In our personal lives, we sometimes describe friends being in a “bad relationship.” The emerging developmental relationship science is not about “bad” or “good” but rather about elements being present or absent. But the thinking for us non-scientists (and, ahem, single people) is sort of the same. Non-existent relationships or relationships with missing elements leave a gap in our lives. And, just as research on the achievement gap focused the nation’s attention on disparities between subgroups of students, the relationship gap can and should focus us on equity.

While school fees remained largely flat, and college preparatory materials were up 10 percent from the previous year, the costs of classroom supplies dropped across all grade levels.

A recent Brookings Institute literature review found that on average, students’ achievement scores declined over summer vacation by one month’s worth of school-year learning. But for millions of students, it’s the educational relapse that occurs when school is out for the summer months. The U.S. Department of Education released a report in May of 2018 that highlighted the even greater backslide for students who may not have access to summer camps, libraries, zoos, aquariums, and museums due to location or socioeconomic status.