Carver provides Freshman Summer Success Academies for graduated 8th-grade students transitioning into 9th grade at Norwalk and Brien McMahon High Schools. Carver provides a Summer Middle School Transition Program for 5th-grade students transitioning into Norwalk’s four middle schools. Carver provides two summer enrichment programs for chidren aged K-13 at the Carver Community Center and Columbus Magnet School. Carver is given free access to each school’s facilities and resources free of charge.

A Brookings Institute article written by David M. Quinn and Morgan Polikoff explains disappointing—but unsurprising—statistics about the summer slide, a term used to describe the academic regression experienced by students over the summer.

A few keys facts:

Learning and achievement is perishable. The average student loses a month of academic-calendar learning each summer.
The impact of the summer slide contributes to a more pronounced achievement gap.
Research has found a link between socioeconomic status and the loss of reading skills experienced over the summer.
Studies show older students lose more over the summer than younger ones.
Students see greater academic dips in math than in reading.

After mapping out the summer slide and its impact on students, Quinn and Polikoff go on to describe the “faucet theory” from the book “Summer Learning and Home Environment.” This theory provides a hypothesis for to why the summer slide hits lower-income children harder.

The “resource faucet’ is on for all students during the school year,” Quinn and Polikoff explain, “enabling all students to make learning gains. Over the summer, however, the flow of resources slows for students from disadvantaged backgrounds but not for students from advantaged backgrounds. Higher-income students tend to continue to have access to financial and human capital resources (such as parental education) over the summer, thereby facilitating learning.”

Thanks to your support, since 2005, 100% of Carver seniors have graduated on time. Carver infuses high expectations, academic rigor, and healthy relationships into its youth development approach to instruction. Carver provides support that recognizes individual strengths, needs, and learning styles. Carver interventions and supports align with the Norwalk Public Schools 2019 Strategic Operating Plan aimed at closing the Achievement Gap.

Carver keeps the "faucet" of resources running all through the year for its students and even after they go to college.