21st CCLC Best Summer Ever! 2022-2023 Professional Development Series Completed on May 10, 2023
The 21st CCLC Team at the Arizona Department of Education and our partners at The Learning Agenda (TLA) led a five-part, virtual training series to help 21st CCLC grantees in Arizona. 21st CCLC’s Best Summer Ever training series provided training for 21st CCLC site coordinators, school leaders, and teachers who play a hands-on, collaborative role in developing summer learning programs.
21st CCLC is building awareness on summer learning to maximize summer by providing high-quality summer learning programs that mix academic and enrichment activities. This blend of activities can reduce summer learning loss in a captivating and engaging way. While most students learn at a similar rate during the school year, when school ends, students in underserved environments struggle to continue learning throughout the summer. Summer can be used to re-engage students and provide opportunities to boost academic achievement, help close opportunity gaps, lead to higher graduation rates, and increase college and career readiness in students.
Arizona's 21st CCLC Summer journey started in the Fall of 2019, two Education Program Specialists from the ADE 21st CCLC team attended a National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) Conference. There they learned from Summer Learning experts and researchers about an evidence-based model for Summer Learning. The information was brought back to Arizona, where they shared with colleagues and with the 21st CCLC advisory board, the Vision Team. Interested in ensuring successful Summer programs, Arizona’s 21st CCLC team began to share the model with 21st CCLC grant leaders, working in partnership with the developers of the model (the Learning Agenda, the Wallace Foundation, and the RAND Corporation) as well as a local partner, the Valley of the Sun United Way. Working with a subcommittee of the Vision Team, the ADE 21st CCLC team started an extensive review of our own summer program requirements and best practices considering this evidence-based model. This Summer Learning subcommittee agreed to meet monthly for one year to develop recommended changes to Arizona’s requirements in line with this model. Arizona 21st CCLC programs have long served as a testing ground for innovative educational practices and Summer Learning is one more area where 21st CCLC programs can continue to be at the forefront of successful models of education.
Summer provides a robust opportunity to mitigate and compensate for the learning loss associated with remote and virtual school as well as lost instructional time due to COVID-19. With the rollout of pandemic funding, the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA), the U.S. Education Department and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) developed a series of conversations to highlight and collaborate on best practices for Summer Learning so that states could effectively utilize the funds available for this purpose. Arizona was fortunate to be selected as one of a nine state cohort participating in this initiative to receive coached support in developing its statewide summer learning strategies.
21st CCLC Summer Learning Model - 4 X 4 X 4
4 hours per day, 4 days per week, for 4 weeks = Summer Learning!
21st CCLC Summer Learning Minimum Requirements
Minimum Sufficient Time on Task
4 Hours Per Day
Option 1: Isolated Approach
240 minutes = 4 hours
90+ minutes Math only
90+ minutes ELA only
60+ minutes Enrichment only
Option2: Integrated Approach
240 minutes = 4 hours
60 minutes Math + 30 minutes Math Enrichment
Total = 90 minutes of Math Integration
90 minutes ELA + 30 minutes of ELA Enrichment
Total = 120 minutes of ELA Integration
30 minutes Additional Enrichment opportunities
90 minutes of Total Enrichment which includes the Integrated Enrichment
Days per Week
4 Days per Week
4 Weeks
Student/Teacher Ratio
Academic Classes - Minimum based on grade and class design to align with recommended best practices.
Elementary School (ES)
Middle School (MS)
High School (HS)
10-15 Students : 1 Teacher
PreK - 1st = 6-10 Students : 1 Teacher
10-15 Students : 1 Teacher
15-20 Students : 1 Teacher
Academic and Youth Development Enrichment Classes Minimum •Recommended all grades intentional targeted academic supports 10 students : 1 teacher •Recommended for all grades enrichment classes 10-15 students : 1 teacher Note: Dependent on the activity (i.e. sports could have larger classes sizes, but classes like cooking, coding, robotics could be smaller - considering safety, student need, and class design)
Family Engagement component & requirement – minimum requirement at least one family engagement event, activity, or practice to demonstrate ongoing family engagement opportunities.
Arizona's 21st CCLC Summer Learning journey continues with the expansion of a Summer Learning Community. Sixteen sites were selected and received additional enhancement funds to be part of the 21st CCLC Best Summer Ever Learning Community Cohort. These sites will provide students with standards-based academic enrichment classes and opportunities with focused assistance in math, reading, and writing during summer, and will also provide meaningful activities to engage adult family members to help children succeed academically. The enhancement funds are authorized under Title IV, Part B, of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) (20 U.S.C. 7171-7176).
Each awarded site will receive the enhancement funds for the 2024 fiscal year. The period of performance for year one of this enhancement will begin July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024. The purpose of the 21st CCLC’s Best Summer Ever! Innovation Enhancement was developed in partnership with The Learning Agenda (TLA) to engage sites in building internal capacity to strengthen and improve 21st CCLC summer learning programs. The goal of this initiative is to develop an evidence-based summer program model that will positively impact the landscape of summer learning in Arizona and nationally.
We are pleased to announce NASA has partnered with 10 Arizona schools within their 21st CCLC programs to help students learn about careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
