It should come as no surprise to parents that our children “slip” a little during the summer. But you may be surprised to learn that the children in the Beacon Place community experience “summer learning loss” to a greater degree than other students throughout Lake County. Research noted in the article “Making Summers Count” published by Jennifer McCombs demonstrates that summer learning loss is greater among low income students. Of even greater concern, summer learning loss is accumulative over the summers, resulting in a substantial difference in the achievement gap between the two income groups.

Beacon Place aims to change those statistics. To help bridge this gap, we are providing individualized tutoring support for 45 children this summer. For some, we’ll be remediating to make sure they’re ready for the next grade. For others, we’ll be providing opportunities to stay fresh and learn new things. Thanks to a generous grant from the First Presbyterian Church in Lake Forest, we have been able to purchase Chromebooks and other materials to support our efforts.