After the pandemic, we need to provide access to more academic hours and tutoring for struggling students. It’s time to demand a rigorous summer program from our schools.
For some high achieving students and their families, attending summer school is thought of as a way to get ahead of the curve. But for low-income students, those without wifi access, and disabled students, it’s the time of year when they fall behind their peers as found in a recent study reported on by U.S. News & World Report:
“Historically underserved students can grow academically at the same pace or faster than their peers in the school year,’ says Lindsay Dworkin, vice president of policy and advocacy at NWEA. ‘Prior to this research, it’s been unclear what the school year versus summer growth trajectories have been and where we are losing ground. This research puts a big spotlight on summer and the need to do better over the summer for these students.’
While education policymakers and school districts have a solid grasp of the setbacks experienced by students of color, less research exists on how learning interruptions have dwarfed the academic achievements of students with disabilities, those still learning English and students from rural communities.
Now, as a third year of pandemic schooling begins to wind down, school leaders empowered by hundreds of billions of dollars in federal COVID-19 aid, are ramping up plans to offer summer school and tutoring programs in an effort to recoup some of those learning losses.”
While funding can and should be used for summer programs and additional tutoring to address learning loss, we’re looking for transparency on how exactly the funds will be used and whether these programs will be curated for the communities they serve. How do you plan to move your child’s education forward this summer? Do you feel like you are making up for lost time?