Summer Early Focus Program Overview

Boston Public Schools (BPS) takes the lead on summer learning with Summer Early Focus, a 5-week summer program designed by the BPS Department of Early Childhood. Summer Early Focus is open to Boston students entering pre-k (K0 and K1) through third grade in the upcoming school year.

The Summer Early Focus program is held at the following sites:

Curley Lower School K0-2 (Jamaica Plain)
Ellison-Parks EES (Mattapan)
East Boston Early Education Center (East Boston)
Higginson K0-2 (Roxbury)
Baldwin (Brighton)

There is no cost to parents/guardians for their child to attend this program, but full attendance for all 24 days is required in order to attend! There will be breakfast, lunch and snack time, academic and enrichment components, as well as neighborhood walking tours.

Summer 2025 Registration

Summer Early Focus will take place July 8-August 8, 2025.

Registration opened April 1, 2025.

You can find more information, including the application link, on the BPS Summer Programs website. Please note, in order to register for Summer Early Focus, you have to choose one of the following 5 sites: Curley Lower School K0-2, East Boston EEC, Higginson K0-2, Ellison-Parks EES, or Baldwin.

Eligibility and Requirements:

For enrolling at K0 for the 2025 Summer, the child has to be 3 years old before September 1, 2024.

For any questions on Summer Early Focus, contact Solange Marsan at smarsan@bostonpublicschools.org.

Summer Early Focus Program Details

The Summer Early Focus program builds on children's learning during the school year. It is highly engaging and child-driven. Typically, two BPS teachers support up to 20 students in each classroom with our Summer Early Focus curriculum. We serve Boston students entering pre-k (K0 and K1) through third grade in the upcoming school year. Students continue to engage in high quality instructional practices, take field trips, and have structured and unstructured play opportunities.

Children have classes in dance and physical education, have visitors who teach them about what they are learning in class, and go on neighborhood walking field trips. Summer Early Focus builds children’s skills in critical thinking, creativity, social awareness and relationships, teamwork, and self-regulation - all while having fun!

Curriculum

During the summer, academic skills are reinforced and practiced, social-emotional learning is emphasized, and new topics are studied. These topics give children more access to learning in the sciences, in particular.

Children who have completed second grade: Bicycles Everywhere! Children think about the different functions of a bike, how a bike works, and bicycle safety. This learning continues from school year considerations about how to make sure all people are included in learning and other activities. For a final project, children envision and advocate for a more bicycle-friendly city.

Children who have completed first grade: Food Brings Us Together Children think critically about food through an exploration of food from various cultures and how food gets from a farm to people who eat it. This learning continues from the school year exploration of how we get the resources we need and want. For a final project, children create a way for community members to have increased access to fresh, local food.

Children who have completed K2: Incredible Insects Children learn about insects through observation, reading, exploring, and playing about bees, butterflies, and beetles. This study offers new and continued learning related to the school year Focus on K2 curriculum. Children consider what insects are, what they need to survive, and their own relationships with them. To finish the summer session, children plan and set up exhibits in an Insect Museum.

Children who have completed Pre-K 4s (K1): Life in the Ocean Focusing on ocean, tide pool, and seashore animals and plants native to Massachusetts. They observe and care for live hermit crabs. This learning continues from the school year study of animals and will continue in K2. For a final project, children communicate what they are learning through an ocean-themed mural and a model of a tide pool.

Children who have completed Pre-K 3s (K0): Birds Around Us Through play, observation, conversation, and books and images, children explore birds that live in New England—what makes them different from other animals, how they move, and what they do. Connections are made to school year learning about five senses and how animals grow and are cared for. They tell and act out stories featuring real and imagined birds.

Summer Early Focus History

In 2013, DEC launched the Kindergarten Ventures Early Focus program. Designed for children who have never had a formal preschool experience and who would be attending BPS K2 (kindergarten) in the fall, this program introduced students to the structure of the K2 day, including curriculum and transitions. The program later expanded to serve students entering grades K2 to 3rd. Check out research and publications about Summer Early Focus.

Proven Results

An evaluation of the 2009 Summer Early Focus program (then called Summer Reading Academies) showed students who attended exhibited significant gains in three out of the four DIBELS subtests. More, the evaluation showed that ELL, African Americans and boys showed compelling progress after participating in the SRA. Internal analyses have shown these results repeating year after year. Summer Early Focus is also highlighted in an issue brief by MDRC focusing on the ExCEL Network.

Registration

Registration will open in April for Summer 2025

You can find more information on the BPS Summer Programs website. The direct application link is here. (When you register, select “Summer Early Focus” as your first choice in the application).

Summer Early Focus will take place July 8 - August 8, 2025.