RAND researchers set out with the following questions: 

• How many districts offered summer programming and for which students in summer 2023?
   
• How were districts' largest summer programs structured, in terms of their eligibility criteria, length, and academic and nonacademic offerings?
   
• How did districts approach their summer academic instruction, including how many hours of academic instruction they provided, who provided this instruction, and how lesson plans were determined?
   
• What were districts' expectations about funding for summer 2024?

Researchers designed the survey to allow multiple respondents from the same district central office to complete portions of the survey. For example, a superintendent, human resources director, or research director would have been asked about district staffing levels. An academic director might have been asked to complete questions about math instruction, while a summer learning coordinator would have received questions about summer programs. 

It is not known which people in each district completed the survey on behalf of their district. The survey represents responses from 231 districts across 41 states.

Survey weights, when applied, make the districts in the sample look similar to the national population of K–12 public school districts, at least on such observable characteristics as district locale, enrollment size, poverty level, and student racial and ethnic composition. Application of these survey weights allows results to be interpreted as nationally representative.