The National Summer School Initiative 2024
Meet the moment. Tackle unfinished learning. Propel students forward.
We help your teachers deliver a five-week summer program that is uncommonly engaging and exceptionally effective.
Raise expectations for teaching and learning. Propel your students ahead. Join us.
The results are in.
Rapid academic gains
In summer 2023, 48,000 students got a head start on the 2023-24 school year, and 3,000 teachers geared up as never before!
In just five weeks, students made major gains in proficiency across grades and subjects. On average, math students with NSSI improved more than 26 percentage points (from pre-test to post-test), and literature students improved 20 percentage points.
Summer 2024
Vibrant instruction every day. Connection. Fun. And extraordinary academic growth. See how NSSI is changing the way students feel about summer school.
Partnering for excellence
Meet our Mentor Teachers.
Your teachers work in close partnership with our award-winning Mentor Teachers in their grade and subject. Together they craft and deliver extraordinary learning experiences for your students.
Expect more
Build teacher capacity.
Welcome to an entirely new approach to improving instruction.
When your teachers watch an admired mentor teacher pitch a lesson sky-high and, by lesson’s end, reliably succeed with every child, it’s a transformative experience.
They start to expect more. And their students rise to the challenge.
Watch your students soar.
“It was not like a normal summer school at all.”
Harvard and University of Virginia scholars found that students in NSSI last summer improved their academic skills and gained confidence.
I honestly felt like all of my kids, they improved. Pretty much across the board they all said, I read differently now. And I pay attention to what I read. And I'm going to be thinking about what I read and what it means for my life.
—from a summer 2020 ELA partner teacher
Transformative teacher training
"The most helpful professional development I've ever experienced."
Feedback from partners on NSSI’s summer 2023 pre-service training is glowing! 88% of teachers and 95% of administrators agreed or strongly agreed that NSSI's training prepared them for their roles this summer. One seventh-grade literature teacher shared:
NSSI's pre-service training "is the most helpful professional development I've ever experienced because it was hands-on and dynamic. I hope I get to do this again next year!"
NSSI is proudly upending expectations for what’s possible in the realm of professional development. Equipped and inspired by NSSI’s award-winning mentor teachers, they were ready to aim high—and watch their students soar.
Learn more about our uniquely effective approach to teacher development and accelerating learning.
Hear from a returning partner
"We partner with NSSI because they are 'student first.'"
One of the key factors in deciding to partner another year with NSSI was the demonstrable impact of the program, with students making gains of 15–40% in priority grade level standards assessed through pre- and post-assessments. Moreover, students, families, and teachers continue to share with us their enthusiasm for the lessons, materials, and for the emphasis on social-emotional learning. We partner with NSSI because they are 'student first.'
Dr. Jeanne Willard, Ed.D., Executive Director of College & Career Readiness and Extended Learning Options, Everett Public Schools
In their own voices
Students love NSSI
Hear how students take intellectual risks and learn from one another in Ms. Shampain’s fourth-grade math class.
A focus on equity
Our five-part organizational commitment to leading for racial equity includes:
Rigorous curriculum that tackles texts and ideas that are at or above grade-level
Leveraging students' voices and expertise through discourse and deep thinking
Intentional connection and relationship-building, led by a diverse mentor teacher team
Psychologically safe classrooms
A culturally responsive curriculum that foregrounds and celebrates authors of color and thinkers and elevates their voices and perspectives.
The curriculum both creates windows (to learn about other countries, people, cultures, and ideas) and mirrors (to affirm the beauty and brilliance of people who are similar to our students) that are vital for young people to grow and thrive.
Ideas into action
Ian Rowe shares NSSI's innovation
See highlights of Ian Rowe's presentation at NewSchools Venture Fund Summit 2021. Joining an esteemed group for the opening plenary, in “Provocations for the Future," Ian sets out how NSSI accelerates learning and builds teacher capacity.
NSSI offers quality learning time as a solution to pandemic learning losses.
Steven Wilson shares the importance of increased quality learning time in combatting long-term consequences of the pandemic in Fortune.
“[There’s a] belief that academic learning is something to be suffered and endured, as opposed to something that can be deeply joyful and exhilarating,” Wilson said. “Kids are smart. What they’re going to feel good about is academic success, for which there will be no emotional substitute.”
As featured in national news publications
Our partner network
Join district, charter, and independent schools partnering with us to offer a singular experience next summer.
National Summer School Initiative, Inc. 147 Prince Street, 3-54 Brooklyn, NY 11201
© National Summer School Initiative 2024