Summertime Experiences and Child and Adolescent Education, Health, and Safety

Consensus

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For children and youth, summertime presents a unique break from the traditional structure, resources, and support systems that exist during the school year. For some students, this time involves opportunities to engage in fun and enriching activities and programs, while others face additional challenges as they lose a variety of supports, including healthy meals, medical care, supervision, and structured programs that enhance development. Children that are limited by their social, economic, or physical environments during the summer months are at higher risk for worse academic, health, social and emotional, and safety outcomes. In contrast, structured summertime activities and programs support basic developmental needs and positive outcomes for children and youth who can access and afford these programs. These discrepancies in summertime experiences exacerbate pre-existing academic inequities. While further research is needed regarding the impact of summertime on developmental domains outside of the academic setting, extensive literature exists regarding the impact of summertime on academic development trajectories. However, this knowledge is not sufficiently applied to policy and practice, and it is important to address these inequalities.

Shaping Summertime Experiences examines the impact of summertime experiences on the developmental trajectories of school-age children and youth across four areas of well-being, including academic learning, social and emotional development, physical and mental health, and health-promoting and safety behaviors. It also reviews the state of science and available literature regarding the impact of summertime experiences. In addition, this report provides recommendations to improve the experiences of children over the summertime regarding planning, access and equity, and opportunities for further research and data collection.

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230 pages · 6 x 9 · paperback
ISBN Paperback: 0-309-49657-8
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-49658-6
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17226/25546

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National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Shaping Summertime Experiences: Opportunities to Promote Healthy Development and Well-Being for Children and Youth. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

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Martin-José J. Sepulveda

Martín-J. Sepúlveda, M.D., Sc.D., (chair) is an IBM fellow, member of the National Academy of Medicine and CEO of CLARALUZ LLC, an advisory and project consulting firm specializing in health data, analytics, technology, health and health systems. Dr. Sepúlveda is a current member of the Board on Children, Youth, and Families (BCYF).In addition to his service on BCYF, he has also participated in numerous committee and roundtable activities within the National Academies including the Committee on Improving the Health, Safety, and Well-Being of Young Adults). He also serves on several boards outside of the National Academies including the Board of Overseers of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, and the Council on Research for Development. Widely recognized for contributions in public and population health, private sector health care, wellness and health benefits innovation, Dr. Sepúlveda led a private sector collaboration with clinicians for medical home transformation leading to formation of the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative. He has also collaborated with multi-disciplinary scientists on applied research for multi-sectoral data analytics related to health in cities, primary care transformation, and human performance in the workplace. Dr. Sepúlveda received B.A, magna cum laude, from Yale University, his M.P.H. and M.D. degrees from Harvard University, and his Sc.D. from the University of Iowa.

Karl Alexander

Karl Alexander, Ph.D., is executive director of the Thurgood Marshall Alliance (TMA). Dr. Alexander founded TMA in 2015 to assist Baltimore schools that are committed to economic and racial diversity. He presently holds appointments at Johns Hopkins as the John Dewey professor emeritus of sociology, Academy Professor, and, by courtesy, professor in the School of Education. He is past president of the Southern Sociological Society, past editor of the journal Sociology of Education, and a fellow of the American Educational Research Association. For more than a quarter century, Dr. Alexander and colleague Doris Entwisle directed the Baltimore-based Beginning School Study, which tracked the life progress of 790 Baltimore children from first grade into mature adulthood. He is author of nearly 100 scholarly publications and 6 books. In addition to his work with the TMA, Dr. Alexander serves on the Board of the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA). His studies of summer learning loss in Baltimore have helped bring attention to the problem of “summer slide” among low-income children. With the leadership of NSLA, he is co-editor of The Summer Slide: What We Know and Can Do About Summer Learning Loss (Teachers College Press, 2016). Dr. Alexander received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Nisha Botchwey

