City schools' Summer Dreamers camp ranks high
Share with others:
Pittsburgh Public Schools' summer camp to boost students' academic skills ranks high in a report released today by the Rand Corp.
The Pittsburgh program, called Summer Dreamers Academy, will tutor more than 5,000 students in math, reading and social skills for five weeks beginning July 11. It also will offer the kind of enrichment activities such as kayaking, judo and dance that many low-income children often miss, according to Rand researchers.
"Some low-income kids might be having a great experience in the summer, but most are not," said Catherine Augustine, one of the authors of the report, called "Making Summer Count: How Summer Programs Can Boost Children's Learning."
"The summertime that middle-class and upper-class kids find fun and engaging and a great opportunity to be away from school is not necessarily fun and engaging and a great opportunity for all kids."
The district is still accepting applications and will not turn down any child wishing to enroll, but transportation can't be guaranteed for campers registering after June 1.
Summer Dreamers Academy was offered last summer only to middle school students, with a focus on literacy. This year, it is available to all Pittsburgh students in grades K-8, and also will reinforce math skills.
With school districts throughout the nation struggling to balance their budgets, however, many other summer programs are trimming services or closing altogether. A national survey of school district administrators in 2010 found that one-third planned to cut summer programs to save money, according to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
In the Rand study, researchers conducted site-visit interviews in Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Baltimore, Minneapolis and Albuquerque, N.M. and conducted telephone interviews with administrators in an additional eight cities. They also interviewed six organizations that provided summer programs to districts.
In general, researchers found that students perform, on average, one month behind where they left off in the spring. Some students, in particular low-income children, lose even more knowledge.
And while all students lose some ground in math over the summer, low-income students lose more ground in reading even as their higher-income peers sometimes gain, they found.
"Most disturbing is that summer learning loss is cumulative; over time, the difference between the summer learning rates of low-income and higher-income students contributes substantially to the achievement gap," according to the report.
First Published June 13, 2011 12:00 am
