Boston Leaders Gather to Highlight City's Expanding Summer Learning Program

BOSTON -- August 3, 2022, Boston officials and nonprofit leaders promote summer learning as equity tool at August 3 event. The executive director of Boston After School & Beyond addressed a city gathering to present findings from the organization's decade-long partnership with Boston Public Schools and the city, citing RAND Corporation research showing gains in math, English, and social-emotional skills. The speaker described a national "tale of two summers" in which children from low-income families miss out on enriching experiences that their wealthier peers access freely, calling summer "at the heart of inequity in society." The city and BPS have directed federal stimulus funding toward the evidence-based summer learning model, which involves hundreds of community-based organizations citywide. Mayor Michelle Wu, in office roughly nine months, was previewed as a featured speaker alongside the newly appointed superintendent and chief of human services.