Nisha Botchwey, Ph.D., M.P.H. is an associate professor of city and regional planning at the Georgia Institute of Technology and an adjunct professor in Emory University’s School of Public Health. She is an expert in health and the built environment as well as health equity, community engagement, and data dashboards for evidence-based planning and practice. Dr. Botchwey co-directs the National Physical Activity Research Center; the Atlanta Neighborhood Quality of Life and Health Dashboard; the data dashboard for Health, Environment and Livability for Fulton County; and directs the Built Environment and Public Health Clearinghouse. Dr. Botchwey has won distinctions including a National Science Foundation ADVANCE Woman of Excellence Faculty Award, a Rockefeller-Penn Fellowship from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing, and was a nominated Changemaker by the Obama White House’ Council on Women and Girls. Dr. Botchwey has also served on the Advisory Committee to the Director for the Centers of Disease Control Prevention and is a member of the Voices for Healthy Kids Strategic Advisory Committee for the American Heart Association. She received her B.A. from Harvard University, her M.P.H. from the University of Virginia, and both her master’s and Ph.D. in city and regional planning from the University of Pennsylvania.

Nancy L. Deutsch

Nancy L. Deutsch, Ph.D., is a professor of research, statistics & evaluation and applied developmental science at the University of Virginia and the director of Youth-Nex, the University of Virginia Center to Promote Effective Youth Development at the Curry School of Education. She is also affiliated with Curry's Youth & Social Innovation (YSI) Program. Dr. Deutsch's research examines the socio-ecological contexts of adolescent development, particularly issues related to identity. She has focused on the role of after-school programs and relationships with important adults. She is especially interested in the process of adolescent learning and development as it unfolds within local environments for better understanding about how to create settings that support youth, especially those at risk due to economic or sociocultural factors. In 2017, Dr. Deutsch became editor of the Journal of Adolescent Research. She also sits on the editorial boards for Applied Developmental Science and Qualitative Psychology. In addition to journal articles, she has published two books on youth in after-school programs. Her work has been funded by organizations including the William T. Grant Foundation, the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the U.S. Department of Education. She received her B.A. from Vassar College and Ph.D. in human development and social policy at Northwestern University.

Joshua Dohan

Joshua Dohan, J.D., is Director of the Youth Advocacy Division, the juvenile defender branch of the Massachusetts statewide public defender agency, the Committee for Public Counsel Services. Mr. Dohan became a public defender in 1988 and joined the Youth Advocacy Project, the predecessor organization to the Youth Advocacy Division at its inception in 1992 as its first staff attorney. Using a Positive Youth Development approach, YAD lawyers and social workers work with children and youth in the Massachusetts juvenile justice system to advance their legal and human rights, promote their healthy development, and help them achieve their legal and life goals. YAD also actively partners with other state agencies and community based organizations to help create safer and healthier communities. YAD has been recognized by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, The National Juvenile Defender Center, the Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative, the MacArthur Foundation, and others for excellence in Juvenile Defense. Mr. Dohan is President of the Board for the Youth Advocacy Foundation, a founding member of the Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Leadership Forum, a member of the LeadBoston class of 2001, a member of the Institutional Review Board of Tufts University, and a member of the Community Advisory Board of the Institute on Race and Justice at Northeastern University. Mr. Dohan is a former Peace Corps volunteer, received his A.B. from Harvard College, and received his J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law.

Barry Garst

Barry Garst, Ph.D. is associate professor of youth development leadership at Clemson University. Dr. Garst’s research and professional interests focus on the developmental outcomes of youth programs and factors that influence program outcomes, with a particular emphasis on out-of-school time youth settings. A nationally recognized researcher in the area of summer camp experiences, his scholarship has also examined the meaning that youth and families attribute to nature-based experiences and the impact of these experiences on family functioning. Dr. Garst is currently examining overparenting and parental perceptions of anxiety associated with out-of-school time experiences. He serves on the National Evaluation Advisory Board for After-School All-Stars, the National Advisory Board for the Center for Adolescent Research and Education, the Healthy Camps Research Committee for the American Camp Association, and is chair of the research committee for the Association of Camp Nurses. He received his B.S. from Virginia Tech, His M.S. in recreation administration from Arizona State University, and his Ph.D. in Forestry from Virginia Tech.

