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Given the amount of learning loss (both COVID and typical summer) that has occurred over the past few years, summer learning has become an even more critical service for districts to offer their students on an annual basis. Summer learning today, however, must involve more than just academics considering the effects millions of students are still experiencing from the pandemic, such as declining mental health and chronic absenteeism. Recent statistics illustrate why a holistic summer learning program is so necessary today:
Combined, the damaging effects of COVID and summer slide make it imperative for schools to provide accelerated learning options that also address student well-being, such as summer programming, so students can begin to make up the significant ground they’ve lost since 2020. Catapult Learning’s summer learning program options can help.
The Key Components of Summer Learning
1. Academic Intervention
To reduce learning loss, a good summer program must include academic interventions, particularly in reading/literacy and math. Through intensive, small-group learning sessions, students have the opportunity to gain ground in their studies so they start the upcoming school year in much better shape than when the previous school year ended.
How Catapult Learning Can Help
By adding our reading/literacy and math academic interventions to your existing summer learning program, your students will make positive gains over the break.
Students’ average scores increased by 9.3 points in reading and 8.5 points in math using the same instruction programs that we use in our own Summer Journey program.*
Our reading and literacy interventions:
- Support foundational literacy skills
- Increase fluency
- Improve comprehension
- Build skills in phonics, phonological awareness, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary
Our math interventions:
- Reinforce foundational skills
- Build confidence
- Improve math fluency
Catapult’s difference-making academic interventions can seamlessly be added to any summer program to accelerate reading and math learning.
*A comparison of pretest and posttest iReady scores in a large, urban market during the summer of 2018 revealed positive gains
2. Enrichment
While academics are certainly a main priority in any summer program, students also greatly benefit from enrichment activities that help build critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. STEAM/STEM and Robotics programs provide students with the opportunity to explore, learn by trial and error, work together in groups, test their work, and record results.
How Catapult Learning Can Help
Summer school needs a little bit of fun to go with instruction. Catapult Learning’s STEAM and Robotics offerings are the perfect addition to your district’s summer program. With our STEAM summer program, districts provide a hands-on, project-based, exploratory learning experience for students—complete with interactive lesson materials selected by our academic experts.
Our STEAM and Robotics offerings are easy to implement, but our professional development experts, who specialize in instructional excellence for academic achievement, can help districts add them to their existing summer programming.
3. Life Skills
To address the mental well-being and resilience of students, more and more schools are implementing life skills into their summer programming. Not only do life skills focus on mental health, they also instill confidence, motivation, and—obviously—important real-world knowledge in students of all ages so they’re better prepared to handle what comes their way as they grow older.
How Catapult Learning Can Help
Catapult Learning offers an evidence-based program to improve motivation, resilience, and mental health through our Tier 1 teacher-led curriculum. Serving 20,000 students and 5,000 teachers across more than 800 schools annually, our Tier 1 service has proven to boost student motivation, self-confidence, and mental well-being while helping build the vital skills needed to navigate anxiety, depression, and stress.
By adding our Life Skills programming, districts can broaden their summer learning offerings and support the whole child through services that are increasingly important in today’s education landscape.
Summer school today requires far more than teaching and tutoring. The impetus is now on districts to provide a variety of programming that not only focuses on academics (which is obviously still a top priority) but also teaches important real-world and life skills and supports the mental well-being of students. If you already have a summer learning program in place, Catapult Learning’s supplemental reading and math intervention, STEAM and Robotics enrichment, and/or Life Skills services can round out your program and provide a holistic, whole-child approach that students need today more than ever. Visit https://catapultlearning.com/programs/instruction/summer-school/ to learn more.