Ready for Fall? Near-Term Effects of Voluntary Summer Learning Programs on Low-Income Students' Learning Opportunities and Outcomes presents the first set of student outcome findings from The Wallace Foundation's Summer Learning District Demonstration Project, a six-year effort looking at whether and how large-scale, voluntary summer learning programs led by public school districts can help improve educational outcomes for children in low-income, urban communities. The study, published by the Rand Corporation, examines the near-term impact on students of their participation in a summer learning program over one summer; it finds improved student performance on math assessments and no effect on assessments of reading. Download the full report, watch a video describing the project and early results, or read a Wallace Knowledge in Brief summarizing the near-term findings.

Achieve recently released the results of a national online survey it conducted in November 2014 among recent public high school graduates from the classes of 2011 through 2014. The report, Rising to the Challenge: Are High School Graduates Prepared for College and Work?, details the gaps that respondents reported in their preparedness for college and work after high school, what respondents would have done differently had they known in high school what they know now about the expectations of college or the work world, and respondents' thoughts about the potential impact of various proposed solutions for better preparing high school students for college and work.