CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Melting Dreams 1 PART I: UNDERSTANDING SUMMER MELT CHAPTER 1 A Trickle or a Torrent? 17 The Scope of Summer Melt CHAPTER 2 Three Students, Three Summers 33 Navigating the Transition to College CHAPTER 3 "Summer Melt Begins in February" 43 Punctures in the College Pipeline PART II: MITIGATING SUMMER MELT CHAPTER 4 Capitalizing on Counselors 71 Summer Outreach Within and Outside Schools CHAPTER 5 Ten Texts to College 95 Using Technology to "Nudge" Students CHAPTER 6 With a Little Help from My Friends 119 Peer Mentors Offer Summer Support PART III: IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE AND POLICY CHAPTER 7 Assessing and Addressing Summer Melt 145 What High Schools and Community Groups Can Do CHAPTER 8 Revisiting the Road Map to College 161 Opportunities for Cross-Sector Collaboration CONCLUSION Lessons from Summer Melt 179 APPENDIX A Sample College Transition Cheat Sheet 183 APPENDIX B Sample High School Exit Survey 185 APPENDIX C Text Message Templates for Students and Parents 187 APPENDIX D Overview of Required College Matriculation Tasks 191 NOTES 195 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 203 ABOUT THE AUTHORS 209 INDEX 211

