High-quality learning for charter school students in 8 U.S. cities in Summer 2023

Applications are due no later than 11:59pm ET on March 22, 2023.

Summer Boost does not provide or endorse any specific enrichment programs. However, we strongly encourage sites to consider offering enrichment, as schools reported last summer that enrichment programming helped motivate student attendance and increase student engagement. We encourage sites to consider all options for enrichment, including recruiting special area teachers to teach courses and/or partnering with local organizations to help offer students and families full-day programming. Grantees are encouraged to include costs for enrichment partnerships, teachers, etc. as necessary in their program budgets. Summer Boost provides more funding for full-day than half-day programs to help cover these costs (please reference the calculator in the application budget template for more information).

The Summer Boost pre- and post-tests are standards-aligned assessments following the standards map for both English and Math. To understand how the assessments align with your state standards, visit the “Curriculum and Instructional Resources” section of the Lavinia RISE page.

The assessments are a combination of multiple choice and open-response questions. Students will take these assessments via the Edcite platform at the beginning and end of the summer program. The Edcite platform will be provided to all schools, and training on administering and scoring the assessment will be provided. This data will help the funders of Summer Boost understand what impact the program had on students. Because the assessments will be mapped to state standards, the data will also help schools understand how their students are doing and where they might focus with interventions after the summer program.

Yes, we have provided a budget template and calculator – linked in the application – where you can determine how much funding you are eligible for. You will be asked to provide a budget and a narrative to support that budget.

The budget you submit should only include the funding provided by Summer Boost. If you are using additional funding sources to support your program, you will be able to note that in the budget narrative, but we are not asking for a budget related to those funds.

For schools using the Lavinia RISE curriculum, Lavinia is offering three program dates: 

• Session 1:
  • Teacher Training Dates: June 6-9
  • Student Program Dates:  June 12-July 14
• Session 2:
  • Teacher Training Dates: June 13-16
  • Student Program Dates: June 20-July 21
• Session 3:
  • Teacher Training Dates: June 27-30
  • Student Program Dates: July 5-August 4

*If you would like to use the Lavinia RISE curriculum and these Session Dates do not work for your school, please contact [email protected]

Lavinia RISE provides approximately three hours of curriculum daily. Schools using RISE can offer half-day programming or full-day programming. Full-day programming will require that schools identify a plan for enrichment in addition to the Lavinia RISE curriculum. 

For schools selecting their own curriculum, dates can be set by your school. The program must include at least 20 instructional days (full-day or half-day), with an average of at least three hours of English Language Arts and Math instruction each day.