History of IDEA
Jeannie Oakes, Founder and Former Director
Youth Voice in School Finance
NEW REPORT: Los Angeles' road to A-G for all
Without Dollars and Sense Powerpoint
Past Educational Opportunity Reports
Santa Ana Unified uses nonprofit to fill in summer school gap
- 08-02-2011
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By Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/KPCC
Public school budget cuts have decimated public summer school programs. One Orange County school district is leaning on a nonprofit to fill in the gap and offer a program that does more than babysit students. In Santa Ana during this time of year, it’s hard to miss the strollers on the sidewalks in broad daylight. Mothers on errands push young kids, usually with an older sibling or two walking alongside. Veronica Ventura’s 7- and 5-year-olds walk home while her younger daughter watches from a stroller. Ventura frets about keeping the kids at home all summer. All they do is watch TV, she says. Crime’s going up in this area, and that worries her too. Research indicates that kids who grow up in working class neighborhoods like this one fall behind better-off kids during the summer, says UCLA researcher John Rogers, "when they do not have access to quality learning opportunities. So many policymakers have strongly recommended that we target summer learning opportunities to high poverty students." (more...)
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