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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
×

SHAPING SUMMERTIME EXPERIENCES

Opportunities to Promote
Healthy Development and Well-Being
for Children and Youth

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

Martín-José Sepúlveda and Rebekah Hutton, Editors

Board on Children, Youth, and Families

Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education

A Consensus Study Report of

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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
www.nap.edu

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001

This activity was supported by a contract awarded to the National Academy of Sciences and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (1003812) and the Wallace Foundation (10003942). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-49657-5
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-49657-8
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/25546
Library of Congress Control Number: 2019954832

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Suggested citation: 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. https://doi.org/10.17226/25546.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
×

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The National Academy of Sciences was established in 1863 by an Act of Congress, signed by President Lincoln, as a private, nongovernmental institution to advise the nation on issues related to science and technology. Members are elected by their peers for outstanding contributions to research. Dr. Marcia McNutt is president.

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Learn more about the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine at www.nationalacademies.org.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
×

Image

Consensus Study Reports published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine document the evidence-based consensus on the study’s statement of task by an authoring committee of experts. Reports typically include findings, conclusions, and recommendations based on information gathered by the committee and the committee’s deliberations. Each report has been subjected to a rigorous and independent peer-review process and it represents the position of the National Academies on the statement of task.

Proceedings published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine chronicle the presentations and discussions at a workshop, symposium, or other event convened by the National Academies. The statements and opinions contained in proceedings are those of the participants and are not endorsed by other participants, the planning committee, or the National Academies.

For information about other products and activities of the National Academies, please visit www.nationalacademies.org/about/whatwedo.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
×

COMMITTEE ON SUMMERTIME EXPERIENCES AND CHILD AND ADOLESCENT EDUCATION, HEALTH, AND SAFETY

MARTÍN-JOSÉ SEPÚLVEDA (Chair), IBM Corporation (retired)

KARL ALEXANDER, Johns Hopkins University (emeritus)

NISHA BOTCHWEY, Georgia Institute of Technology

NANCY L. DEUTSCH, University of Virginia

JOSHUA DOHAN, Youth Advocacy Division, State of Massachusetts

BARRY A. GARST, Clemson University

SANDRA HASSINK, American Academy of Pediatrics Institute for Healthy Childhood Weight

PAMELA HYMEL, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts

JENNIFER MCCOMBS, RAND Corporation

BARBARA MEDINA, Center for Urban Education, University of Northern Colorado

DEBORAH MORONEY, American Institutes for Research

CHRIS SMITH, Boston After School & Beyond

RACHEL L.J. THORNTON, Johns Hopkins University

Study Staff

REBEKAH HUTTON, Study Director

PRIYANKA NALAMADA, Associate Program Officer

STACEY SMIT, Senior Program Assistant

LORENA GARCIA, Archer Fellow (May–August 2018)

CYPRESS LYNX, Intern (August 2018–April 2019)

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
×

BOARD ON CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND FAMILIES

ANGELA DIAZ (Chair), Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

HAROLYN BELCHER, Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

W. THOMAS BOYCE, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

DAVID V. B. BRITT, Sesame Workshop (retired)

RICHARD F. CATALANO, University of Washington School of Social Work

DIMITRI CHRISTAKIS, Seattle Children’s Research Institute, University of Washington

JEFFREY W. HUTCHINSON, The Wade Alliance, LLC

STEPHANIE J. MOROE, The Wrenwood Group, LLC

JAMES M. PERRIN, Harvard Medical School and Mass General Hospital for Children

NISHA SACHDEV, Bainum Family Foundation

DONALD SCHWARZ, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

MARTÍN-JOSÉ SEPÚLVEDA, IBM Corporation (retired)

MARTIN H. TEICHER, Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital

JONATHAN TODRES, Georgia State University College of Law

NATACHA BLAIN, Director

PAMELLA ATAYI, Program Coordinator

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
×

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible without the contributions of many people. Special thanks go to the members of the committee who dedicated extensive time, expertise, and energy to the drafting of the report. The committee also thanks the members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine staff: Rebekah Hutton and Priyanka Nalamada for their significant contributions to the report, Stacey Smit for providing key administrative and logistical support, which ensured that committee meetings ran smoothly, and Cypress Lynx and Lorena Garcia for providing valuable research support to the committee.

The committee is also grateful to Anthony Bryant, Faye Hillman, and Lisa Alston for their administrative and financial assistance. From the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education Office of Reports and Communication, Kirsten Sampson Snyder, Viola Horek, Patricia L. Morison, Douglas Sprunger, and Yvonne Wise guided the report through the review and production process and assisted with its communication and dissemination. The committee also thanks the National Academies Press staff, Clair Woolley and Holly Sten, for their assistance with the production of the final report; Daniel Bearss and Rebecca Morgan in the National Academies’ research library for their assistance with fact checking and literature searches; Genie Grohman for her editing of early drafts of the report; and the report’s copyeditor, Marc DeFrancis, for his expert editing. Finally, throughout the project, Natacha Blain, director of the Board on Children, Youth, and Families, along with Mary Ellen O’Connell and Monica Feit, provided helpful oversight.

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
×

Many individuals volunteered significant time and effort to address and educate the committee during our public information session. Their perspectives and personal experiences were essential to the committee’s work. We thank Steve Baskin, Camp Champions; Kim Fortunato, Campbell Soup Foundation; Maeghan Gilmore, National Association of Counties; Nathalie Hawkins, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts; Woodie Hughes, Jr., Fort Valley State University; Jocelyn Richgels, Rural Policy Research Institute; Juli Shaw, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts; and Lauren Tingey, Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health.

