Summer Learning Program

Joshua Group provides a seven-week Summer Learning Program to stem summer learning losses for the economically disadvantaged youth living on Allison Hill. Research demonstrates that students from low-income families suffer significantly greater losses of math and literacy skills over the course of the summer as compared to students from more affluent families. Sustained summer learning losses can have a cumulative negative effect on student achievement due to widening educational gaps. It is also theorized that the greater summer learning losses exhibited by economically disadvantaged students is one factor in the higher dropout rate and lower college attendance rate among these same students. The Joshua Group Summer Learning Program is offered free of charge for more than 150 low-income students and engages these PreK-9th grade students in a broad range of activities including academic enrichment lessons, basic reading and math skills remediation, art and nature experiences, educational field trips, and recreational activities in a safe and nurturing environment.

The Summer Learning Program also collaborates with other community-based organizations that serve city students to provide a more enriched curriculum. These partnerships include: Dauphin County Library System (weekly story hour); YWCA; Salvation Army (nutrition and fitness classes); TE Connectivity (STEM classes); and the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, which provides students a nutritious free breakfast and lunch each day.

SUMMER LEARNING PROGRAM APPLICATION

For more information about the Joshua Group Summer Learning Program,

please call the Joshua Learning Center at 717-972-0129.