1 post from February 2009

       I think the article discusses competently all issues concerning summer school education, and I agree with most, but not all of the points presented to improve the summer school program. The first issue addressed that I would like to incorporate into Holly Springs Summer School is encouraging innovation in the classroom and an effort to connect the material to real-life. The separation between students that succeed and students that don't especially in math and sciences, is the inability to see how material is relevant to their own life, hence effort is not put forth. In summer school, since you are given the ability to work with students in just one field, the ability to include projects and stimulating activities will make the job of teaching the material less of a struggle. I also think lowering the class size is integral with students who are struggling, because during the regular school year these students probably feel like their individual needs are not being met, which causes them to "check out". Class size was not in issue in summer school last year, which in our situation makes it a good training ground for class organization and maximizing student achievement.
     In order to test student achievement, I think it is integral to see how far students have moved, not necessarily if they are yet on grade level. Testing is one way to do this, and I feel a skills test administered both before and after the summer school session does give some way to measure this. I also think students should be given a survey before and after to gauge their confidence in the subject matter and their belief in its importance, because this will gauge their success in future classes in the same subject and an ability to continue to advance on their own.
     In order to achieve this, teachers in each class must have a cohesive plan of action and overall course vision. If we have just a few goals and objectives which we harp on, such as in Algebra I an ability to graph and manipulate all different families of equations, then it will be easier for teachers to instill and students to adhere to the achievement level expected. I think with planning in advance and incorporating the ideas for the course from several sources, this can be achieved. Success for the class I teach and the summer school in general will be to reinforce basic subject skills and instill an interest in the subject so future learning will be come from within the students as opposed to being an edict placed upon them.
        I think that summer school should be part of the plan for all schools to ensure social promotion doesn't occur. I'm not entirely sure the financial burden should be placed entirely on taxpayers however, because the student and parents are at least somewhat accountable for their students need to be placed in summer school. I think one of the most important points brought up is to attempt new strategies and tailor individual student learning plans to find out in which way this student can be reached. Once this is discovered the information should be conveyed to the teachers of these students in the following year. Teachers brought in to teach summer school should be constantly assisted and evaluated to make all instructional time valuable to these students who require it to catch up to grade level. If we include all of these initiatives into our plan for summer school, success and student achievement will surely follow.