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How about a Report on the Third Grade Academy? O.K., if you insist.

Let me start by asking a provocative question: Why would anyone want to go to summer school? Have you ever known anyone who wanted to go to summer school? We’re not talking summer camp; we’re talking an all-day, five-days-a-week, concentrated book-learning school. That’s what the Third Grade Academy is, and we have almost 100 kids show up – every day for four weeks. Why?

Since you ask, I’ll try to explain why.

There are two parts to the answer – one at the beginning and one now. Come to think of it, there are three parts. A friend just today (honestly) asked, “Do the kids say they want to go to the Academy?” No. The answer is the parents, almost always the mother, and almost always when she talks to her child’s third grade teacher – who tells her that her son or daughter is falling behind in reading and should be in this summer school or the child will have trouble from now on. Simple as that. And that’s how it all gets started. If it didn’t happen there, we wouldn’t have an Academy.

Step two happens in the week preceding the first day of the Academy. As a condition of employment, we require each teacher to visit the homes of the ten members of her class. We’ve never had a teacher object to this requirement. Why do they do that? Two things: One is obvious – explaining instructions regarding attending the academy. The second purpose is less obvious. When the teacher appears at the door, the mother knows she has a personal interest in her child. Unfortunately, many of these mothers have a less-than-positive relationship with schools. Many of them were dropouts themselves. But before the teacher leaves, mother knows that she cares about her child. She will be sure that Johnny or Susie – who probably would rather sleep-in every morning – is up and out waiting for the bus.

The third step is what we call our “Good Shepherds.” When we started, the teachers all said they’d be glad to make the visits, but they qualified that slightly with, “You know, there are some homes I’m not sure I want to visit alone.” So we created what you might call a Men’s Auxiliary. Each one of these mostly-retired men is assigned to one class, and if the teacher wants an escort, he is there with her. Later, we found an additional job for the Good Shepherds, a job that might be called (but we don’t) truant officers. For all days the Academy is in session, they are on-call, and if any child is missing from class that day, they call the home immediately or make a personal visit. If necessary, they call or visit the parent at work to find out where the kid is. Usually, the kid overslept or stayed overnight with a friend. In any case, the parent is alerted, and usually, the no-show appears later or the next day.

Why is attendance so important? Well, generally speaking, as teachers always say, “If they aren’t in school, we can’t teach them.” This is especially true for the Academy. We have them for only 20 days and every day is critical.

Does it work? Yes, but don’t take my word for it. Attendance records for all three summers the Academy has been conducted, show an attendance rate over 90 per cent, including this summer. With no intention of making invidious comparisons, you should know that summer school attendance rates usually run from 50 to 70%.

Just one more comment on attendance. You might think that these nine-year-olds whose mothers have insisted they attend summer school would show resentment like a gang of galley slaves. They do not. Just watch them get off the bus (as Rick Ahaus and I do every morning). The first few days, they may be a little uncertain, but after that, they invariably jump down from the bus smiling, looking for their friends, join them as they go to breakfast together and then to class, chattering all the way. Watching those kids get off the busses every morning is all the reward we adults want or need.

–Vic Jose

Vic Jose :: Jul.10.2010 :: Uncategorized ::

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