kellifer | Summer school

Summer school

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)?

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Summer school really varies depending on the school district. I know some only the basic classes ies: math, english, social studies, to students who failed them. However some school disctricts also offfer "fun" classes ie: pottery, art, science (field trips) but those you usually have to pay for. So you can really just make it fit your needs for the fic.

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.

Very much. Thankyou for taking the time to respond... :)

People go to summer school for a couple different reasons. If they've failed a class and need to repeat it, they can do it in summer school, in order to not fall behind a year. It can also be for a special class that is specifically offered during the summer (the only summer school I ever did was a computer class in which we learned Basic). It could also be for an advance prep or enrichment program class.

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.

Thankyou so much!

My son's school allows you to take some classes in the summer to make room for more advanced classes in their senior year. Those typically run all day for a couple of weeks. There are several sessions throughout the summer

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

Certainly does. Much appreciated!

I will also add that they also do offer summer school in an online form. My daughter had failed a class last year. So she could continue as normal her last year they signed her up for an online class for the summer. She basically logged onto the school website, read the book, and after every chapter there was a quiz to take with the "final" at the end. There was an online teacher who kiddo would then email all her answers to. It was quite handy.

Oh neat... I'll definitely keep that in mind.

4) My district has just one "summer school" for all the schools in the district. I think they bus the kids from all parts of the city.

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.

Thanks! Do they run the usual school buses or is it more private companies doing it during the summer?

Not really sure what kind of buses they use. They would be either regular school buses or public buses, not a private entity, though.

When SS runs depends on the district. I believe here, the kids get out of school mid-June and then SS starts after 4th of July and runs the rest of the month, maybe even into the first part of August. (School starts the end of August, just before Labor Day, since they now give the children the whole week of Thanksgiving off in November.) I believe it's a morning thing. (The middle school near my apartment even has free breakfast in the morning.)

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.

Thankyou!

It all depends. In my hometown, one of the most popular summer school classes was trig. This was because trig was the only math class that was a semester rather than a whole year. Instead of taking trig during the school year and having the second semester go to a free or fun class, you took trig in the summer were able to fill up your school year with other math classes, usually meaning you had room for calculus your senior year. That was if you weren't advanced enough to take the advanced Trig/Algebra 2 combo class that finished three semesters worth of work in 2. Welcome to PhDville.

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.

Thankyou for taking the time to answer... :) This is really helpful.

One of my sisters took physical ed over the summer freshman year so that she didn't have to take the sophomore PE class, the last year you have to take it at my high school. Another sister took math for summer because of failing and she was able to do much better because of being able to concentrate without worrying about other subjects. And my third sister and I took driver's education, road and range. For all of these classes we all had to pay for them over $300. Though we stayed in the district our classes were at a different high school from the one we went to. Another note is that sometimes these schools wouldn't bother much with air conditioning, and it's harder to get a good teacher willing to waste their summer vacation teaching. Good luck.

Do you want to place the school in a specific region? Because weather and regional culture affect how summer school is timed.

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.

All school districts are set up different but here in my part of New Jersey, we have summer school from the first week of July to the first week of August. There are morning classes and afternoon classes, both about two hours long, 10:30 to 11:30 and 12:00 to 2:00 Monday to Thursday. All standard classes are available for whatever classes that the student needs to make up, and whatever other classes that are needed can be set up as the students request. All students have to pay 100 dollars per class needed, and have to arrange their own transportation. All summer school classes meet at the local high school. If a student wants to join a program offered as college prep, that is available and charged a separate fee. If the student misses between 7 and 35 days of school they have to attend summer school make up before they can advance to the next grade. it is usually held the last week of June until the first week of August. in the high school cafeteria, at a charge of 35 dollars for every day that is needed to make up, from 10:00 to 2:00 Monday to Friday, and they have to bring in reading material or some other quiet activity to keep themselves occupied or the teachers can hand out some worksheets. Anything over 35 days missed is automatic retention. hope that helps you out in some little way.

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summer school