#  Summer School Can Boost Learning Gains—Even When Programs Aren’t Perfect 

 





Summer school is just one ‘piece’ of academic recovery



 

January 14, 2026

 

 

 Sarah Schwartz 

Nearly six years on from the start of the COVID pandemic, many of the academic recovery plans districts put in place haven’t shown big returns and student achievement remains stubbornly low.

Several [studies of large-scale tutoring programs](https://www.edweek.org/leadership/why-hasnt-tutoring-been-more-effective/2025/11), for instance, have shown that initiatives didn’t move the needle on student outcomes at all—in part due to logistical challenges that prevented the one-on-one instruction from being as effective as promised.

Those problems haven’t plagued summer school to the same extent, though, a new research brief finds. Even when districts designed summer programs that didn’t meet recommendations for best practice, participation still led to small but significant improvements in students’ math skills.

The finding suggests that summer school might be more “forgiving” of implementation difficulties than some other academic recovery interventions, said Emily Morton, a lead research scientist at NWEA, and an author on the report.

The brief summarizes [results from the Road to Recovery research-practice partnership](https://caldercenter.org/publications/schools-summer-scalable-and-effective-post-pandemic-academic-intervention)—a collaboration between 10 large school districts and researchers at the assessment and research company NWEA, CALDER at the American Institutes of Research, and Harvard University. It draws conclusions from published studies of programs across these districts, which collectively serve close to 450,000 students.

*Continue reading at* [*edweek.org*](https://www.edweek.org/leadership/summer-school-can-boost-learning-gains-even-when-programs-arent-perfect/2026/01)



 

 

 



 

 See also:- [ COVID-19 Impact ](/focus-areas/covid-19-impact)
- [ High-Dosage Tutoring ](/focus-areas/high-dosage-tutoring)
- [ In the News ](/cepr-in-the-news)
- [ Road to Recovery Project ](/projects/road-recovery-project)
- [ 2026 ](/year/2026)
- [ K12 ](/sector/k12)
 
 

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