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So, any and all assistance appreciated from my US counterparts... I have some specific questions about Summer School for a story that's been rolling around in my head for a little while. Since I'm is Aus and we don't really have it here... there's some things I don't know...
1. When does it run? Is it a specific time or is it up to the region/school (both the months and the hours - is it a 9-3 thing?).
2. Do you go for one subject/multiple/only the ones you need to make up (and on that...)
3. Is it likely to go if you've missed enough school through the year that you would fail otherwise?
4. Can you go to any summer school (not just the one run by the school you've just attended)?
1. When does it run? Is it a specific time or is it up to the region/school (both the months and the hours - is it a 9-3 thing?).
2. Do you go for one subject/multiple/only the ones you need to make up (and on that...)
3. Is it likely to go if you've missed enough school through the year that you would fail otherwise?
4. Can you go to any summer school (not just the one run by the school you've just attended)?
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The hours usually are for about 2 hours a day per class & they usually start one week after school gets out & last 6-8 weeks.
Hope this helps.
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The hours that you attend would certainly differ by district and also by what you were doing (my computer class was a couple of hours a day for one week). The sense that I have is that you'd spend a couple of hours a day for each class that you were taking, so if you were only doing one class it might just be mornings or afternoons, rather than the whole day.
There are programs that are run through schools other than the one the child is attending but those are mostly enrichment programs. Anything remedial would almost certainly be conducted by the school district the child attends, although he/she might have to go to a different building than usual.
Hope that helps some.
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Attendance is mandatory in most districts and they will make you go to summer school or repeat a class if you miss too many days.
Schools are very particular about where you live and it is almost impossible to go to a school in another district. I have only heard about special needs children being sent to different programs in other districts if their current school can not support an appropriate program.
Hope this helps
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There are probably other alternatives (e.g., you could make arrangements to take correspondence classes or classes at a local community college), but generally speaking the kids attending summer school aren't the most motivated kids, which is why they're in summer school, and most parents aren't even aware that they have options when it comes to their kids' education beyond the generic "public or private".
Oh, and some districts may offer home-bound education through cyber charters or visiting teachers.
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SS can be for those who need to make up a class, those who just struggle to stay up with the other kids/would "lose" a lot over summer and/or an advanced/prep class. (For Hollywood's take, see the movie "Stand and Deliver" for one where they prepped for AP Calculus over summer, and Summer School with Mark Harmon where they were flunkies.)
I believe whether it focuses on one topic or general ed depends on the students' ages. Probably in highschool, they would be subject specific, whereas in grade school it would probably focus only on the 3 Rs - reading, writing and 'rithmetic.
My co-worker said her son's first grade teacher recommended summer school for all her students, so they wouldn't lose too much over summer. My co-worker opted for a private program, so as not to take the spot of a child who really needed remedial help. There are many private study-help programs like Score! which help students both in summer and even during the school year on an after-school basis.
This "losing" of skills and information is part of the reason for going to year-round school, where there are more frequent breaks for shorter periods of time. Under this system, there's not time for "summer school", I don't think.
One question that popped up in a comment was about busing. In our area, buses are by a contracted private company; the schools do NOT run the buses.
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Usually summer programs are offered on an as needed basis. For example, offerings would be based on how many kids failed the class or expected enrollment (trig always had enough people to justify giving it). If enough people sign up, it would actually be held. However, if not enough people signed up, you were either out of luck or found another place to get the necessary class in.
If the kid missed enough classes in the semester, he would fail the class. Summer classes can be taken so that you can get credit and a decent grade, but the fail already exists and is not removable unless you can offer a good enough reason that you failed to attend. I had a severe depression my senior year and my grades were held until I was able to finish the work.
It would be hard to make up an entire semester during summer school. A) Not all the classes failed will be offered. B) Classes offered are likely to be at similar times or overlap. C) Summer classes are fast. It's sixteen weeks of work in 6-8 weeks. It would be hard to do that for 7 classes (that was the typical semester load in my school, depending on the school, you take them all in one day or in alternating days), especially for someone who is already having attendance problems. D) It's important to keep in mind that children and parents are not going to school in a vacuum. Children have advisers, school counselors, teachers, and the principal. If a student was having that hard a time in school, missed that much, all these people would get together in a meeting with the kid and his parents to discuss how best to handle it. I doubt they would recommend talking the entire semester in summer school. In fact, they'd probably discourage it. The assumption would be that he can't handle the normal school load and summer school would be even more intense. A couple of summer courses and repeating the semester with a lighter load would be my guess.
A big problem is which semester he missed. Odds are this high school doesn't offer the second half of the semester in the fall, so he won't be able to take them until the spring. If he missed the first half, he probably wouldn't be able to handle the second half and then he's failed the entire year. However, depending on the teachers and the student, other options may be available. I missed a lot of the second semester of my senior year. Instead of failing me or making me retake the classes, I was allowed to do a lot of the work outside of school, and turn that in to pass.
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My area (far from where any of the Stargate characters seems to come from) has everything neatly spelled out: here.
If you pick an area, I might be able to find a school district with a similarly specific document.
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