investment Charts
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Center for Education Policy Research, Road to Covid Recovery
Researchers from CEPR have partnered with colleagues at CALDER at the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and NWEA to uncover the impact of the pandemic on learning loss and work with a coalition of districts across the country to help determine which COVID recovery interventions are working (or not working) and why. The research group aims to maximize the potential of this research to practically inform each district’s recovery efforts, as well as offer insights to the larger field.
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Oregon Ask Summer Without Funding Report
In 2022, $50 million was allocated for community-based organizations (CBOs) to provide summer learning opportunities, administered through the Oregon Community Summer Grants (OCSG) Initiative.
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New Jersey's Afterschool & OST Professional Network ESSER Funding Toolkit
NJSACC has developed a free, downloadable toolkit with all of the information needed to assist school leaders partner with quality afterschool providers to create afterschool, out-of-school time (OST), and summer programs using ESSER funds.
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Children’s Funding Project (CFP) Federal Funding Streams for Children and Youth Services database
The Federal Funding Streams for Children and Youth Services database helps communities find federal funding available to states, tribal areas, counties, cities, towns, school districts, and local nonprofit organizations to support children and youth.
Year 2: Session 3 Strategies to Drive Quality, Partnerships, and Sustainability Through Technical Assistance
CCNetwork Resources
Summer and Afterschool Needs Assessment
The Summer and Afterschool Needs Assessment draws from the best evidence on what it takes to plan high-quality and afterschool programs, and provides you with:
- A better understanding of your program’s strengths and areas of need
- Access to targeted resources and experts in your area
- Bonus! You'll even get a 30-minute web consultation with an Engage Every Student national partner, who can further connect you to leaders and opportunities within your area.

Summer and Afterschool Resource Map
External Resources
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School Connect Cafe
A facilitation technique that can be used between LEAs and Community Partners
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Gives & Gets Agreement
A formal agreement that outlines what each party “gives & gets” in community partnerships.
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Arizona Summer Learning Roadmap
This document is only one of many resources provided to administrators seeking to offer high-quality summer learning programming. This is a living document with a diverse range of resources provided throughout the document for various levels and stages in the implementation process for Summer Learning. Several evidence-based resources, tools, and examples are from various organizations that have worked in partnership with the Arizona Department of Education.
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Hawaii Summer Learning Guide 2023
The Hawai‘i State Department of Education is excited to provide a comprehensive menu of engaging summer learning opportunities for students in the upcoming summer months.
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Ignite Summer Toolkit
As summer program providers — or should we say innovators, creators and wizards! — we have an opportunity to make space for students to be successful in ways they haven’t before.
But how do we make the most of that opportunity?
This toolkit is here to help. It’s full of hands-on resources to help inspire, excite and re-imagine high-quality summer programming.
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Nevada 21CCLC and ARP Subgrantee Map
Nevada Department of Education created a subgrantee map that can be used to see how they have expanded access to summer and afterschool over the past 5 years.
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Texas Additional School Days Summer Learning HUB
The ADSY PEP Summer Learning Communities supports districts and schools in a robust program planning and continuous improvement process. Over the course of the year, district/school planning teams will be guided through a variety of supports to help them plan the elements of a high-quality summer learning program in a thoughtful and practical sequence.
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Schools Use ESSER Funds for Afterschool Programs
What happens when the money runs out?
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Indicators of Effective Technical Assistance Practices
Effective technical assistance (TA) is a collaborative, coordinated effort to facilitate change in systems, build capacity, improve practices, and reach agreed-upon outcomes1, 2. Specifically, effective TA provides a pathway to improvement through activities and materials that promote new behaviors, practices, beliefs, and understandings of staff in the systems served3. The purpose of this resource is to present the indicators of effective TA practices to facilitate TA provider understanding, use, evaluation, and improvement of those practices.
Year 2: Session 2 Data to Promote Access, Quality, and Outcomes
Thursday, February 2 @ 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM ET
Driving Questions:
- What do we know about equitable access and use of funds?
- What do we know about the quality of programs, partnerships, and student/stakeholder experiences?
- What do we know about the impact of programs and student outcomes?
- What strategies could we consider promoting greater equity of access, quality, outcomes?
- How can we set up and/or improve a continuous improvement cycle at the state level?
Objectives
Agenda
- Welcome
- Research & Framing
- Peer Exchanges – Data Dives and Artifacts
- Meaning Making
- Looking Ahead: Our Work through April 13
Year 2: Session 1 State of the State
Wednesday, Nov 16 @ 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM ET
Driving Questions:
- How do the varying approaches intentionally or inadvertently impact sustainable access across and within SEAs?
- Which strategies are most essential for long-term sustainability of our systems to promote access, quality, outcomes?
Objectives
- Make connections between the strategic use of ESSER|ARP funds in peer state structures and partnerships.
- Identify states ESSER|ARP spending projections and progress
- Gain insight on states opportunities for influencing summer access, quality, outcomes, and sustainability in the year ahead.
Agenda
- Welcome
- Frameworks to Ground our Work
- State of the State Presentations
- Meaning Making
- Looking Ahead: Our Work through February 2
External Resources
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ED APR ESSER Methodology and Allocations
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Edunomics Lab - ESSR Expendure Dashboard
State data including expenditures by district
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ED ARP ESSR Fact Sheet
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ED Letter Dated May 13, 2022
The letter pertaining to school infrastructure projects. Upon written request from SEA, USDOE may approve up to 18 months beyond the obligation period to spend ESSER III funding on infrastructure projects. Funding must still be obligated by 9/30/24 but instead of needing to be spent by January 2025, approval may be granted to extend the spending timeline to April 2026.
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Afterschool Alliance - ARP Releated/Funded TA Through State Afterschool Networks
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2022 School Pulse Panel
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Arizona On Track
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Arizona Center for Afterschool Excellence
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Hawaii Summer Learning Dashboard
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Oregon Summer Learning Best Practice Guide
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Oregon Department of Education Summer Learning Toolkit
Year 2 Schedule of Activities
Community meetings will be scheduled from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. ET / 11:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. PT
- Wednesday, Nov 16 - State of the State
- Thursday, February 2 - Diving Deep in Data to Strengthen Systems Strategies
- Thursday, April 13 - Strategies to Drive Quality, Partnerships, and Sustainability Through Technical Assistance
- Thursday, June 8 - Preparing for Summer and Sustainability
- Thursday, September 14 - TBD
Year 1 Partnerships and Staffing to Achieve Scale
Driving Questions:
How are states, LEAs, and community agencies partnering to provide programming at scale? How can we staff our programs with high-quality instructors during a period of high churn and burn out?
CCNetwork Resources

