Summer School: Is it worth it or not?

Needs Assessment- The district is trying a different approach to summer school this year.  My research is necessary to determine if the programs benefits are worth what it costs to run summer school.  The data that I collect will give background information on the students and how they progressed through the 2012-2013 school year.  This will be presented in a graph for ease of comparison.

Objectives and Vision of AR project- Since this is the first year for my district to try the new approach to summer school, the object of my research is to use data to determine if the students are making large enough academic gains to support the funds being spent on this program.  I hope that by approaching summer school in a different way, we will be able to reach the students that are just barely making it though the school year.  We will use differentiated instruction, hands-on activities, problem solving skills, lit circles, and other strategies to help these students reach higher passing rates.

Review of the literature and Action Research strategy- The students that we chose for summer school are the ones who struggle in reading and math, but get by.  These students were chosen for summer school in hopes that by attending, it will help them have a higher success rate in their 9 weeks report card grades and state assessments. After all data has been gathered, we will be able to determine if attending summer school was academically beneficial.  I do not have resources at this time.  I am currently working on setting up the spreadsheets and gathering data that I can obtain prior to the beginning of summer school.

  Articulate the Vision- Summer school will be a chance for the students to get back on track and fill gaps that they have from previous years.  The vision of the action research is important because the target audience are the parents of the students that we would like to come to summer school.  It is not mandatory, so we are offering a few incentives for those who do attend. 

Mange the Oraganization- In order for this project to be completed, I have to communicate with the students’ previous teacher(s) and the summer school teacher to decide what skills need to be worked on during the 8 days.  I will ask that teachers help me with collecting data for these students.  Most of  it I will be able to gather on my own, but to fill the holes, I might need their assistance.  A majority of the project will be completed independently.  I do not need any monitary assistance.  I will need to find out how much money was spent on the progam so that in the end we will be abe to determine if the money spent is worth the knowledge the students gained.  Obviously, the what the students will be learning is of the utmost importance.  What the students take from the progam will be the tell all of how beneficial the program was for them.

Manage Operatoions- This program is based on what child will benefit from summer school the most.  We decided that students with low Ds for an end of year average and low benchmark scores would be the students that we invite.  These are the students that need reinforcement in order to start off the new year.  After the program has concluded, I will continue to gather data on these students.  I will obtain their benchmark scores in the fall and 9 weeks reporting period grades.  This data will help to decide if the growth that the students made was significant enough to continue funding the program.  The communication process is between teachers, the principal, AP, the reading specialist, and parents.  I will be gathering data from these groups of people to help support my findings. 

Respond to Community Interest and Needs- As stated before, any student that meet the criteria mentioned above, will be invited to attend summer school.  If this includes special needs students, we will work with them to try to fill the gaps and follow their needs outlined in their IEP.  Most likely, the majority of our attendees will come from different cultures, ethnicities, and socioeconomic standards.  We are a Title I school, so the students who attend will receive free school supplies and a book each day.  We are unable to provide transportation because of limited funding, but in the past, this has not been an issue.  As a team of teachers, we are going to identify skills that these students need the most assistance with and focus on those areas.  We will play games, work in groups, solve problems, and learn to be thinkers.