Sandra G. Hassink

Sandra Hassink, M.D, MSc, is the Medical Director of the American Academy of Pediatrics Institute for Healthy Childhood Weight. She was the founder of the Nemours Obesity Initiative at Nemours/Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, DE and past president of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Hassink has testified before Congress on childhood obesity, food insecurity and hunger focusing on supporting the foundations of child health. Dr. Hassink is the Medical Director of the American Academy of Pediatrics Institute for Healthy Childhood Weight and has focused her career on preventing and treating obesity in children. She was co-principal investigator for the Healthy Active Living for Families project, which promotes active healthy living for parents and families of young children and was the principal investigator on an Obesity Cluster Grant developing population health management systems for children with obesity. Dr. Hassink is recognized internationally as an expert in child obesity prevention. She has authored numerous articles for pediatricians and parents and authored two books on pediatric obesity and pediatric weight. She earned her master's degree in pastoral care and counseling from Neumann College in 2000. Dr. Hassink received her M.D from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and completed her residency at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia.

Pamela A. Hymel

Pamela Hymel, M.D., is chief medical officer for Disney Parks, Experiences and Consumer Products (DPECP) where she is responsible for integrating a segment wide health and well-being strategy for the segment. In her current role, she is responsible for the day to day operations of the onsite occupational health services centers, guest first aid locations at WDW, disability/accommodation medical management, global occupational health issues and well-being strategy and programs for DPECP. She is focused on improving overall health for cast, crew & imagineers at WDPR. Prior to joining Disney in 2010, Dr. Hymel worked for 5 years as the corporate medical director for Cisco Systems where she planned the strategy and design of Cisco’s HealthConnections program and the integrative health, fitness and child care center, LifeConnections. She also spent 16 years at Hughes Electronics, last serving as vice president of Human Resources, Benefits & Health. She served as president of the American College of Occupational Medicine (ACOEM) from 2009-10 and was on their board of directors for over 10 years. She also was on the board of directors of the National Business Group of Health (NBGH) from 2005-2014 and the National Committee for Quality Assurance(NCQA) for a number of years. She continues to serve as co-chair the Wellbeing and Workforce Strategy Institute of NBGH. She led Cisco and Hughes Electronics to receive the C. Everett Kopp Award Honorable Mention. Dr. Hymel has a Masters of Public Health degree from Tulane University and an M.D. degree from the Louisiana State University Medical School.

Jennifer McCombs

Jennifer McCombs, Ph.D. is a senior policy researcher and director of the Behavioral and Policy Sciences Department at RAND. Her research focuses on evaluating the extent to which public policies and programs improve outcomes for at-risk youth. She is currently leading a five-district, longitudinal study investigating the effectiveness and implementation of voluntary summer learning programs for low-income elementary youth and an evidence review of summer programs. Her studies combine implementation and outcome data to provide practitioners and policymakers guidance on how to improve programs and promote student outcomes. Over the course of her career, she has studied the development of systems for out-of-school-time programs; how to improve teacher effectiveness; the implementation and impact of test-based promotion policies; and the effects of federal accountability policies on schools, classrooms, and students. McCombs earned her Ph.D. in public policy from The George Washington University.

Barbara Medina

Barbara Medina, Ph.D., teaches as an adjunct faculty for the University of Northern Colorado, Center for Urban Education. Dr. Medina began her career as a classroom teacher, serving K-12 students and educators throughout her career. From her first position as an educator serving students in a rural migrant summer program to her leadership at the Colorado Department of Education as Assistant Commissioner, she has been actively involved at the district, state and national levels in the areas of language and literacy for diverse populations. Her work has focused on equity for cultural and linguistic diverse students and their families. During Dr. Medina’s 37-year career in public education in Colorado, she has served in various roles including: Coordinator of Secondary-level Second Language Programs in Boulder Valley Schools; Professor and Chair of the Department of Teacher Education at Adams State University; Assistant Commissioner Colorado Department of Education; Director of the Office of Language, Culture, and Equity at the Colorado Department of Education; and Director of English Language Acquisition in Denver Public Schools. Dr. Medina has served on several boards. She served two terms on the City of Denver’s Denver Human Rights Council, appointed by Denver’s Mayor Hickenlooper, and on the Latino Commission, appointed by Mayor Hancock. She holds a doctorate in educational policy from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Deborah Moroney

