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Project Description

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There is compelling evidence that cumulative achievement gains from Grade 1 through Grade 9 primarily reflect school-year learning, i.e., what happens in school, whereas the Grade 9 achievement gap between low-SES and high-SES students is attributable to differential summer learning over the elementary school years, i.e., what happens outside of school (1-4). These out-of-school summer learning gaps in children’s early school years, in turn, substantially determine later gaps in high school graduation and post-secondary educational attainment (1,5). Three recent randomized controlled trials (RCTs) provide promising evidence to inform intervention efforts to prevent or reduce summer learning loss (6-10). The effectiveness of single-year summer learning programs using pre-service teachers, such as CSI, is currently unknown.
 
CSI is a non-profit program that provides enriching learning opportunities during summer months to children living in poverty.  CSI was established as a pilot project in two inner-city Winnipeg schools in 2005 as a response to research regarding the impact of poverty on education conducted in 2004 by MCHP (11, 12) and the “Summer Learning Loss” Poverty Barometer published in 2005 by the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg (13). By 2009, it had expanded to 10 inner-city schools.
 
At the request of Healthy Child Manitoba (one of the funding partners of CSI) the 2009 CSI implementation used a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design. Eligible children from the 10 CSI schools were randomly assigned to either a program group offering CSI or a control group not offering CSI. It was also agreed that teachers would record the daily attendance of the children in the CSI group, including the type and amount of activities CSI engaged in with the children each day. We are able to build upon this original RCT design by looking at outcome measures available in the Repository that cover a much longer period, and beyond the original analyses.  This analysis will compare educational and health outcomes of students in the program and control groups


Research Question

Does participation in the CSI program improve educational outcomes for children, and is the program associated with a reduction in educational inequities?


Hypotheses

Children involved in the CSI program will have better Grade 3 literacy and numeracy scores, Grade 7/8 literacy and numeracy scores and Grade 9 achievement than comparable children not involved in the CSI program.


References

(1) Alexander KL, Entwisle DR, Olson LS. Lasting consequences of the summer learning gap. Am Sociological Review 2007;72:167-80.
 
(2) Cooper H, Nye B, Charlton K, Lindsay J, Greathouse S. The effects of summer vacation on achievement test scores: A narrative and meta-analytic review. Review of Educational Research 1996; 66(227):268.
 
(3) Downey DB, von Hippel PT, Broh BA. Are schools the great equalizer? Cognitive inequality during the summer months and the school year. Am Sociological Review 2004;69:613-35.
 
(4) Miller BM. The learning season: the untapped power of summer to advance student achievement: Executive Summary. Quincy, MA: Nellie Mae Education Foundation; 2007.
 
(5) Entwisle DR, Alexander KL, Olson LS. First grade and educational attainment by age 22: A new story. Am J Sociology 2005;110:1458-502.
 
(6) Kim JS. Effects of a voluntary summer reading intervention on reading achievement: Results from a randomized field trial. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 2006;28:335-55.
 
(7) Kim JS. The effects of a voluntary summer reading intervention on reading activities and reading achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology 2007;99:505-15.
 
(8) Chaplin D, Capizzano J. Impacts of a summer learning program: A random assignment study of Building Educated Leaders for Life (BELL). Washington, DC: Urban Institute; 2006.
 
(9) Capizzano J, Bischoff K, Woodroffe N, Chaplin D. Ingredients of a successful summer learning program: A case study of the Building Educated Leaders for Life (BELL) accelerated learning summer program. Washington, D.C.: Urban Institute; 2007.
 
(10) Borman GD, Dowling NM. Longitudinal achievement effects of multiyear summer school: Evidence from the Teach Baltimore randomized field trial. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 2006;28:25-48.
 
(11) Brownell M, Roos NP, Fransoo R et al. How do educational outcomes vary with socioeconomic status? Key findings from the Manitoba Child Health Atlas 2004. Winnipeg, MB: Manitoba Centre for Health Policy; 2004.
 
(12) Roos N, Brownell M, Gueveremont A, Fransoo R, Levin B, MacWilliam L. The complete story: A  populationbasedperspective on school performance and educational testing. Can J Educ 2006;29(3):684-705.
 
(13) Social Planning Council of Winnipeg. Summer Learning Loss Poverty Barometer. Winnipeg, MB; 2005.