Identifying Students for Summer Intervention

Summer is a valuable time to help students who have struggled this year. The problem is that you may not know who they are until your end-of-year testing results come back. . . next fall.

Here are some ways to use the resources you have available now to identify the students who could most benefit from summer interventions.

Leverage Your Data

We’ve moved past the point where grades were the only data points available to teachers. Students leave a data trail throughout the year. What it takes to follow that trail is a way to organize that data in a way to understand where a student’s progress starts to wane.

A data-analytics tool like Edmentum Sensei allows you to visualize student data, make comparisons, and ultimately figure out a path for the student that will fill any existing learning gaps. If those gaps can be filled during the summer, students will be ready for the coming school year.

Organize Portfolios

Many teachers have embraced the idea of portfolios to gain a holistic view of a student’s progress throughout the year. This allows the teacher and student to recognize any potential downturn before it’s too late.

If you have yet to establish such a system, fear not! Between digital work, the stuff left around the classroom, and what can be inevitably found in backpacks and lockers, it’s not too late to get a handle on student progress. What you are looking for is a specific point in the year where things got rocky. If you can identify the specific skill or standard with which students struggled, you can find where their learning gap began and determine whether they could benefit from summer intervention.

Make it a Group Effort

When it comes to educational decision making, the more the merrier usually applies. Although you know best what standards a specific student is struggling with in your class, other teachers and staff members may have insights to share that can help form a more comprehensive plan for the student. Recommendations, whether made to parents or administration, are much more powerful when multiple voices are used. Organize a list of candidates for intervention and ask colleagues to do the same. Then schedule some time for a frank discussion about students’ progress.

Utilize Self-Assessment

Although you would be hard-pressed to find a student who wants schoolwork over the summer, they can be surprisingly honest about their shortcomings, especially if confronted with evidence like that held in a portfolio.

If you don’t have regular conferences with students, schedule a meeting early enough to where recommendations can be acted upon. Ask students what they thought about the school year, where they believe their strengths and weaknesses lie, and whether they feel ready for next fall. Whatever you do, make no prescriptions or recommendations during those meetings! Nothing will cause students to clam up faster than for the word to get around that you’re looking for summer school candidates. Looking for a specific intervention program for your school?

Interested in learning more about how Edmentum’s online solutions can provide flexible summer school options to keep students engaged over the break? Also, check out our blog to explore personalized summer school program options that can provide intervention opportunities for both enrichment and credit recovery.