2. July 31, 2012 Casey Jajich, Amanda Gillette, Karthryn Dengler, Lisa Bergsten, Rhonda Nitto

3.  “Summer losses in achievement add up year by year and seem to be the major reason why the academic gap between low- and high- income students grows throughout the elementary years.” - Peter Johnson

4. Which led our group to wondering…. What elements of aspects of a 2 nd grade summer school program will prevent great academic loss after the completion of first grade?

5.  To begin, it is important to define summer school: ◦ Summer school is courses held during school summer vacation, taken for remedial or enrichment purposes..- H.B. Cooper

6.  Researchers Karl Alexander, Doris Entwisle, and Linda Olson (2007) followed Baltimore students from 1 st grade through college.  Their findings: ◦ Low income children made as much progress in reading during the school year as middle-income students, BUT low income students’ reading skills slid during summer months. ◦ Concluding that two-thirds of the 9 th grade achievement gap between middle and low income students can be explained by unequal access to summer learning activities during elementary school.

7. Much of the research on summer school focuses on the gaps between low-income and middle to high income students. “The academic gap between rich and poor children, as measured by test scores, increases throughout the elementary years… summer losses seem to be the major reason why the academic gap between low- and high- income children grows throughout elementary years.” - Peter Johnson (2000)

8.  Cooper (2000) used quantitative measures from 93 studies of summer school to show that the average achievement for students in summer programs was one fifth of a standard deviation compared to non-attendees.  He also found that middle-class students benefited more than low-income students ***Therefore, if summer school is provided to all children, it will WIDEN the achievement gap, not close it.

9.  What are students’ attitudes/views towards summer school?  How does attending summer school effect the start of the school year?  What are the benefits of summer school?  Does a short summer school experience impact students’ academic performance during the school year?  What summer school programs are most successful and why?  Did the students show growth from the beginning of summer school to the end of summer school in the areas of reading/math? How much growth?  Has summer school gotten the student(s) closer to the norms of same aged peers entering second grade? If so, how much has the gap been closed? If not, what is the gap?

10.  Included 15 incoming second graders.  5 girls (33% of participants) ad 10 boys (67% of participants)  Ages range from 6-8 with a median age of 7 years old.  All students from suburban district of Chicago, IL  All were members of the bilingual education 2 nd grade classroom and participate in transitional bilingual early exit model. Teacher participants- eight elementary school teachers certified in the state of Illinois. All are teachers in the northwest suburban school in Chicago. Teacher experience ranges from 2 years to 20 plus years.

11.  Students will be assessed before and after the summer school program to determine growth. The will be assessed on ◦ English CBMs ◦ Spanish CBMs ◦ Mad Minute Addition Scores ◦ Mad Minute Subtraction Scores

12.  Perceptions of summer school were collected via: ◦ Observations ◦ Student conversations ◦ Surveys to students and teachers  A survey with five Linkert scaled questions was given to students to determine their feelings towards summer school.  Teachers were given 10 short answer questions on their experiences and thoughts on summer school

13.  This study aimed to prove that a 4 week intensive summer school program will show great academic achievement and align summer school participants with their grade level peers by the start of the new school year.  It also hopes to prove that summer school is an essential component of the public school system and should continued to be offered to help increase student success.

15.  Students were all very active  Arrived for the day with a smile and energetic personalities  Students were attentive throughout lessons  Students were able to work independently and within groups  Seemed to want to please teachers What are students’ attitudes/views towards summer school?

16.  100% of teachers surveyed reported that students come in with a positive attitude in the morning, though it also noted they were tired.  83% of teachers felt after students had received breakfast and started an activity the students had more energy and became more engaged  100% of teachers reported no behavior issues during summer school, other than minor ones What are students’ attitudes/views towards summer school?

17. Based on teacher surveys:  100% of teachers surveyed believe it is effective and helps students retain information to start the beginning of the school year.  However, they felt the closer that summer school was to the start of the year, the more effective it was.  5 out of 6 teachers surveyed have personally seen the positive effects of summer school both from teaching summer school and having students in their classroom at the start of the year who had attended summer school.  These same teachers saw that student MAP scores were higher in the Fall for students who attended summer school, compared to those that didn’t.

18.  Based on teacher survey: ◦ All teachers agreed that students greatly benefit both academically and socially when in a summer school program. ◦ Many stated it allowed students to continue to practice skills and use academic language. ◦ One teacher stated she believed summer school allowed students to practice positive learning habits, which carry on to the next school year.

19.  Based on teacher surveys: ◦ 100% agreed that the length of the program does have an impact on student performance through the year. ◦ It helps improve motivation and readiness to learn at the start of the year, impacting the rest of the year. ◦ Teachers have found students making connections during the academic year to activities they completed during summer school. ◦ It allows opportunities to increase background and prior knowledge that may not have otherwise been gained. ◦ Map scores in the fall increased, therefore; far less students qualified for reading intervention!

