New Study Finds 1 in 2 Washington Children Whose Parents Want Summer Learning Programs for Them Are Missing Out, Most Often Because of Cost
Washington, D.C. – Many more Washington parents want their children in a structured summer program than are able to enroll them, according to a household survey released today. The Summer Struggle for Washington Families finds that the parents of 543,464 Washington children want summer programs for them, but just 270,872 Washington children are enrolled. The barriers pushing programs out of reach for Washington families are cost, cited by 44% of survey respondents; program location or transportation challenges, cited by 21%; and programs being unavailable, cited by 12%.
An overwhelming majority of Washington parents who have been able to enroll their children in a summer program give them high marks, with 97% reporting satisfaction with the program their child attends. And a large majority of parents in the state (91%) support public funding for summer programs, including 96% of Democrats, 83% of Independents, and 93% of Republicans.
A structured summer program is defined in The Summer Struggle as an enrichment or sports program, summer camp or school, or a job or internship. It is part of the America After 3PM series of household surveys, conducted by Edge Research for the Afterschool Alliance. The new survey includes 30,515 U.S. parents of school-age children who live in their households, including 739 in Washington. Parents here say the factors they look for most in summer programs are a safe environment, knowledgeable and caring staff, and opportunities to interact with peers and build social skills.
“In Washington and across the country, summer programs give children a safe place to go, provide alternatives to screen time, keep them physically active, reduce isolation, support learning, and give working parents peace of mind that their children are safe and constructively engaged while they are at work,” said Afterschool Alliance Executive Director Jodi Grant. “But finding summer programs they can afford is a real struggle for many Washington families. Every child deserves access to a quality summer program but sadly, we are far from reaching that goal. We need greater support from federal, state, and local governments, philanthropy, and businesses to change that.”
“The Summer Struggle for Washington Families is a sobering reminder that too many working families scramble and struggle to find summer programs for their children,” said Elizabeth Whitford, CEO of School’s Out Washington. “It shouldn’t be this difficult for families to access summer programs that will help their children engage, be active, and learn over the summer, a problem we know will be even worse this summer due to state budget cuts to youth development and school age child care. We are actively working with local and state lawmakers and our state coalition, the Youth Development Strategy Table, to tackle this problem. Every Washington family deserves summer options they can afford.”
Nationally, the new study finds that the parents of 24.6 million U.S. children want a structured summer experience for their child but just 12 million of those children (49%) are enrolled.