WTPS Elementary Education Department Implements CARES-funded Summer Recovery Programs
With the goal of reducing pandemic-related learning loss and with the financial assistance of Federal CARES funding, the Washington Township Public Schools’ Elementary Education Department will be implementing four summer enrichment programs geared for students in need of academic recovery. Two of the programs were targeted to students identified as needing enrichment, and the other two programs were opened to all interested families. All four programs are being offered at no cost to Washington Township families and begin on June 28 or June 29, 2021.
Spearheaded by Director of Elementary Education Gretchen Gerber, the programs are designed to assess and set individual goals for students, identify learning gaps, and bridge those gaps through personalized and differentiated instruction.
“Our District is pleased to offer these engaging and high-quality programs as a way to make up some ground for students who struggled through the many challenges of COVID and the subsequent online learning platform,” Gerber said. “Our supervisors, reading specialists, literacy and math teachers have worked to identify deficits and believe that these offerings will bring about meaningful gains in learning loss sustained over the past year. We are hopeful that our summer participants will take these gains back to school in the fall.”
The four enrichment programs include:
ACCELERATE WITH IXL(Independent): A comprehensive curriculum with real-time diagnostics, personalized guidance and actionable analytics, ACCELERATE WITH IXL is an online program that will allow students entering grades 1-5 to connect with an assigned summer teacher over a seven-week period to monitor their growth and set goals. Students will meet weekly on Tuesdays for 30 minutes (June 29, July 6, 13, 20, 27, August 3, 10) and will benefit from review, supplemental or enrichment supports in both math and literacy. Following a diagnostic assessment, students will work independently with a personalized learning plan provided by IXL.
ACCELERATE WITH IXL: A comprehensive curriculum with real-time diagnostics, personalized guidance and actionable analytics, ACCELERATE WITH IXL is a virtual online program that will allow students entering grades 1-5 to connect with an assigned summer teacher over a seven-week period via WebEx to monitor their growth and set goals. Students will meet virtually on a weekly basis on Tuesdays for 30 minutes (June 29, July 6, 13, 20, 27, August 3, 10) and will benefit from review, supplemental or enrichment supports in both math and literacy. Following a diagnostic assessment, students will work independently with a personalized learning plan provided by IXL.
BEABLE: Designed for selected students entering grades 4 and 5, the BEABLE program will be structured as a hybrid model. The BEABLE literacy component will be set up as a flipped classroom approach, and the BEABLE math component primarily will be offered in-person at the students’ home elementary school. Weekly, in-person lessons will take place on Tuesdays for one hour and 30 minutes.
SUMMER LITERACY and SEL CAMP/SUMMER MATH AND SEL CAMP: Designed to strengthen literacy, math, and social-emotional learning (SEL), the SUMMER LITERACY MATH AND SEL CAMP will reinforce essential literacy and math concepts and skills including reading, writing, number sense and mathematical computation utilizing a fun, camping atmosphere. Selected students who are entering first, second and third grade will be grouped by grade level at their home schools.