School District Prevents Summer Learning Loss

Summer is a time when children often forget the lessons learned during the school year, so when a school district prevents summer learning loss with activities for parents and children, it’s a good bet that the next school year will be off to a good start

An innovative approach to prevent summer learning loss was started recently by the Kenowa Hills School District. The “Knight’s Challenge” is targeting K-8 students, and encourages students to participate in online learning throughout the summer. Using CompassLearning personalized learning software, more than 2000 students engage in online challenges.

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Students began completing math and English exercises Sunday, June 15, and will finish the work customized specifically to their needs on August 15.

Mike Burde, director of curriculum and instruction, said the “Knight’s Challenge” is in response to what the district has heard from parents about wanting resources to help support their children over the summer. He said if students are able to avoid summer learning loss, it will cut down on re-teaching this fall.

“We looked at a number of programs, but what is unique about Compass Learning-Odyssey is their capacity to take our student achievement data and create customized learner pathways in a very effective and efficient manner,” he said.

“We believe this creates relevant learning that individually honors our students and moves away from a one-size-fits-all approach. We also believe this approach increases engagement, a significant variable in student achievement.”

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Burde said students take the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test three times a year. Students’ learning pathways for math and English Language Arts are developed from the spring testing data and placed in online activity folders.

Bekki Atwood, implementation manager north for CompassLearning, said students, depending on age, could have between six and 12 folders. She said there is a series of folders with various exercises in them all aligned with the Common Core, new math and English guidelines.