Fun in the Sun is a 6 week summer learning program for local academically and financially at-risk children and families. It is Santa Barbara County's oldest and largest public/private partnership dedicated to long-term improvement in the lives of low-income children and families. FITS was named the winner of the National Excellence in Summer Learning Award by the National Summer Learning Association.
The program directly addresses summer learning loss and the achievement gap between low-income students and their middle/upper-income peers. Fun in the Sun does this through hands-on, project-based lessons, utilizing the best services and ideas from more than 80 local public and private organizations.
What services are provided through Fun in the Sun?
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What are the results?
In 2019, 100% of participants maintained or displayed gains in their literacy skills, according to pre and post assessments. FITS's results have been so extraordinary that FITS was named winner of the National Excellence in Summer Learning Award by the National Summer Learning Association, an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University and leading research body on summer learning loss and its effect on the achievement gap.
Why Fun in the Sun?
Because client parents spend much of their time working (on average, 2.2 jobs each), their children are often unsupervised during the summer, exposed to behavioral risks and “summer learning loss” of up to three months in prior learning achievements each summer, as documented by researchers and educators. Indeed, Johns Hopkins University researchers have more than 20 years of data to show that, due to its cumulative effect, “by ninth grade, summer learning loss can be blamed for roughly two-thirds of the achievement gap separating income groups” (TIME Magazine, August 2, 2010).
FITS provides students and their families with unique and engaging learning experiences to reduce and reverse summer learning loss and narrow the achievement gap between lower-income students and their middle/upper-income peers.
Who is involved with Fun in the Sun?
