Five Quick Tips for an Efficient Summer School Program

Summer school programs often have to make do with less, trying to carry out in weeks what typically takes months in the normal school year. Efficient summer school teachers have to be experts to get their students where they need to be when the first school bell rings.

Here are five tips on how to squeeze the most out of summer.

Data Is Your Best Friend

To develop an efficient summer school program, gather as much data as possible about the students. You can uncover existing learning gaps and target the skills needed for them to move on rather than cover topics that are unnecessary or too advanced. Check out this article to learn more about how you can use spring data to plan for summer success.

Follow a Strict Routine During Efficient Summer School

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.

Here’s one example of one week of primarily asynchronous virtual summer school:

Review Efficient Summer School Class Management Tactics

The condensed summer school schedule magnifies any disruption, including any time class is disrupted by misbehavior, technical issues, or other unscheduled events. To help minimize lost time and foster an efficient summer school program, review class policies and procedures with your students and set expectations.

Here are a few fun read-alouds to kick off the conversation (yes, they are elementary level, but they should do the trick for any age group) and a couple of our favorite educator classroom management strategies.

Invest in Technology for an Efficient Summer School

Over the past few years, 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 can free 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 learning time with summer school programs is to create more of it. That means making tools available for students to further their progress at home or on the go. Encourage your students to use organizers or planners to stay on top of their daily tasks and weekly assignments. Efficiency often follows.

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