Why Personalized Learning is Key to a Successful Summer School Program
As a result of the COVID-19 slide, more students than ever will be in summer school this year. The Washington Post estimates that this summer will feature the most “expansive — and expensive — summer programming in modern history.” [1] Many districts are expected to tap into funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to build comprehensive, structured summer learning plans that will offer remediation, opportunities for credit recovery, and begin the work to address COVID-19 learning loss. Stakeholders are largely committed to instruction alternatives like summer school: in a poll from the National Parents Union, 72% of families reported that they would support public schools offering parents the opportunity to have their child repeat a grade level, and 64% support changing the school calendar to provide more time for academic instruction [2].
Naturally, the idea of summer school and the prospect of spending more time in a structured learning environment likely feels overwhelming for some students, especially after a school year as challenging as the one they’re just finishing up. But in the wake of such a large-scale disruption to learning and COVID’s detrimental effects on the widening equity gap, summer school programs may be pivotal forces in restoring academic progress.
To make the most of each instructional moment this summer, we recommend incorporating personalized learning into your summer school program. Whether your program is based in a classroom, primarily remote, or following a hybrid model, personalized learning will support your teachers and students in taking on some of the biggest summer learning challenges.
Personalized learning goes hand-in-hand with student engagement.
Keeping students engaged during the summer months will be a challenge for even the most creative teachers. But student engagement is critical to maximizing the impact of limited instructional time. As an approach, personalized learning fundamentally requires that students and teachers actively collaborate to set goals for learning and promotes student voice and choice throughout the learning process. To take it a step further, many educators use adaptive technology as a means to personalize learning, which evaluates a student’s learning gaps and delivers content based on their unique needs, keeping them engaged by actively progressing with just the right content and skills they need to succeed.
A powerful example of this technology is Redbird Language Arts & Writing, which leverages adaptive technology and a student-centered, personalized learning model to tailor instruction, accelerate learning, and empower every student to be in charge of their own learning. It uses groundbreaking writing analysis technology to provide students with immediate, error-specific feedback on their sentence and paragraph composition, keeping them actively engaged, writing more, and continuously improving. Read more about the research behind Redbird’s remarkable technology here.
Personalized learning gives teachers the support they need to deliver powerful instruction.
For many schools, one of the biggest challenges to standing up a summer school program may be staffing — summer school classes are sometimes taught by teachers who might not specialize in that particular subject, and educators are asked to wear many hats. For schools in these scenarios, powerful technology will be so important to empower both students and teachers. When instructional technology is highly individualized, in-tune with students’ gaps in understanding, and responsive to their learning needs, it can act almost as a 1:1 tutor, with educators standing by to provide support, answer questions, and foster relationships with students.
Rise, an adaptive program for grades 3–8 Math and ELA instruction, is a strong example of how personalized learning can support teachers who step out of their comfort zone for summer school. Rise identifies each student’s learning gaps and creates a unique learning sequence and pace for each student. It’s curated from our proven content and is uniquely designed to ensure that students aren’t revisiting lessons they’ve covered in other programs. Teacher assignments can focus on filling individualized students’ gaps while also reinforcing mastery with students who are performing at grade level.
Personalized learning has a positive track record in summer school programs, even before the COVID-19 slide.
The COVID-19 slide might be new, but learning loss certainly isn’t, and neither is summer school. Many districts have been leveraging personalized learning approaches and adaptive technology in their summer school programs for years and have seen exciting results.
Alva White, District Math Consultant at Richland County School District One in South Carolina, sat down with us to share her experiences with running a summer school program. Richland One has used the adaptive math program ALEKS the past few summers to address learning loss. You can watch the full session, titled “Closing the Learning Loss Gap: ALEKS Summer Program” on the page below:
Here are a few highlights from Richland One’s successful summer program:
- The district used a phased approach to promoting their summer program, which is completely voluntary. They’ve seen incredible boosts in both registration and participation: In 2019, 124 students registered and 74 participated. In 2020, 388 registered and 284 participated! Program leader Alva White attributes this incredible success to strong parental support.
- Richland One prioritizes student engagement in their program. In addition to using adaptive technology, they incentivize active participation by planning for recognition and prizes throughout the summer.
- To ensure all students have access to internet in order to use the technology, the district got creative — staff that remains in the building over the summer, such as principals, helped support in-school camps for students to work on ALEKS over the summer.
This year, summer school is bound to present unique challenges for students, teachers, and school leaders. Every learning community is unique and has varying needs and obstacles to success. But when driven by personalized learning and adaptive technology, the learning gains that occur this summer could bring students leaps and bounds closer to closing the COVID-19 gap.
References
[1] Joe Heim, V. S. (2021, April 22). As the school year ends, many districts expand summer school options. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/pandemic-summer-school/2021/04/21/bf71acf6-9882-11eb-a6d0-13d207aadb78_story.html.
[2] Jacobson, L. (2021, March 22). States Target Learning Loss with Summer School and Extended Days, but Some Parents Want Option to Hold Kids Back. https://www.the74million.org/article/states-target-learning-loss-with-summer-school-and-extended-days-but-some-parents-want-option-to-hold-kids-back/.
