Today’s Summer School Is Different

I worked in and around our K-12 system for 35 years. During that time, summer school was usually reserved for kids who were behind in their skills, whether it be reading, writing, or problem-solving. I never really understood that. Why weren’t all young learners invited to learn between June and August?

Maybe times are changing. Recently I ran across an EducationWeek article that focused on how summer school is changing for kids:

“On a sweltering Wednesday morning in July, a group of second graders gathered around their desks to inspect and prod at soil and plant vegetable seeds.”

“Their teacher engaged them in a call and response: ‘You can poke it!’ she says. ‘You can?’”

“’Poke it!’ they responded in unison before she added, ‘and take a little bit of dirt out!’”’

“Down the hall, in a kindergarten classroom, kids spent the morning working on math problems before moving into a purposeful play session focused on fossils.”

“I’m working on three plus three equals six…using blocks!’ exclaimed one student, Gabriella, who shared that her favorite parts of the day are ‘snack and recess and lunch.’”

“Later that afternoon, she and her classmates headed to one of a number of extracurricular activities ranging from martial arts to step dance and soccer.”

“These students at New Bridges Elementary, a school which sits along a stretch of the Eastern Parkway in the heart of Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood, were participating in Summer Rising, a partnership between New York City Public Schools and the Department of Youth and Community Development. The program, launched in 2021 in the depths of the pandemic, gives students access to free academic and enrichment programming over the course of six summer weeks – a time when schools have historically been shuttered to all students except those in need of the most concentrated, remedial academic support.”

“New York City is one of scores of districts across the nation who have worked to transform traditional summer school into a more inclusive, enrichment-filled yet still academically rigorous space.”

“Some of these districts began this shift over a decade ago, following the release of a 2011 research report, which put forth the case for rebuilding summer learning and highlighted the ways in which this time could be used to fight some of the academic backslide typically seen between June and September, especially for students from low-income backgrounds.”

“These efforts were supercharged during the pandemic, when schools were faced with a learning loss crisis and, simultaneously, a seismic funding influx from the $189.5 billion Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, also known as ESSER.”

“The pandemic, ‘really lit a fire in everybody to say, ‘We can’t do things the same,’’ said Nancy Gannon, senior adviser of Teaching and Learning for U.S. Education at FHI 360, a nonprofit which built the District Summer Learning Network to help districts and states rethink what can be accomplished during these down months.

“’I don’t think people really dug into the potential of summer until these last couple years,’ she added. ‘And now that they see how potent it can be. I don’t know that there’ll be any going back.’”

“But some districts and states are scrambling to hold onto this new vision of summer with ESSER money sunsetting, the recent freeze – the release – of the federal dollars that keep many of these programs afloat and a great uncertainty about the very future of the U.S. Department of Education and all its funding streams.”

“Kevyn Bowles, the principal of New Bridges Elementary, said he’s witnessed the transformation of summer first hand over the course of his 12 years running the school.”

“Historically, you were ‘bringing together the students who had done the most poorly over the course of the school year in eight different schools, and putting them all in a class together,’ he said. ‘So even if you were bringing your most joyful teaching self to it, it still just was a challenging situation.’”

“Kids didn’t want to be there, he added, and it showed. That changed with the introduction of Summer Rising in 2021.”

“’Even from that first summer, it felt more like an opportunity for students,’ Bowles said, ‘versus something that we were forcing just a small number of kids [to do] because they had quote, unquote, failed….We had enormous demand.’”

“This summer, around 250 elementary school students have signed up to attend Summer Rising at Bowles’ school, and fewer than 30 of them are mandated to be there.”

“Each morning, the kids gather in the auditorium at 8 a.m. for Bright Start, a five-minute morning meeting filled with songs, affirmations and high fives.”

“’To me that just sets the tone,’ said Bowles, ‘like we’re here together. We’re in this together. It can be a joyful place. It can be a fun day.’”

“Kids next head to a half-hour block of social-emotional learning through yoga and mindfulness, followed by three-and-a-half hours of concentrated academics, taught by licensed teachers. After lunch and recess, students have their afternoon ‘specials’ – including soccer, martial arts, theater and dance, which wrap up by 6 p.m. each evening.”

“Bowles said the vast range of enrichment activities they’re uniquely able to offer students over the summer bring a lot of happiness and motivation to the school building. And while attendance in July and August remain a challenge, New Bridges Elementary has seen positive results in math and reading, especially for the youngest students: Kindergartners through second graders who attended Summer Rising in past years either maintained their skills or grew, whereas their peers who didn’t, slid slightly backwards.”

“’Summer learning arguably has the greatest impact at the lowest price on the greatest number of students of any policy solutions,’ Chris Smith, executive director of Boston After School & Beyond, told The 74. ‘And it’s time that we invest in it in a serious way with public funding.’”

…

It’s good to see our traditional K-12 system realize that summer learning doesn’t have to be remedial, but here’s the deal:

Most districts spend the general fund money (that money coming from their state allotments and their local tax base) on schooling that occurs August to May. Most districts depend on federal money to support summer learning. So, with the Trump administration cutting so much money from the U.S. Department of Education’s budget, it’s hard to see where K-12 districts will find the money so summer learning transformation can continue.

The bottom line is that there is a reason why America’s kids go to school August thru May, with summer being reserved for a smaller number of young learners who need extra time –

that’s what we have budgeted for and that’s what we can afford.

Disappointing, I know, but those are the facts.

Til tomorrow. SVB