Skipping summer slump: Igniting a passion for learning


Many of our students have eagerly taken the supplementary material we’ve given them for the summer and pronounced they can’t wait to get started.

summerresizedAs educators, we all look forward to summer vacation with elation and a bit of concern. We’re happy, of course, to have a few months off to enjoy the season, but also worry that many of the strides our students make throughout the school year could be lost during the warm summer months.

However, this year, for the first time, we’re not worried about the “Summer Slump.”

In fact, we have students running up to us in the halls, thrilled and proud to let us know they plan to spend their summer in the local library doing school work. Yes, school work.

A major factor in our students’ new-found enthusiasm for learning has been due to two new intervention programs we started using last school year – Academy of READING® and Academy of MATH® from EPS Literacy and Intervention.

When we first implemented these new programs toward the end of the previous school year for grades 3-5, the students weren’t eager about them at all. Some were unenthusiastic about reading or weren’t reading on grade level. The challenge became how to make it fun, so we turned it into a competition and created the Academy Lab, where students come to learn and more importantly, to master (and in many cases, surpass) their reading and math challenges.

(Next page: Engaging students with new technology)

We posted progress charts on the computer lab wall with each student’s name and posted updates every Friday. Not only could each student chart their own gains, they could also see how they stacked up against their classmates. If ten skills were mastered in a week, students would be rewarded with candy, chips, or game time on the computer.

This ignited a fire in everybody! Every day, our students came ready to play, pushing themselves to really learn the material and applying their lessons to the scenarios presented in the Academy programs. As a student mastered a skill, they would raise their hands above their heads for the “mastery clap,” which not only lets the class know he or she is making the grade, but to cheer on fellow classmates who may be struggling.

Each week, as the colorful progress bars inched closer to their goals, the students could be heard pushing each other to success (and in some cases, trying to figure out how to stay a step or two ahead of their competitors). If they lag behind their classmates, they can see how far they have to go and everyone keeps going because they’re so excited to see how far they’ve come and more importantly, how far they can go. Some students have been so energized by their success, they tell their teachers they’re going to the restroom, when they’re really sneaking into the computer lab to check out their updated progress chart!

Another key component of our students’ success is the support and encouragement of their parents. Lack of parental engagement has been an obstacle for many of our students in the past. As students ran home to share news of their triumphs with their parents, we started to receive numerous inquiries from parents about Academy and why their kids were so excited about it. Once parents came to the school and could see the program in action – along with the progress charts – it clicked for them as well and they became ecstatic about what Academy could do – and had done – for their child.  Success truly is contagious.

As we close out the school year, we’re amazed at the achievements of our students. Test scores have grown six percent in reading and 34 percent in math since our pre-tests at the start of the school year. Students who were reading below grade level are now reading at a 6th – and even a 10th grade level! We know they’ll only keep moving forward.

Even though the last bell has rung for this school year, many of our students have eagerly taken the supplementary material we’ve given them for the summer and pronounced they can’t wait to get started. In fact, they’re ready to hit the ground running in August, determined not to lose a step and ready to scale even greater heights.

Vicki Conley is principal and Samantha Webster is computer lab technician at Dawson Elementary School in Jackson, Mississippi.

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