Many individuals and organizations assisted the committee’s information-gathering efforts and provided valuable insights and context for the committee’s work by providing written memos or presentations for the committee’s consideration. We thank the following individuals: Michael W. Beets, Policy to Practice in Youth Programs; Carla Benway, Youth Advocate Programs, Inc.; Juliette Berg, American Institutes for Research; Michelle Dennison, Oklahoma City Indian Clinic; Linda Ebner Erceg, Association of Camp Nurses; Shaena Fazal, Youth Advocate Programs, Inc.; Miriam Heyman, Ruderman Family Foundation; Max Margolius, Boston University; Alicia Sasser Modestino, Northeastern University; Justin B. Moore, Policy to Practice in Youth Programs; Cynthia Perry, Oregon Health and Science University; Anna Skubel, Boston University; Christopher A. Thurber, Phillips Exeter Academy; Paul von Hippel, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin; R. Glenn Weaver, Policy to Practice in Youth Programs; Stuart T. Weinberg, Vanderbilt University; Nikki Yamashiro, Afterschool Alliance; Jonathan F. Zaff, Boston University; and the following organizations: Bethel Youth Facility; the Commonwealth Corporation; and Family Voices, Inc.

The committee would also like to thank the following individuals and organizations for providing access to critical data regarding the summertime camp experiences of children and youth: Laurie Brown and Grechen Throop, American Camp Association; Shay Dawson, Central Michigan University; and Ann Gillard, SeriousFun Children’s Network.

The committee appreciates the contributions of Vidhya Ananthakrishnan, Columbia University; Amanda Geller, New York University; Nikki Jones, University of California, Berkeley; Theresa Melton, University of Virginia; Scott Pulizzi, American Institutes for Research; and Jocelyn Widmer, Texas A&M, for their valuable commissioned papers, which informed our report.

This Consensus Study Report was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
×

integrity of the deliberative process. We thank the following individuals for their review of this report: Tina L. Cheng, Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Andrew J. Cherlin, Department of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University; Jacqueline Jones, President/CEO, Foundation for Child Development; Ruth Perou, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; James F. Sallis, Family Medicine and Public Health (emeritus), University of California, San Diego; Jim Sibthorp, Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, University of Utah; Melissa Threadgill, Juvenile Justice Initiatives, Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate; and Paul von Hippel, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin.

Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations of this report, nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this report was overseen by David V. Britt, President and CEO, Sesame Workshop (retired) and Catherine E. Woteki, Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State University. They were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.

Martín-José Sepúlveda, Chair

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
×
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
×
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
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Preface

For children and youth in grades K–12 in the United States, “summertime” is the period between successive academic calendar years that typically occupies the majority of the months of June through August. It is an important time period for all community members, since the summertime experiences of children (grades K–5) and youth or adolescents (grades 5–12) have both direct and indirect effects on others in their roles as parents, siblings, caretakers, providers of goods and services, or community residents. This yearly interval presents opportunities and challenges for children and youth as well as for the agents (e.g., parents, teachers, summer counselors and program directors, police) and sectors (e.g., government, commercial, nonprofit) that design, develop, deliver, or fund components of summertime experiences.

Environments, exposures, activities, and interactions during summertime can promote positive cognitive, social, emotional, and skills development, as well as promoting safety and physical and mental health, for children and youth. However, summertime experiences are not evenly and equitably distributed, and many children and youth lack access to quality experiences due to the challenges of availability, accessibility, and affordability. The most vulnerable children—those in households or neighborhoods at a lower socioeconomic level, from ethnic, racial, or immigrant minorities, with special needs or disabilities, from rural neighborhoods, who are LGBTQ+, or who are affected by the juvenile or adult criminal justice or child welfare systems—face the greatest challenges in accessing quality summertime experiences.

Page xviii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
×

Meeting the needs of children and youth through summertime experiences that promote positive outcomes in education, health, safety, and well-being requires an understanding of how summertime affects these outcomes and of the types, quality, and distribution of as well as participation in summertime activities at the national, regional, and local levels. Identifying, collecting, and assessing the existing data, and using those data as a lens to describe the current state of and opportunities for improvement in summertime activities, formed the basis of this committee’s work. These aims were applied to four areas of well-being: (1) academic learning; (2) social and emotional development; (3) physical and mental health and behaviors; and (4) safety, risk-taking, and anti- and pro-social behavior.

The central aim of this report is to provide a path forward that is actionable for policy makers, funders, sectors, and agents involved in the environments and experiences of children and youth in summertime to improve the quality, effectiveness, and equity of their efforts. As parents, family members, policy makers, funders, and service providers, our communities benefit from improved developmental, safety, and health experiences for our K–12 children and youth during the summer months.

We begin our report with a Prologue vignette. It is intended to place our call for action and investments for greater equity in positive summertime experiences for children and youth into the broader context of the distinct cultures, histories, and assets they possess as members of families and communities. Interventions that may result from our recommendations should leverage these capacities in their design and implementation.

Martín-José Sepúlveda, Chair

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

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
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Prologue

As we deliberate about those experiences that support children, I think of the summers I hoed sugar beets with my family on our farm. How my mother would stretch across her three rows to hoe on mine and catch my 6-year-old-self up. Some would say that my summer experiences were deficits. There were no youth activities or summer school. I learned to dog-paddle in the canals and irrigation ditches surrounding our farm. I learned to drive in the beet truck, from one end of the field to another.

We often speak in deficits, of childhood traumas or opportunities unavailable to children. I am the evidence that my parents, my heritage, and my rural country schooling were assets.

—Barbara Medina, Committee Member

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." 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. doi: 10.17226/25546.
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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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