As another school year comes to a close, students are excited for vacations, camps and lots of fun. Yet for lower income families it is harder to access these enrichment activities. Without purposeful interventions, these students will experience the “summer slide” as they lose the academic knowledge they gained during the school year. The summer slide contributes to the achievement gap between lower income students and those from middle and upper class families.

You can read more about the research behind the summer slide here.

In the Jefferson Area, there are a number of purposeful interventions to combat the summer slide and maintain the academic gains made during the school year. So instead of a summer slide, our hope is that the SUMMER RAMP catches students up academically and keeps them ahead.

  • One of the most effective summer interventions in the Jefferson Area has been the Jeffco Summer of Early Literacy (JSEL) program from the Jeffco Schools Foundation. This offers area kindergarten through 3rd grade students high quality literacy instruction for six weeks during the summer. This excellent program will be offered to targeted students at Lumberg, Molholm and Edgewater this summer.
  • OpenWorld Learning will also be offering their tech summer camp for students from Edgewater Elementary and Lumberg Elementary if there is space.
  • City of Lakewood Recreation will be offering a summer camp at Mountair Park for students from Molholm Elementary featuring fun activities, working in the Sprout City Farms garden and lunch.
  • Molholm’s 21st Century Community Learning Center will offer programming for Molholm students at Mountair Christian Church. Jeffco 4-H will be partnering to offer enrichment activities. This program will also connect with the Mountair Park summer camp.
  • Kids-SmART is offering summer programming for working parents at Jefferson High School and includes field trips, bike days and much more.
  • Jefferson Junior/Senior High is holding their Summer Academy to give students a chance to catch up and get ahead on course work.
  • Jeffco Public Library is sponsoring a Summer Reading Challenge along with various activities and events at the Edgewater Library to encourage summer reading.
  • Lunchbox Express, a program of Jewish Family Service, will bring free lunch to children age 18 and under from 11-11:30 a.m., Monday through Friday, June 1 – August 14 (no service on July 3). The Lunchbox Express bus will provide this service in the parking lot of Mountair Park, 5620 W. 14th Avenue. The program operates as a sponsor of the USDA’s Summer Food Service Program, a federal program that makes nutritious lunches available during the summer at approved sites. The nutritionally-balance packaged meals and milk are served by volunteers out of a repurposed mini school bus. No proof of income or identification is necessary and all kids 18 and under are welcome, no matter where they live or go to school. The free lunch is served on a first come first served basis. For more information, please visit www.lunchboxexpress.org
  • Zumba for parents from 10-11 am Monday-Thursday at Mountair Christian Church (1390 Benton St., Lakewood)
  • A Promising Future is leading their Diamond Standard Classes focused on whole person health on Wednesday nights from 6-8 pm June 17-August 19 at 1380 Ammons St. in Lakewood. Food and childcare provided.

We had hoped to scale up all of these programs to impact more students but all of our focus schools are undergoing maintenance work this summer. This meant that JSEL, OWL and Kids-smART programming could not be held at the individual schools. Thankfully there is space at Jefferson High School for Kids-smART and OWL and at Jeffco Open School for JSEL.

Additionally, Summer Lunch Sites through Jeffco Schools will be available at the following schools in the area:

Jefferson High School
2305 Pierce Street
June 1-July 24
Breakfast: 8-8:30
Lunch: 11:30-12:30

Jeffco Open School
7655 W. 10th Avenue
June 10-July 24
Breakfast: 8-8:30
Lunch: 11:30-12:30

Stevens Elementary School
4001 Reed Street
June 10-July 24
Breakfast: 8-8:30
Lunch: 11:30-12:30

More information on Summer Lunch Sites can be found here.