Study shows summer school consistently boosted students’ math achievement, but had no impact on reading
BOSTON (Dec. 4, 2025) — NWEA, a K-12 assessment and research organization, released a new report today examining how effective summer programs were in helping students recover academic ground lost during the pandemic. The analysis draws on findings from 2022 and 2023 summer school programs in 10 large districts participating in the Road to Recovery research partnership with NWEA, CALDER at the American Institutes for Research, and Harvard. The report looked at the effects of post-pandemic summer school on student achievement and district recovery, how program design and implementation aligned with recommended best practices, and how the scale and impact of summer school compared to other interventions, like tutoring.
Three key findings emerged:
- Summer school consistently boosted students’ math achievement in 2022 and 2023 but had no impact on reading. The math gains were modest, equivalent to about two to three weeks of learning during the school year.
- Districts offered optional programs that generally fell short of best-practice recommendations for duration and intensity.
- Summer school’s scalability and consistent impacts across districts nevertheless make it a reliable intervention for supporting district-wide math recovery.
“What this report confirms is that summer school programs do have a meaningful impact on student achievement, especially for math, and can be a practical and scalable intervention strategy for districts,” said Dr. Emily Morton, Lead Research Scientist at NWEA. “The task now is to strengthen the momentum of summer school by expanding enrollment, lengthening programs, and establishing steady funding so summer learning becomes a regular opportunity rather than a short-term response.”
Beyond the key findings, the report provides five recommendations for district leaders:
- Sustain and expand summer school to support math recovery by considering alternate funding options from more local sources or nonprofits.
- Align program design and implementation with best practices by extending summer programs to at least four, and ideally five to six, weeks with 90 minutes or more of daily instruction in math and 120 minutes or more in reading, while also raising attendance to 75% or higher to get the most impact from these programs.
- Encourage multi-year participation by reducing barriers to re-enrollment and exploring family engagement strategies to promote sustained participation across summers.
- Strengthen summer literacy approaches by experimenting with more intensive literacy instruction, targeting interventions for struggling readers, or partnering with community organizations to provide complementary reading supports.
- Pair large-scale summer programs with complementary interventions that are more targeted and yield larger benefits, such as high-dosage tutoring. Summer school strategies should be implemented alongside other interventions as part of a cohesive recovery and academic growth plan.
Read the full report at https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/schools-in-for-summer-a-scalable-and-effective-post-pandemic-academic-intervention/
About NWEA
NWEA® (a division of HMH) is a mission-driven organization that supports students and educators in more than 146 countries through research, assessment solutions, and professional learning that support our diverse educational communities. Visit NWEA.org to learn more about how we’re partnering with educators to help all kids learn.Contact: Simona Beattie, Communications Director, simona.beattie@nwea.org or 971.361.9526