Deborah Moroney, Ph.D., is a managing director at American Institutes for Research (AIR), and she serves as the director of the Youth Development and Supportive Learning Environments practice area. Dr. Moroney’s research and practice experience is in social and emotional learning and youth development. Dr. Moroney is the architect of a collaborative method for the design of dual purpose (improvement and demonstration) evaluation frameworks. She has led numerous projects aimed to explore the factors that influence child and family well-being including a Global Scan on Child and Family Well Being. She works with national multi-site programs including the YMCA of the USA, Boy Scouts of America, and Every Hour Counts. Additionally, Dr. Moroney serves as the principal investigator of city and statewide evaluations including a collaborative project with the Partnership for Children and Youth in California and the citywide evaluation for School's Out New York City. She serves as member of the Afterschool Technical Assistance Collaborative for the C.S. Mott Foundation’s statewide afterschool networks. Dr. Moroney’s work demonstrates a value in bridging research and practice. She serves on the publications committee of the Journal of Youth Development and is a reviewer for peer-reviewed journals, including Afterschool Matters. Dr. Moroney has authored numerous chapters and publications on social and emotional development and assessment, including Social and emotional learning in out-of-school time: Foundations and futures. Prior to joining AIR, Dr. Moroney was a clinical faculty member in educational psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago in the Youth Development Graduate Program. Dr. Moroney holds a Ph.D. and M.Ed. from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Chris Smith

Chris Smith, M.B.A. is president and executive director of Boston After School & Beyond (Boston Beyond), an organization that expands learning and skill development opportunities for students by mobilizing partnerships among program providers, philanthropy, business and higher education, the Boston Public Schools, and the City of Boston. Over the past two decades, Mr. Smith has created, scaled, and led cross-sector partnerships in education and workforce development. Under his leadership, Boston Beyond has developed a nationally recognized model of summer learning that improves student outcomes, built a citywide program performance measurement system, and cultivated a network of 230 programs serving more than 18,000 students. Previously, Mr. Smith worked at the Boston Private Industry Council, where he collaborated with business leaders to integrate work and learning in order to help thousands of students graduate, and with legislative leaders to address the dropout rate in Massachusetts. He began his career at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC, where he coordinated partnerships for the Secretary of Education. Mr. Smith earned a B.A. in American studies from Trinity College and an M.B.A. from Babson College in Wellesley, MA.

Rachel L. Thornton

Rachel Thornton, M.D., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University in the Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Dr. Thornton is a board certified pediatrician and public health researcher who previously served as a health policy advisor to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and worked on the National Prevention Strategy and Implementation Plan. Her policy work addresses “health in all policies” with an emphasis on housing, community development, and urban planning policy. Her research focuses on childhood obesity and cardiovascular disease risk, health disparities, and social determinants of health. Dr. Thornton has expertise in racial/ethnic disparities in health and health care. Her scholarship is focused on informing the development of novel interventions to eliminate health disparities by addressing individual-, family-, and community-level factors that contribute to disparities in child and adolescent obesity and cardiovascular disease risk. Dr. Thornton received an M.D. from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a Ph.D. in Health Policy and Management from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Thornton received additional fellowship and postdoctoral training in behavioral aspects of cardiovascular disease and general academic pediatrics and later in public policy as a White House Fellow.

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Summertime Experiences and Child and Adolescent Education, Health, and Safety

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Summertime Experiences and Child and Adolescent Education, Health, and Safety

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Featured publication

Shaping Summertime Experiences: Opportunities to Promote Healthy Development and Well-Being for Children and Youth

Description

Collaborators

Committee

Sponsors

Staff

Major units and sub-units

Contact

Contact us

Provide feedback

Request materials

More like this

Modernizing Mathematics Education for Grades 9-14

Health Care Financing to Improve Availability of Affordable Contraception: Identifying Promising Practices

Review of Methods in the Report on Carcinogens Handbook

Extreme Weather Events and Insurance Webinar Series

Modernizing Mathematics Education for Grades 9-14

Prevention of and Response to Sexual Harassment in Higher Education: Tools for Department Chairs and Principal Investigators: A Workshop

Shaping Access to Reproductive Health Care: Financing and Delivery Systems. A Two-Part Webinar Series

Implementing A New Vision for High Quality Pre-K Curriculum: A Workshop

K-12 Threat Assessment Efficacy and Implementation Evaluation Research: A Workshop