After Action Reviews for Summer Learning Programs

Establishing Data Sharing Agreements Between Community Based Organizations and Schools

Working Together: Recruiting, Training, and Supporting Staff Members for Impactful Summer Learning
External Resources
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Furman University - South Carolina Afterschool Leaders Empowered (SCALE)
The SCALE program provides summer and afterschool learning leaders with tools to maintain and build high-quality, evidence-based programs.
Year 1 Data for Continuous Improvement
Driving Questions:
How can we design programs to meet diverse student needs? How can we ensure that we’re identifying and collecting the most important data to gauge our success and identify further areas for quality improvement?
CCNetwork Resources
Approaches to Data and Continuous Improvement: Youth, Program, and System Level External Resource
This discussion introduces participants to The Every Hour Counts Measurement Framework, Putting Data to Work for Young People, which was developed to help summer and afterschool leaders think through their data needs, plan for data collection and use, and carry out those plans in ways that support continuous improvement and advance racial equity.
External Resources
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Every Hour Counts - Putting Data to Work for Young People Guidebook
A companion resource to EHC’s Measurement Framework to help you use the framework as a planning tool.
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Sperling Center for Research and Innovation (SCRI) - Summer Learning Program Evaluation Guide
Guidance on creating summer evaluation plans that are aligned to research and help capture impact, quality, opportunities for continuous improvement.
Year 1 Sustainability
Driving Questions:
How have exemplary summer and afterschool systems and programs built lasting support for their work?
What strategies might we consider?
CCNetwork Resources

Facets of Sustainability for Summer and Afterschool Programs
This plenary presentation, from the Summer and Out of School Time Community of Practice, provides an overview of the many facets of sustainability that school and community leaders must consider to set programs up for success year after year. The sustainability framework shared is based on research conducted during the National Summer Learning Project and includes clear vision and priorities, robust partnerships, strategic communications, collecting data for continuous improvement, and quality programs, among others.

Collecting and Using Data for Continuous Improvement in Summer & Afterschool
This breakout discussion offers guidance on what to measure and how to use data to drive continuous improvement in summer and afterschool programs. Drawing from multiple frameworks and research studies, participants discuss systemic, programmatic and youth outcomes, and how state education agencies can support local education agencies and community partners to measure implementation and outcomes.
External Resources
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Wallace Foundation – Facilitation Guide for Sustainability Planning Tools
This Guide provides an overview of the three Sustainability Planning Tools – the Self-Assessment, Strategy Development, and Action Plan. It also provides helpful tips for summer program leads to prepare for and facilitate a collaborative planning process using those three tools.