A Time to Learn, A Time to Grow: California Parents Talk about Summertime and Summer Programs

What follows is a summary of key findings from a telephone survey of 1,204 California parents conducted in September and October 2009 in both English and Spanish. The survey was prefaced by four focus groups: in Oakland, San Jose, Fresno and Los Angeles. The survey highlights several important themes for educators and policymakers, the most important of which may be that California parents see a variety of activities—including academics—as potentially important and valuable for their children. Yet, despite this widespread appetite for rich summer programs for their children, about six in ten parents report that their children either did not attend a summer program or went to one for a relatively short period. That is, there appears to be a major gap between what most parents think would be good for their children in the summer and what actually happens when the summer months roll around. Very few parents appear to be specifically avoiding summer programs just so their children can “relax” or have several months of downtime.