As businesses evaluate their corporate social responsibility programs for 2013 and beyond, those wanting to invest wisely in education ought to put high-quality summer learning programs at the top of the list.

Why invest in summer learning? Because the return on investment is abundantly clear.

A vast body of research shows that a lack of summer learning and enrichment opportunities leads to summer learning loss – a loss in academic skills and knowledge during summer vacation that sets students back once the school year begins. Worse yet, summer learning loss is cumulative over time, thus increasing student dropout rates. 

A lack of nutrition and physical activity during summer months is also detrimental to a child’s health, as children without access to quality summer learning opportunities are less likely to be physically active and more likely to spend their days watching TV and eating junk food.

That’s bad news for any community’s future workforce.

Moreover, summer learning loss adversely impacts teachers, who are forced to spend valuable classroom time on catch-up, and school districts that wind up spending valuable resources on students who have fallen behind.

And when students lack access to summer learning opportunities, it creates immeasurable stress on their working parents and, in turn, on their parents’ employers.

The bottom line? Summer learning loss is a lose-lose-lose proposition for families, schools and businesses alike.

That’s why summer learning is so essential and investing in summer learning so vital.

High-quality summer learning programs provide an enormous return on investment on multiple fronts, because they prevent summer learning loss from eroding the academic and health gains students make during the school year and further accelerate students’ educational progress during the summer months. They provide:

• An educational ROI – Students continue to progress academically and increase their vocabulary and readiness to learn instead of falling behind due to summer learning loss.

• A health and well-being ROI – During the school year, students receive regular physical activity and nutrition through their schools, and it’s costly for students’ short- and long-term health to lose those resources during the summer.

• A financial ROI – The cost of running a summer learning program is less expensive than a regular school day, and high-quality summer learning programs provide the cost savings of not having to reteach students who have fallen behind due to summer learning loss. The National Summer Learning Association estimates that the cost of reteaching material that students forget due to summer learning loss is four to six weeks of school time, or $1,500 a student. When schools partner with strong community-based organizations on summer learning programs, they can deliver a higher-quality program at a lower cost.

Fortunately, there is good news in California when it comes to summer learning.

While California recently slipped from 47th to 49th among states in per-pupil state funding, our state is emerging as a national leader on summer learning when it comes to forging public-private-non-profit partnerships to create innovative, high-quality summer learning opportunities.

Through creative local partnerships, school districts across California are finding innovative ways to offer high-quality summer learning programs that offer academic reinforcement as well as enrichment and camplike activities that all children deserve.

In Los Angeles, LA’s Best is a standout summer learning program that is leveraging strong support from the business community to deliver exemplary summer learning programs.

While California is making good progress on summer learning, there is a great deal that remains to be done. And business can play a vital role – from providing funding to hosting student field trips to offering in-kind services and resources to enrich students’ summertime learning.

Business can also advance summer learning through the Summer Matters Campaign, a statewide campaign led by a coalition of school districts, educators, school board members, legislators, non-profits, funders, civic leaders, parents and business leaders working collaboratively to promote and expand access to high-quality summer learning opportunities across California.

The Summer Matters Campaign welcomes every business, and business leader, that cares about education to join our growing coalition’s work to expand access to high-quality summer learning opportunities for all California students. Use the QR code at right to learn more, and to help ensure that summer matters and our state’s current students and future workforce will thrive.  

Jennifer Peck is executive director of the Partnership for Children and Youth. David Rattray is senior vice president of education and workforce development for the Greater Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.