Summer School offers students chance to ‘make up for lost time’

It is June, but you may have noticed school buses on the road more than usual during the summer months. That’s because the Ohio County Summer Learning Academies being offered to students in grades K-8 is giving more students than ever before the opportunity for additional learning while school is out.

“What a unique school year that we just had, and let’s be honest, we were not in the classroom nowhere near the amount of time that we used to be in previous years,” said Ohio County Superintendent Seth Southard. “In some instances, we have students that are behind and they are not where they perhaps would have been had we had a normal year.”

It is because of the effects the pandemic had on the school year that the Ohio County School Board helped create an extra learning opportunity for its students for three weeks in June and three weeks in July.

Southard said it is basically a remediation type program for summer school where they are trying to “make up for lost time if you will.”

Many districts across the state are using federal funds to offer these types of programs for their students, Southard said.

“Because of the pandemic, and the federal funds we received, learning loss was an area where we were strongly encouraged to use those funds. To me, this is one of those areas, summer academies, that checks that box. It certainly provided opportunities to remediate for learning loss.”

Students who are struggling and not quite where they should be academically were invited to participate in the summer program. The program was also open for anyone who wanted to participate or felt like they needed a little bit more instruction before the start of the 2021-22 school year.

The main focus of the academies is core content

reas mainly focusing on reading and math, but with other content as well, Southard said.

“We are trying to make up for the lost time and make up for some of those learning gaps that have been created because of the pandemic,” he said.

The first three-week academy wraps up Thursday and the second three-weeks begins July 12-29. Classes are from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Monday through Thursday with transportation and meals provided. The academies are taking place in each of the school buildings in the county.

Some students are attending just one of the three-week sessions while others have chosen to participate in both.

“We are seeing a lot of good things. We have a lot of good staff working these academies,” Southard said.

The student/teacher ratio is 15 to one or less which gives the teacher the ability to teach a general lesson as well as offer individual instruction for students based on their individual needs and deficits in order to help them improve their skill set.

High School students are also participating in summer school where they are focusing on core areas with one teacher from each department available to assist them in learning in order to allow them to redo assignments and assessments so they can be ready to move on to the next course when school starts in August.

“Summer school is usually a very small program, but this year there are several hundred students involved,” Southard said. “This is an opportunity to provide additional services for students to make sure that they are on grade level and that they will be successful when we return to school.”

Southard said there will also be things going on throughout the school year in 2021-22 as far as after-school programs that will be offered in case students need additional help once they return to the classroom.

At the elementary level, the board also created positions for six intervention teachers, one for each school, to help assist with gaps students might have.