In Which Ways Does Summer Camps Influence the Lives of Low-Income Children?
Introduction
Children from low-income families face many challenges in the society including lack of proper education, poor nutrition, and poor relationship with children from high-income families. The society needs to seek ways of helping these children achieve good academic performances to make them responsible adults. One of the most effective strategies employed that positively influences lives of children from low-income families is the introduction of summer learning programs. Summer camps play a significant role in helping children and youths from low socioeconomic backgrounds improve their academic and live outcomes. The program helps children from low-income families who experience challenges accessing educational resources (Mccombs, Augustine, Schwartz, et al., 2011).
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the role of summer camps in influencing lives of low-income children. The evaluation plan will involve conducting a qualitative research on selected participants from low-income families. IRB and ethical guidelines will be highly observed during the study. The research will be based on the outcome of participants at Sunny Days summer camp that provides outdoor summer camp for 50 low-income children. The evaluation seeks to answer the following research question:
What is the influence of summer camp on the lives of low-income children?
The answer to the question will be arrived at through effective evaluation of the situation and gathering information from participants attending the Sunny Days summer camp.
The project evaluation plan
Children spend their time differently depending on their backgrounds and the environment they live. Children from poor backgrounds lack many necessities in living that influence their participation in social activities and institutions such as schools. The following evaluation plan will establish the role of summer learning program carried out at Sunny Days Camp on the live outcome of children. The main measurements made in the evaluation are:
Live changes were seen among individual participants
The academic performance of the child after attending the summer camp program
The current lifestyles of people who attended the summer camp earlier
Literature review
The use of summer camps to promote learning among children from low-income families is a strategy that has been practiced before. Merryman, Mezei, Bush, and Marcie (2012) investigated a similar topic but accessed the effect of summer camps on improving the livelihood of youths at risk. The report used self-reported approach to collect information from participants and their beliefs towards participating in summer camps. Participants in the camp reported positive growth in social skills and gained social values that influenced their future life. In a similar manner, the following project will investigate the effect of participating in Sunny Camp summer camp for 50 children from low-income families.
Summer vacation has been rated the top strategy for increasing achievement of a child in American schools. Children from middle and high-income families spend their holidays in activities and programs that reinforce and strengthen their learning and other live qualifications. However, children from low-income families lack such opportunities making them less disadvantaged and falling behind their peers (Blazer, 2011). Outcomes from numerous studies reveal that summer camps have significantly changed lives of low-income children. The evaluation plan will gather evidence from 20 participants selected randomly from the summer camp.
The impact of summer camps in changing lives of people especially children and youths has been investigated by researchers from different regions worldwide. Poverty and culture have been associated with many challenges faced in the society today. Berliner (2009) conducted a study to investigate the potential of poverty in influencing in-school and out-of-school success factors. The study used the new educational reforms introduced by the U.S. education system to narrow the achievement gap between middle-class and lower-income students under the "No Child Left Behind" Act. Summer programs were used as tools for investigating the problem where the performance of students attending summer camp programs was compared to those not attending the program. Berliner investigated many factors and compared middle-class and low-income students. The outcome of the study revealed an increase in education achievement for students who attended summer camp programs during school holidays (Berliner, 2009). The study plays a critical role in the following evaluation by providing suggestions on how to collect data from students. Moreover, the current research will investigate one element; hence, closing the research gaps established by Berliner.
Santiago and Wardsworth (2011) also conducted an investigation to determine family and cultural influences on low-income Latino children’s adjustments. The authors selected Latino children because they are exposed to many life-stressing situations such as stress, anxiety, and depression that affect their live outcomes. A total of ninety children from low-income families attending Latino middle school were selected to participate in the study. Children were taken through summer camp programs to determine its impact on influencing their life outcomes. The study used the Hierarchical linear modeling technique to analyze family interactions. The outcome of the study revealed a positive influence on family and cultural outcomes on low-income Latino families when summer camp programs were incorporated among Latino middle school children Santiago and Wardsworth (2011). The study helps in developing an intervention that would be necessary to achieve positive outcomes from the project.
Logic model
Developing an effective program that addresses an issue affecting people in the society requires a lot of experience and professionalism. Logic models help in simplifying the process by establishing variables that would bring the much-needed change and their impact on the program. The project will utilize a logic model to help interpret the data collected and determine the effectiveness of the evaluation process. The evaluation utilizes the logic model for understanding the role of change theory to low-income children in a summer camp program. The model will have different elements including the intervention, changes, outcomes, and context.
Ethical and legal issues (Handling IRB and protecting participants)
The study will make use of vulnerable human subjects, and special precaution will be taken to protect their rights and preferences as per the IRB guidelines. Protecting research participants is an ethical requirement for all researchers undertaking scientific studies (National Bioethics Advisory Commission, 2001). All research participants will be treated with equal respect. Additionally, an informed consent will be obtained and explained to participants to show their will of participation. Any child failing to sign the consent will not participate. Moreover, the researcher will protect participants from any form of harm or danger that might influence their participation.
Conclusion
Summer camps have helped many children from low-income families change their lifestyle and stay a positive and successful life. Studies have shown the significance of the program in improving academic achievement and changing behaviors of children and youth. The proposed evaluation will investigate the role of the Sunny Day summer camp on influencing lives of 50 low-income children. The study will use a logic model that helps interpret the data collected and determine the effectiveness of the evaluation process. The outcome of the evaluation will play a critical role in creating an intervention for improving the performance of poor and disadvantaged children.
References
Berliner, D. C. (2009, March). Poverty and potential: Out-of-school factors and school success.
Great Lakes Center for Education Research & Practice, Arizona State University.
Blazer, C. (2011). Summer learning loss: Why its effect is strongest among low-income students
and how it can be combated. Information Capsule Research Services, 1011(1), 1-11.
Mccombs, J. L., Augustine, C. H., Schwartz, H. L., Cross, A. B. (2011). Making summer ).
Count: How Summer programs can boost children's learning. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.
Merryman, M., Mezei, A., Bush, J. A., and Weinstein, M. (2012). The Effects of a Summer
Camp Experience on Factors of Resilience in At-Risk Youth. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 1(1), 1-45.
National Bioethics Advisory Commission. (2001). Ethical and policy issues in research
involving human participants. Retrieved from https://bioethicsarchive.georgetown.edu/nbac/human/oversumm.html
Santiago, C. D., & Wadsworth, M. E. (2011). Family and Cultural influences on Low-income
Latino Children’s Adjustment. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology : The Official Journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53,40(2), 332–337.
