By some estimates, students lose an average of 2.6 months of learning during summer break, roughly one quarter of the time spent in school. To combat this problem, the school under study implemented a summer math program that was thematically linked to the Boston Red Sox baseball team. Hundreds of students have participated in the program, but the program outcomes have not been examined. Guided by evaluation theory, a summative program evaluation was used to determine if a student-led summer program based on students' interest in the Boston Red Sox affected student mathematics achievement. This quantitative study involved comparing math achievement on the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) between program participants and students who did not participate in the program, adjusting for differences on the pretest MAP scores. Analyses were conducted for 6th grade (n = 450) and 7th grade (n = 375) groups and by gender groups. Analysis of covariance results revealed significant differences in math achievement on the NWEA MAP for both 6th grade and 7th grade groups, and that program participants had larger adjusted mean scores. When analyzed by gender groups, a significant difference in math achievement was found for the male participants of the 6th grade program. These findings suggest that the goals of the program were being met, and an evaluation report was created for the local stakeholders. This study impacts social change by validating this program for the local district so that the administration may continue support of the program, and that teachers may continue to work to prevent summer learning loss in the subject of mathematics.
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