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Suggested Citation:"Board on Children, Youth, and Families." 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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BOARD ON CHILDREN, YOUTH, AND FAMILIES

The Board on Children, Youth, and Families (BCYF) is a nongovernmental, scientific body within the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine that advances the health, learning, development, resilience, and well-being of all children, youth, and families. The board convenes top experts from multiple disciplines to analyze the best available evidence on critical issues facing children, youth, and families. Our ability to evaluate research simultaneously from the perspectives of the biological, behavioral, health, and social sciences allows us to shed light on innovative and influential solutions to inform the nation. Our range of methods—from rapidly convened workshops to consensus reports and forum activities—allows us to respond with the timeliness and depth required to make the largest possible impact on the health and well-being of children, youth, and their families throughout the entire lifecycle. BCYF publications provide independent analyses of the science and go through a rigorous external peer-review process.

Suggested Citation:"Board on Children, Youth, and Families." 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:"Board on Children, Youth, and Families." 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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Page 209
Suggested Citation:"Board on Children, Youth, and Families." 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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Page 210
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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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