Make Your Summer Game Plan

Summer learning is more important than ever.

 



SUMMER GAME PLAN 2025

** coming soon **

The Summer Game Plan is a virtual workshop series tailored for TK-12 administrators, educators and community partners. This series is dedicated to guiding you through the intricacies of developing and implementing top-tier summer learning programs. Participate in Zoom sessions packed with valuable technical assistance, featuring insights from prominent voices in the summer learning field.

The Summer Game Plan Series provides:

  • Access to conversations with your peers and practitioners

  • Strategies to navigate the biggest challenges when planning your summer
    learning program, from consistent participation to staffing solutions

  • Resources to aid your planning, including information about funding,
    the latest research and advice from practitioners


Who is this for?

  • District expanded learning coordinators and managers

  • Community-based organization leaders and managers

  • Site coordinators

  • Anyone who is overwhelmed and could use support with planning

  • Leaders looking for new ideas and real-world tested examples

2024 SUMMER GAME PLAN sessions

Summer Essentials: Strategies to Improve Student Engagement and Connectedness

Tuesday, February 27  |  1:00-2:30 PM

​​Panel discussion with district and expanded learning leaders that will dive into the fundamentals of summer learning programs and how they have leveraged the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELO-P).

Speakers:

Jessica Gunderson, Co-CEO of Partnership for Children & Youth, will share expertise from many years leading research on summer learning

Jessica Gunderson Bio

Rian Carroll, Coordinator of Expanded Learning Programs at Washington Unified School District, will discuss how they collaborate with multiple partners to offer innovative enrichment and supplemental instructional programs

Rian Carroll Bio

Rina Serrano, Coordinator, Student and Parent Support Programs at Hayward Unified School District, will share insights as a longtime summer champion and from their participation in the District Summer Learning Network

Rina Serrano Bio

Watch the recording

Download the slide deck

 


Summer Synergy: Strengthen Ties with Enrichment Organizations and Community Partners

Thursday, March 14  |  1-2:30 PM

Learn best practices for building and strengthening meaningful partnerships between school districts and community-based organizations. Explore collaborative strategies for administering and implementing successful summer learning programs.

Speakers:

Paige Smith, Education Consultant, Sperling Center for Research and Innovation, will highlight the value of partnerships and the SCRI Enrichment Toolkit, complete with step-by-step guides

Astrid Cante, ELO Site Supervisor, Lancaster School District

Astrid Cante Bio

Jane D’Anna, Director of Expanded Learning Opportunities, Lancaster School District, will share strategies and examples of successful summer partnerships from years of experience in student programming

Jane D’Anna Bio

Watch the recording

Download the slide deck

 
 

Bright Beginnings: Enriching Summers for Early Learners

Thursday, March 21  |  1-2:30 PM

Explore strategies for serving early learners through 9-hour, inclusive and engaging summer learning programs. Prepare early learners for school readiness success while helping to close the achievement gap.

Speakers:

Eileen Aguba Chen, Superintendent, Robla School District

Eileen Aguba Chen Bio

Eliana Mancilla (ella, she, her) M.A., Associate Director of Learning and Development Woodcraft Rangers

Eliana Mancilla Bio

Monik Vega, M. Ed., Sr. Program Manager, Partnership for Children & Youth

Monik Vega Bio

 

Rachel Champagne, Regional Director, Catalyst Kids (Ventura County)

Rachel Champagne Bio

Watch the recording

Download the slide deck

 
 

Thriving Together: Building Resilient Summer Teams through Recruitment, Training, and Retention

Thursday, April 25  |  1-2:30 PM

Join us for a workshop focused on enhancing professional development strategies tailored to the unique landscape of summer learning programs. Delve into innovative approaches for staff recruitment and retention and gain practical skills and insights to foster a thriving work environment.

Speakers:

  • John Fuentes, Associate Director, Bay Area Community Resources (BACR)

  • Mariana Lopez Quintanilla, Industry Director, Bay Area Community Resources

    Mariana Lopez Quintanilla Bio

  • Marisa Ramirez, Industry Director, Bay Area Community Resources

    Marisa Ramirez Bio

Watch the recording

Download the slide deck

 

PAST Workshops & wEBINARS

Designing high-quality enrichment programs (March 21, 2023)

Presented in partnership with Sperling Center for Research and Innovation
Explore innovative strategies to design high-quality enrichment programs that support youth voice, align with program goals, and support whole child development.

