5 Quick Tips for Maximum Efficiency for Your Summer School Program

Summer school programs always have to make-do with less, trying to carry out in weeks what takes months in the normal school year. Summer school teachers have to also be efficiency experts to get their students where they need to be when the first school bell rings. Here’s how to squeeze the most out of summer—and your students.

Data is your best friend

Before summer school starts, gather as much data as possible about the students. You can uncover existing learning gaps and so target the skills they need to move on rather than cover topics that are unnecessary or too advanced without wasting a lot of time on formative assessment. Check out this blog to learn more about how you can use spring data to plan for summer success!

Follow a strict routine

Spontaneity is for those with time. A student wondering what they are supposed to be doing is not making progress. Set up a hard-and-fast routine early in the summer period and hold to it so you can avoid confusion, ambiguity, and wasted time. Check out these four examples for organizing your in-person or virtual summer programing with Exact Path to get inspired on building out your own daily schedule! Here’s one example for what a week of primarily asynchronous virtual summer school might look like:

Review class management tactics

The condensed summer school schedule magnifies any disruption, including any time in which class is disrupted by misbehavior, technical issues, or other unscheduled events. To help minimize lost time, be sure to review class policies and procedures with your students, and set expectations. Here are a few fun read alouds you can use to kick off the conversation (yes, they are elementary level, but should do the trick for any age group) and a couple of our favorite educator classroom management strategies.

Invest in technology

Over the past year, educators have seen the impact that digital curriculum can have as a core curricular resource. With flexibility, instant feedback, and robust reports, digital curriculum can offer students the same quality of content while simplifying administrative tasks for teachers and making the switch from brick to click easier than ever. This frees up the instructor to offer one-on-one help and deliver lessons that help the class. Learn more about how Edmentum can help supercharge summer learning!

Create more time

The best way to maximize the learning time over the summer is to create more of it. That means making tools available students can use to further their progress when they are at home or on the go. Encourage your students to use organizers or planners so they can stay on top of their day to day tasks and weekly assignments.

Looking for more ways to increase productivity in your classroom? Check out these tips on how to optimize student performance through the science of timing!

This post was originally published July 2019 and has been updated.