20.  Teachers shared their thoughts: ◦ “It is worthwhile for the students as long as it resembles school in some ways but is fresh and different enough to keep them interested.” ◦ “It helps when there are rotations with different groups or settings. It is difficult otherwise to keep student interest, especially in the young ones.” **The most common answer amongst teachers was summer school should be as close to the start of the school year as possible.

22.  Students were instructed in both English and Spanish during summer school.  English reading groups occurred during weeks two and four of summer school.  Spanish reading groups occurred during weeks one and three of summer school. Thus resulting in…

23. The graph shows that the average growth in words per minute on an English CBM was 11.73 correct words per minute! (Student 2 only attended only 6 days of summer school) English Reading Scores- Yes, students showed growth

24. ** Note students 3, 9, and 15. They increased the most and attended all sixteen days of summer school Spanish Reading Scores- Yes, students showed growth

25.  Instruction focused on learning strategies and basic concepts ◦ Week one focus: addition strategies ◦ Week two focus: number sense: place value, greater than/less than, based ten blocks. ◦ Week three focus- subtraction strategies ◦ Week four focus- time and money skills  Mad minutes were completed at the end of each week to monitor progress.

26. 60% of students showed an increase of 4 facts per minute or more. Math Addition Scores- Yes, students showed growth.

27. 66% of students increased by 4 or more facts. Math Subtraction Scores- Yes, students showed growth

28. AreaNorm for incoming 2 nd graders % of students at this norm before summer school % of students who reached the norm after summer school English CBM 60 cwpm20%33% Spanish CBM 44 cwpm87%93% Addition Facts15 facts per minute 20%53% Subtraction Facts 10 facts per minute 13%47% * CBM norms were based on Pearson Aims web national norms at the 50%tile

29. EnglishSpanish 2 students were within 5 words of the 60 cwpm, which would have put the students at grade level to 47% Many students started summer school reading at the 50%tile. Those who did not reach the 50% tile were at least over the 25%tile score of 27 (putting them in the low average range). 60% of the students who ended on grade level attended 15 of the 16 days of summer school The 75%tile is 61 cwpm. 11 of the 15, or 73% of students fell in the high average range after summer school. 35 cwpm is the 25%tile. If you looked at average as a range, 12 of 15, or 80%, of students are at least at the low average range *Cracking the code of a student’s native language allows them to more easily transfer into reading English.

30.  5 students were within 2 facts of the norm for addition, which would raise the percentage of students who are at grade level to 87%  5 students were also within 2 facts of the norm for subtraction. These five students would have raised the percentage of students at grade level to 80%

31.  There were three key findings: ◦ Students are motivated to come to summer school. ◦ There are academic and social benefits to attending summer school. ◦ Students demonstrate growth in reading and math during summer school, allowing them to close the gap between them and same-aged peers.

32. Surveying students showed they enjoy coming, have fun, and most would still come if they had a choice!

33.  Students attended an average of 14.6 out of 16 days! Students received incentives for coming to sum school. If they had perfect attendance they got a “gold medal,” missing two days or less was a “silver medal,” and missing three or more days was a “bronze medal.” 6 students earned gold medals and five students earned silver medals, meaning 73.33% of students missed two days or less of summer school!

34.  Also noted through observations of students being energetic and engaged  100% of teachers reported students having a positive attitude

35. * Students had fun and felt they learned- a social benefit!

36. The numbers speak for themselves. Students grew in math and reading- an academic benefit!

37.  Teacher surveys supported the academic and social benefits as well AcademicSocial Practice skillsNew friendships Exposure to new skillsPractice positive learning habits Academic vocabulary

38.  As stated previously, on English CBMs,35 cwpm is the 25%tile. If you looked at average as a range, 12 of 15, or 80%, of students are at least at the low average range between the 25 and 50%tile. Thus closing the gap!  For Spanish, many students started summer school reading at the 50%tile. Those who did not reach the 50% tile were at least over the 25%tile score of 27. By the end of summer school 14 of 15 students scored above the 40%tile, as high as over 75%tile!

39.  Three out of fifteen total students began summer school meeting the addition benchmark for an incoming second grade student. Summer school ended with eight students meeting the addition benchmark.  Two students met the subtraction benchmark at the beginning of summer school, while seven students met benchmarks at the end of the program.

40.  Limited time- only 4 weeks  Researchers did not have Fall MAP scores to determine beginning of the year benefits.  Restricted sample size- only had access to 15 students.  Limited teacher sample size- only had the input of only 8 summer school teachers  Focus was only on ELL students, can’t determine if results would be the same for other subgroups.

41.  Attending the four-week summer school program led to increased student growth on assessments and increased students’ reading in both English and Spanish helping close the gap between the bilingual students and their peers.  Student growth also occurred in math instruction throughout the summer school period.  Represents Danielson Framework Domain 1 of Planning and Preparation and Doman 4 of Professional Responsibility (Danielson, 2007) assess student learning, evaluate instructional goals, plan for the future based on standards and norms.

42.  A four week long summer school program DOES improve academic performance in the areas of reading and math for students entering 2 nd grade.  Summer school should continue to be looked at by school districts as a means to help close the gap between low-income students and their same- aged peers.