Speakers:

  • Titus Karvon, Program Coordinator, Safe and Healthy Kids,
    Fresno County Office of Education

  • Yubleni Cazares, Program Manager, Student Services Division,
    Fontana Unified School District

  • Wendy Perez, Program Coordinator, City of Fontana

Watch the recording

Download the slide deck

Creating robust partnerships: nuts and bolts (March 1, 2023)

Presented in partnership with Sperling Center for Research and Innovation

Learn key strategies that support the development and execution of partnerships to enhance learning experiences for young people and staff.

Speakers include:

  • Armando Diaz, Vice President of Programs and Partnerships, EduCare Foundation

  • Seth Weinberg, Program Director, Rincon Valley School District

Watch the recording and download the slide deck

(Additional resources available to series registrants only. Register for the series.)

Watch the recording

Download the slide deck

How climate and culture impact summer staffing (February 16, 2023)

Presented in partnership with Sperling Center for Research and Innovation

Learn how you can turn insights from your own staff into applicable and effective strategies for improving your program’s culture and climate to support staff retention. Get key tips for how to use qualitative data to bolster staff well-being and help your best and brightest stay in the profession.

Speakers include:

  • Danny Salas, Chief Program Officer, Woodcraft Rangers

Watch the recording and download the slide deck
(Additional resources available to series registrants only. Register for the series.)

Watch the recording

Download the slide deck

How California schools are making the most of increased state investments (January 31, 2023)

Hear from district and education leaders about trends and recommendations for implementing ELO-P now, next summer, and year-round, including how they addressed workforce challenges and leaned on partners to deliver high-quality programs.

Speakers include:

  • Aldo A. Ramirez, Assistant Superintendent, Salinas City Elementary School District

  • José Fausto, Extended Learning Administrator II, Salinas City Elementary School District

  • Eduardo A. Caballero, Executive Director, EDMO

  • Suzanne Hill, Project Liaison, Expanded Learning, Orange County Office of Education

  • Peter Barajas, Early Education and Expanded Learning, Westminster School District

  • Julia Sanchez, Early Education and Expanded Learning, Westminster School District

  • Jessica Gunderson, Co-CEO, Partnership for Children & Youth

Watch the recording and download the slide deck
(Additional resources available to series registrants only. Register for the series.)

Watch the recording

Download the slidedeck

Interpreting Summer Data (September 21, 2022)

Make the most of the data you collected during your summer program. With this past summer still fresh in your mind, now is the best time to put your data to use. Learn from our team of experts about how you can make the most of the data you collected during your summer program to:

  • Understand your impact

  • Tell your program’s story

  • Improve program quality and student engagement

Recording:

Resources:

Download the slide deck

Continuous Quality Improvement (May 26, 2022)

Now that summer programs are around the corner, make sure you have a continuous quality improvement (CQI) plan in place! A comprehensive evaluation plan is critical to summer program quality and sustainability. Join us as we explore how you can create evaluation plans that are aligned with research and evidence in order to understand your impact, reflect on quality, identify program strengths and challenges, and develop processes for continuous improvement and long-term sustainability.

Recording:

Resources:

Download the slide deck

Supporting Young Multilingual Learners and Engaging Their Families (May 19, 2022)

Hosted in partnership with Early Edge California

Learn about and explore a new online resource hub geared specifically for practitioners who work with multilingual children in Pre-K through 3rd grade: The Multilingual Learning Toolkit.

During this session, hear from our partners at Oakland Unified School District about how they are implementing the Toolkit in their district and programs; access and explore the site’s key features; and learn about strategies and tools for engaging diverse families.

Recording:

Resources:

Download resources from the workshop

Check out the Multilingual Learning Toolkit

Increasing Full-Year Learning Opportunities for Younger Learners (April 19, 2022)

Hosted in partnership with the Center for District Innovation and Leadership in Early Education (DIAL EE)

How can districts and partners leverage the unique, flexible summer learning space and influx of resources to meet the state’s dual promise of Universal Pre-Kindergarten and expanded learning? Learn how to strengthen outcomes and support our youngest learners with their transition into the next school year by embedding family and caregiver engagement and promoting literacy, social-emotional learning, and school readiness elements.

Slide Deck & Resources

Staff Onboarding and Training (April 13, 2022)

Hosted in partnership with California School-Age Consortium (CalSAC)

Staff at summer programs must be trained in instructional methods and positive learning environments in order to garner positive outcomes. Programming and professional development should align broadly with school-year learning and goals. Summer also provides a critical opportunity to provide hands-on, experiential, project-based, social justice-themed, and culturally relevant curriculum. Learn about flexible and customizable staff onboarding and training resources to get your staff ready for summer.

