"While the majority of high school students aspire to higher education, the goal of college is often out of reach, especially for low-income and first-generation students. Well-intentioned plans can often go awry, especially in the summer months. Summer melt is not a new phenomenon, though it is gaining additional research attention. National estimates range from 10% to as high as 40%, depending on the research." –Dr. Jeremy Raff

NCAN compiled a number of resources related to key topics around improving students' postsecondary outcomes. This evolving list of resources focuses on best practices and case studies related to reducing the effect of summer melt and ensuring that students who intend to matriculate actually do so.

Summer Melt Resources

• Start Here: Top Resources for Combating Summer Melt
• Approaches from the Field
• Other Summer Melt Strategies (Non-Texting)
• Texting Strategies

Start Here: Top Resources for Combating Summer Melt

• NCAN Summer Melt Toolkit: This resource from NCAN is a good introduction to the concept of summer melt. It includes background information, different approaches to combating summer melt (virtual and non-virtual), and steps various stakeholders can take. Looking for a good place to start with practitioners? This is the perfect spot.
• Schools Can Stop Summer Melt: Lessons Learned from the Wisconsin Text Steps Project: District and school leaders, school counselors, and other K-12 practitioners considering how to help their graduating seniors take their next steps should consult this new resource. Survey data from, and individual interviews with, practitioners in districts and schools inform this brief, as do project plans and materials received from the districts themselves. These data and materials were collected in spring 2021. To promote the importance of practitioner voice, this brief leans heavily on respondents’ own words.
• Sample Summer Melt Text Messages: You don't need to start from scratch on crafting a summer melt text messaging campaign. NCAN used these messages during a campaign with Signal Vine during a previous summer melt prevention effort.
• Strategic Data Project: Summer Melt Tools: Including valuable resources like a summer melt handbook, diagnostic tool, sample initial outreach checklist, and more.

Approaches from the Field

• Tacoma Community Partners Ask Seniors, 'What’s Next?' Then Connect Them with Support
• DC Public Schools' New Postsecondary Preparation & Support Initiative Supports College-Bound Alumni
• A 'Warp Speed' Spring and Summer: Fit and Match and Combating Melt in Springfield
• Partnership for LA Schools Kicks Off Summer Melt Initiative; You Can, Too
• How School Districts Can Harness Data to Combat Summer Melt
• How On Point for College is Keeping Its Summer Programming on Track

Other Summer Melt Strategies (Non-Texting)

• NCAN has developed two units that focus on college retention/success. In these units summer transition workshops, using social media, and summer bridge programs are highlighted as ways to prevent summer melt. Go to NCAN website to register for these courses at no cost.
• "Lessons Learned from a Summer Melt Prevention Program"

Texting Strategies

• Leveraging Postsecondary 'Nudges’During Social Distancing: Slide deck featuring four researchers' findings on how to make nudging more effective. Presented by the American Institutes for Research's Center for Applied Research in Postsecondary Research (CARPE)
• Nudges, Norms, and New Solutions: Evidence-based strategies to get students to and through college
• Signal Vine College Access Resources: Modern campus provides a collection of resources and good insight into approaches to texting to combat summer melt.
• Bottom Line: Re-Engagement Strategies for Students
• Peer Mentoring and Texting: The study showed that peer mentoring works. Mentees who received peer mentor texts were 4.5 percentage points more likely to enroll in a four-year institution. The benefits of peer mentoring are most evident among students with little access to college planning supports and students early into the college-going process.