High-quality learning for charter school students in 5 U.S. cities in Summer 2024

Summer Boost is a private philanthropic initiative supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies in partnership with co-funders. Summer Boost was launched in 2022 in New York City in response to COVID-related learning loss. In 2024, Summer Boost is running in five U.S. cities: Baltimore, Memphis, Nashville, New York City, and San Antonio. The program is designed to support rising 1st to 9th grade charter students in select cities across the nation to accelerate their academic progress in English Language Arts and math while providing engaging enrichment opportunities. Schools can apply to receive up to $2,000 per student to support high-quality summer learning programs.

Applications are due no later than 11:59pm ET on March 15, 2024.

Summer Boost is focused on rising 1st to 9th grade students (students finishing kindergarten through 8th grade in spring 2024) and does not provide funding for rising kindergarteners or rising 10th-12th graders. The Lavinia RISE curriculum provides rising 9th graders with a deep, rigorous program reinforcing standards from 8th grade in preparation for a strong start to high school.

The core Summer Boost program design requirements – which are based on known best practices for summer learning – remain consistent with the 2023 program.

After closely reviewing program data and grantee feedback, the Summer Boost team is excited to share the following updates:

• This year, you have the opportunity to submit a proposal and budget to serve more than 1/3 of your rising 1st to 9th grade students. We encourage you to consider the number of students that need the support, that you have bandwidth to serve well, and that you expect to reasonably attend consistently. Please note, however, that if your application is approved, Summer Boost may not fund your full request; we reserve the right to limit your grant award to ⅓ of your students in order to meet demand from schools.
• Summer Boost 2024 will stagger reporting and grant funding disbursement timelines to better align with your program timelines.
• Lavinia Group will broaden and differentiate instructional and curricular supports. For example, you will have the option to build on-site coaching and decodable texts into your Summer Boost budget; new supports for multilingual learners will be offered; professional development will be differentiated for returning teachers; and both a required leader training and an optional cohort model leader training will be offered.
• The Summer Boost assessment platform will provide more hands-on support in key areas such as student and teacher rostering and assessments administration.

Schools can apply for up to $2,000 per student, depending on the length of the program and whether the program is full- or half-day:

• $80/student per day for full-day (full-day programs are five or more hours per day)
• $55/student per day for half-day (half-day programs are less than five hours per day)

Your maximum grant total is determined by multiplying the student rate above by the estimated student enrollment in your application.

We will then ask you to provide an adjusted enrollment number a couple weeks ahead of your Summer Boost program start. Your final grant total will be updated to reflect that adjusted enrollment number.

Your first grant payment will be 70% of the updated final grant total reflecting the adjusted enrollment number. Your second grant payment will take into account the actual number of students you served and be adjusted accordingly, as outlined below:

• If your average daily attendance is at least 70% of the adjusted enrollment, you will receive 100% of the adjusted grant funding.
• If your average daily attendance is less than 70%, you will receive 70% of the adjusted grant funding. In this case, you will not receive a second payment.

Data from summer 2023 show that 70% attendance at a Summer Boost program is an important threshold for students to realize significant, positive growth in English Language Arts and math. This payment structure is thus designed to encourage what works best for students! We encourage you to consider the importance of consistent attendance for student success as you recruit and enroll students for the program.