and math—“showed our kids were just where they’re supposed to be. Of course, some were low, but it was wonderful to see that they did not fall behind that much.” Still, the biggest questions on many people’s minds are, how much less did students progress than in a normal year, and how is the school system going to catch them up? There’s no hard data yet on student achievement. The district is looking at the results of state-mandated end-of-year testing, Campbell says, and it’s working with a national research firm to get a clearer picture of the year’s academic growth. “We definitely know that the growth rates were not as fast, didn’t move as far as what they typically would outside of a pandemic,” he acknowledges. But the district’s response, he says, isn’t remediation—holding students back, making them retake classes or do grades over. It’s accelerated learning: direct assistance where assistance is needed. Like some COVID-19 vaccines, the accelerated learning comes in two parts. The first part already took place as Summer Avalanche, a supercharged version of the district’s usual July Summer Snowflake enrichment program. It offered 350 sessions at the county’s 19 public preK–12 schools, up from 100 in a normal year, for a 9 a.m.–2 p.m. day instead of mornings only. There was a focus on language arts and math, but the learning was delivered as all kinds of fun. “This is not putting worksheets in front of kids to try to get them caught up,” Campbell explained before it started. “It’s math in yoga, math in cooking— variety, to get them engaged.” Many more teachers than usual offered sessions. And everyone worked back in the spring to make sure the families of the students who could benefit most understood that, this year, transportation and meals would also be provided. Compared with 1,000 students registered in 2019, “we got about 2,000 students signed up for four weeks,” Campbell says, “and that’s going to help them move forward before we even walk in the door in August.”
looping students in To boost literacy among rising first grade students, Mylan Park Elementary will pilot a “looping” project for its youngest students this year, keeping them with the same teacher in pre-K and kindergarten. Research shows that the consistency provided by looping improves student performance.
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