Summer School as an Academic Recovery Strategy After COVID-19: Evidence from Summer 2023

Many school districts used summer school as a strategy for addressing declines in student achievement after COVID-19. This study extends a prior analysis of 2022 summer programs by examining the association between 2023 program participation and academic recovery across eight large U.S. districts and, in four districts, comparing students who participated in both summers with students who participated in 2023 for the first time. Using value-added models, we find modest but significant improvements in student math achievement (average effect = 0.024 standard deviations) associated with participating in 2023, but no significant improvements in reading. Estimates were similar to 2022, despite small declines in participation and dosage. In the subsample of four districts, we find students attending for a second consecutive summer generally benefited as much or more than first-time attendees.