The following is shared from Oregon Department of Education:
High-quality summer learning programs create powerful opportunities for students to build relationships, strengthen literacy, experience joy, and nurture the curiosity that drives lifelong learning. Oregon’s approach recognizes that academic growth and engaging learning experiences are not competing priorities – they reinforce one another. This report presents findings from the Student Voice Summer Survey (formerly the Summer SEED Survey), which gathered student perspectives on 2025 summer programming across Oregon. Between July and September 2025, 8,234 Oregon students entering 3rd through 12th grade shared feedback on the summer programs they attended.
This represents one of the largest statewide collections of student perspectives on summer learning in the nation. Summer programming for 2025 was supported by state and federal funding sources to support high-quality summer learning, such as the State Summer Learning Grant (HB 2007) and 21st Century Community Learning Centers (Title IV-B). The purpose of this report is to amplify student voices across Oregon, leveraging their insights to build on our strengths, identify areas for growth, and support continuous, evidence-based improvement of summer learning opportunities statewide. Survey findings offer concrete insights from students on how to increase engagement and enrich summer learning opportunities.
The Student Voice Summer Survey is an optional student perception survey designed to help leaders better understand students’ experiences in summer programs. While the Student Voice Summer Survey complements the Student Educational Equity Development (SEED) Survey administered during the school year, it is not the same survey. In addition to SEED domains such as sense of belonging, the Student Voice Summer Survey includes questions based on core concepts of the ODE Summer Learning Best Practice Guide and Companion Toolkit. The survey measures key elements of quality summer programming, including provision of enriching environments that elevate relationships, engaging students by offering opportunities for student voice and choice, and integrating well-rounded learning and social-emotional supports through purposeful planning.
The Student Voice Summer Survey elevates student perspectives to help improve summer learning programs. Student Voice captures important information about students’ engagement, belonging, safety, and learning experiences that literacy assessments alone cannot measure. Research shows that students who feel they have a voice in school are seven times more likely to be academically motivated than students who do not feel heard1. Student Voice complements literacy assessments and program implementation data such as the findings from ODE’s 2025 Summer Learning Grant Implementation Report, providing a more complete understanding of student learning and program effectiveness.