Summer Education Program Helps Students Stay Sharp-August 12, 1992

Michael usually spends his summers like any other 11-year-old boy, swimming, watching television and playing with his friends. But this summer, he’s spent the past six weeks brushing up on math and reading, and he’s happy to be doing it, too. “When I get to school next year, I’ll know everything,” he said. Michael is one of 48 children enrolled in a federally financed summer remedial education program at the Cleveland School. The goal is to review math and reading lessons the children learn during the year so they will get off to a solid academic start in the fall.

“A lot of time, they’re just vegetables in the summer,” said Evelyn Holm, a remedial education teacher at the Balch School and one of the Norwood coordinators of the summer program. “They need something to keep them alert in the summer, otherwise they lose what they learn from September to June.” Yesterday was the next to last day of school. Judging from the excitement in the classrooms as students played math games and filled in worksheets, the program was a success. “I’ll be the only one in my class who’s ready for school next year,” said Jed, 8.

The students, who range from kindergarten to fifth grade, participate during the year in the school system’s remedial education program called ASPIRE, which stands for Additional Specialized Intensive Remedial Education. ASPIRE students attend grade-level classes and receive specialized tutoring a few times a week, Holm said. Remedial education funded by the federal Chapter 1 program first came to Norwood in the mid-60s as a summer program, said assistant superintendent Rod Smith. Fifteen years ago, the program was expanded into the school year and the summer program was dropped. But this year, the school department received additional Chapter 1 funds to start up a summer program.

The government pays for all the tuition costs, as well as for transportation to the school. The program was a cross between a summer school and a summer camp. Students spent part of the three-hour day in reading and math classes, and then rotated to a different elective every day, including cooking, arts and crafts, computers, and gym. On Fridays, they went on local field trips, visiting the Norwood Post Office, Wiggins Airport, the Norwood Light Department, McDonald’s, the Cable Studio and Norwood Co-operative Bank. Today, they were to go on a hayride in Walpole to celebrate the end of class.

“We learn things in the class, and we’re learning stuff on the field trips, too,” Jed said. “I learned how to mail letters at the post office…. I also learned that there’s a big pot of grease (at McDonald’s) to cook stuff, and that’s not what you eat.” In order to be funded next year, the children have to show improvement on standardized tests they took in the spring, according to Joyce Kaseta, a program coordinator. The children whose tests Kaseta has scored have all shown significant improvement. But, Kaseta said, “We have seen gains that cannot be measured truthfully by statistics.”

For example, Amanda, 6, who participated in the program, hated getting up for school during the year. Her mother almost didn’t send her to the program, and told Amanda that if she tried it for a week and didn’t like it, she could drop out. “I was just afraid she’d be sick of getting up in the morning, and I didn’t want to push her to do it,” her mother said. “But after two days, she loved it.” The mother said the program has kept Amanda interested in school and may help her stay in mainstream classes next year. But the biggest change she noticed during the summer program is that the field trips sparked Amanda’s curiosity. “I like to see her willing to ask questions and learning,” the mother said. “It’s an inspiration to children. It’s the biggest plus of the program,”.

(Reporting by Sari Kalin for The Patriot Ledger).

Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger