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8/13/02 – A study by the Southern Regional Education Board, Summer School: Unfulfilled Promise, offers the following recommendations:
• Any state that is serious about ending social promotion and reducing retention rates should ensure that effective summer programs are available to all failing students.
• Summer school should be a required part of a year-round program of extra time and special help for struggling students. Information on students' performance in summer school should be used in planning continued support for them during the next school year.
• To ensure consistency in availability and quality, summer school for struggling students should be funded as an integral part of the academic program. Families should not be required to pay for children to participate in this type of summer program.
• States should provide clear, reasonable standards for the length of summer programs and scheduling of classes but should allow flexibility for innovation, creativity, and responsiveness to community needs.
• All summer programs should focus on responding to individual students' particular needs through the use of instructional materials and strategies that are different from those that have failed during the school year.
• Especially in the elementary and middle grades, summer schools should emphasize students' mastery of basic skills in reading, writing, and math.
• Every effort should be made to recruit teachers who have demonstrated they can be successful with struggling students.
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| Reproduced with permission from the Aug. 13, 2002, issue of School Board News. Copyright © 2002, National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect positions of NSBA. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher. For more information, call (703) 838-6789. | |