Resources and recordings

Summer Program Operations: Mastering All the Checklists (March 24, 2022)

Launching a summer program is like starting a new school year, but with less time for planning and execution. Effectively managing everything that goes into program site operations—master calendars, schedules, field trips, meals, facilities, and safety—takes more than one checklist!

During this session, gain the tips and tools that will help you be ready for day one, week one of your summer program, as well as strategies to help maintain effective program site operations for a smooth summer.

Recordings and resources

Designing Engaging Summer Learning Opportunities (March 9, 2022)

Research has shown that to ensure meaningful participation and impact in voluntary summer learning programs, programs must intentionally focus on fun, hands-on, and engaging activities aligned with learning objectives.

Learn directly from practitioners about how they provide students with environments that are both safe and enriching, and what is most important to keep in mind when designing programs for specific populations like early learners, older youth, and multilingual learners.

Recordings and resources

Innovative Staff Recruitment Strategies (February 22, 2022)

Learn about a range of innovative models and partnerships to address immediate staffing challenges, while also building stronger pipelines that have lasting impact.

This mini conference-style session will feature various creative recruitment strategies for participants to choose to learn more about — from outreach and communication tools to blended staffing models, partnering with institutions of higher education, and more.

recordings and resources

Program Planning and Partnerships (January 25, 2022)

Breakout Room Recordings

EDMO and Napa Valley USD

Berkeley USD and Stiles Hall @ Cal Berkeley

Summer planning should integrate school, expanded learning, and community partnerships to ensure the program meets the needs and priorities of students and families. Collaborative planning leverages the assets of each partner to address a variety of program components. Hear from field practitioners who developed creative partnerships during summer 2021, and how they plan to partner in 2022.

Foundations for Summer Planning (January 11, 2022)

Get essential tools and activities to begin planning for summer including: a needs assessment tool, developing program vision and goals, and determining priority students.

Summer Learning: How to create a summer of re-engagement, reconnection, and reimagined learning (December 8, 2021)

Summer programs in 2021—where educators worked hard to blend academic support with fun, enrichment, and joy—provide a template for how schools can leverage time in the summer to support their students and staff as the impacts of the pandemic remain widely evident. This two-part workshop showcases highlights from our Summer 2021 report and a roundtable discussion with educators from around California about how to overcome barriers and implement new approaches to summer programs.

Speakers: Rody Boonchouy, Ed.D., Associate Superintendent, Instructional Services at Davis Joint Unified School District; Dr. Shawna Dinkins, Assistant Superintendent, Educational Services at Lynwood Unified School District; Julie Jarrett, Director of Expanded Learning at Butte County Office of Education; Sonya Lopez Mercado, Ed.D., Director of District Programs at Rio Elementary School District; Chris Hartley, Deputy Executive Director for Transformative Systems at California Collaborative for Educational Excellence

Summer Program Marketing, Enrollment & Engagement (May 27, 2021)

Summer attendance and outreach is always difficult, especially among underserved students, and is likely to be even more challenging after a year of distance learning. Districts, schools, and their community partners need to creatively and strategically coordinate outreach to families and students about the benefits and opportunities of participation in summer learning programs.

Meeting the Needs of Early Learners This Summer (April 29, 2021)

Many families chose not to enroll their children in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten in the 2020-21 school year for a variety of reasons, including concerns that distance learning is not well-suited for younger students. How can summer programs meet the needs of younger learners and their families, especially those minimally engaged in school this past year?

 

Summer Staffing: Partnering with Higher Education and Teacher Candidates (April 22, 2021)

Summer learning provides a unique training ground and flexible learning space for teacher preparation and pre-service teachers. Early-career teachers are an especially important workforce to tap this summer. Our state universities and community colleges have expertise and resources that school districts can leverage in order to recruit new teachers and teacher candidates for summer and school year expanded learning positions.

 

Creating Engaging Summer Learning Opportunities for High-School Youth (April 8, 2021)

It is more important than ever to connect with and re-engage high-school youth this summer. Hands-on, paid work experience and enrichment programs can engage high school youth by providing real-world experience, mentors, an income and/or school credit, and leadership and collaboration skills.

 

Creative Solutions for Summer Staffing (April 1, 2021)

There are a range of creative staffing models that ensure high-quality staffing while meeting other goals: developing future school leaders, providing more planning and collaboration time, and expanding experience operating blended staffing models.

 

Summer Research, Practice and Funding: Foundations for Summer Planning (Feb. 25, 2021)

Summer is approaching fast and summer learning is needed more than ever. Fortunately, much is known about what works to support learning and well-being in the summer. This webinar covers the latest national research on strategies and practices that contribute to impactful summer programs, and updates on state and federal funding to help inform local planning.