How Corpus Christi ISD aims to improve learning with summer school programs

In a lively classroom at Baker Middle School in late June, sixth-grade students jumped up and waved their raised hands as though reaching for the ceiling, eager to show off their math skills.

After going through worksheet questions on plotting points on a grid, teacher Ron Mendleski started a timed multiplication quiz. Students competed with one another to get through the test quickly, answering under anonymous animal-themed profiles.

“Sir! I’m the koala! I’m winning this!” a student called out before the quiz, amping himself up for an activity in which he’d soon get every question right.

Another student, returning from a trip to get a drink of water right as the quiz was about to begin, didn’t want to miss out. He’d won last time they had a quiz, earning a lollipop.

“No! Y’all said y’all weren’t going to start, bro,” the student said while hurrying back to his seat. “Hold on!”

As students waited on the edge of their seats to begin, Mendleski reminded the class why they practiced multiplication.

“Every day in life, you’re going to do multiplication,” Mendleski said. “So we’re doing five minutes a day and we’re going to do a little bit right now.”

The organized chaos of a classroom full of students all engaged in a lesson and eager to learn is exactly what Corpus Christi ISD was hoping for this summer.

Students are invited to summer school programs based on performance data and grades. In recent years, the district has invited more and more students, hitting a peak last year. This was due in part to pandemic learning loss, as well as post-pandemic legislation requiring extra tutoring for students who don’t pass state assessments.

This summer, Corpus Christi ISD has introduced more hands-on and interactive activities to the summer program curriculum at the elementary and middle school levels — even for students who are not failing. By keeping students more engaged, the district hopes to improve learning.

New summer school model

In the past, summer programs were primarily for students who failed a course or assessment. Now, the district is also inviting students who could benefit from extra support.

More than 2,600 elementary students participated last year, compared to about 1,000 in 2018.

This year, the district invited about 2,400 elementary students and 1,000 middle school students. About 1,400 elementary and 700 middle school students attended.

If they’re going to succeed next year, the students need additional support and the chance to go over content they didn’t quite grasp during the school year.

"I’ve been in CCISD for 13 years and these kids are engaged, they want to be in class, they’re excited to answer a question,” Baker Middle School summer program co-coordinator Stephanie Fling said. “You can see it. They’re not out roaming or trying to go to the bathroom.”

The district is incorporating more hands-on activities and project-based learning. To facilitate this, classrooms have two teachers. The district has also built enrichment activities into the school day, particularly at the elementary school level.

Middle school program

Most middle school students in the summer program transition between two blocks each day. One block is focused on science and math, the other on social studies and English.

Each block is taught by a co-teaching team of two educators. The blocks are longer than the typical middle school class period.

On June 20 in a humanities classroom at Baker Middle School, eighth grade students journaled. Each day, the journaling prompts incorporate a social studies lesson, one of the ways the teachers combine both subjects into each activity.

Co-teacher Laura Banda, who is a foreign language teacher during the regular year, said that the focus in the classroom is preparing students for success in high school, easing the transition.

Over the course of the summer, the eighth-grade humanities students are exploring the United Nations, culminating in a project where students arrange a dinner party. The students plan out seating arrangements for each country, supporting their plan with comparisons covering the countries’ government, economy and culture.

Just down the hall, co-teachers Cesar Guerra and Jacob Vasquez flitted around their seventh-grade STEM classroom, answering questions and giving tips as students worked in groups to design a growth chamber to study plant growth.

The prior week, the students used cardboard to explore anatomy and build a robotic hand with joints.

Looking over her group’s growth chamber, one student said that the fun activities help her learn. Active, hands-on activities help her remember the material, she said.

Sitting beside her, another student agreed, adding that it felt like the class was more interaction-based than during the typical school year.

“Later on, we’re going to expose them to different growing situations – the direction of light, humidity, temperature, whatever the kids can come up – to elicit a response from the plant,” Guerra said. “Every week they have a new challenge.”

Kia Thomas, a sixth-grade teacher at Baker Middle School, said that some of the students she’s teaching in the summer program were in her class during the school year.

“They are more engaged now than they ever were in my class,” Thomas said.

Thomas said that after teaching during the summer, next year she plans to incorporate more real-world examples into her teaching. During the summer program, the students are brainstorming problems that they think the United Nations should focus on, such as poverty, education and the environment.

Thomas said that working with the summer program kids helps her better understand which lessons students might struggle or need extra help with during the year.

Elementary school program

At the elementary level, enrichment time is built into the schedule. One day featured a dance instructor, another a martial arts activity.

One day in late June, the enrichment activity was a petting zoo. Children took turns riding ponies and visiting goats, chickens, ducks and rabbits.

Nicole Burnside is a fifth-grade teacher. Last year, she taught at Woodlawn Elementary School. She will be at Hicks.

Burnside, who’s taught summer school before, said she’s used to kids groaning about summer school. But this year, she’s seen more excitement.

“They told me, “I thought summer school wasn’t supposed to be fun,’” Burnside said.

She plans on carrying on the hands-on philosophy in the school year.

“This year in summer school has really made me open my eyes,” Burnside said.

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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: How Corpus Christi ISD aims to improve learning with summer programs