{"id":572290,"date":"2021-05-20T07:15:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T11:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/?post_type=article&p=572290"},"modified":"2021-06-23T10:47:42","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T14:47:42","slug":"clevelands-kinder-gentler-summer-school-district-mixes-pure-academics-with-enrichment-activities-to-entice-kids-back-to-class-after-covid-struggles","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.the74million.org\/article\/clevelands-kinder-gentler-summer-school-district-mixes-pure-academics-with-enrichment-activities-to-entice-kids-back-to-class-after-covid-struggles\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleveland\u2019s Kinder, Gentler Summer School: District Mixes Pure Academics With Enrichment Activities to Entice Kids Back to Class after COVID Struggles"},"content":{"rendered":"

D<\/span>on\u2019t call it summer school. That has a stigma.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not really summer camp either, since math and English will be taught every day.<\/p>\n

The Cleveland Municipal School District\u2019s \u201cSummer Learning Experience,\u201d an eight-week program launching next month, instead uses a strategy districts across the country are testing to help students rebound after a year of COVID disrupting their education and lives.<\/p>\n

Schools are avoiding strict academics, betting instead on getting students back to class after a year away with a mix of fun activities and learning.<\/p>\n

The hope is that a softer tone will rekindle students\u2019 joy for learning not just this summer, but for years to come, helping them recover socially and emotionally, not just academically.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really thinking about how the recovery looks in the next one to three years and not the notion that somehow, in one summer, we\u2019re going to recover everything from the pandemic,\u201d said district CEO Eric Gordon, adding that mandating students attend summer classes would backfire and drive students away.<\/p>\n

In Cleveland, academics and a menu of fun afternoon activities like music, sports, art or neighborhood improvement projects will be braided together.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s the reality: The kids who most need to be caught up won’t come to a summer school if they don\u2019t enjoy it,\u201d said teacher Dina Hoeynck, who will run one of the summer learning projects. \u201cIf we think of summer school as more of the same, drilling facts into their heads, the same kids will stay behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cleveland\u2019s \u201cSummer Learning Experience\u201d will be dramatically different from past summer programs. The district has always offered summer school for high school students who need to finish classes to graduate. And in recent years, because Ohio requires third graders to test well in reading before advancing to fourth grade, the district has offered summer reading help to students in first through third grade.<\/p>\n

But other grades were never included and non-academic activities were limited.<\/p>\n

This year, the district is encouraging any student to attend, regardless of how they did in online classes this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cSummer learning can get a negative association sometimes, that you\u2019re doing summer learning because you failed a class or you failed a grade,\u201d said school board member Kathleen Valdez. \u201cI want to emphasize that it\u2019s for all our scholars, that It\u2019s an enrichment and an opportunity for everybody to gain something out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n