Just like from the song “What Time Is It” from the iconic teen movie, High School Musical 2, it’s all about summer time. Okay, well maybe it’s not all about summer time, but when it comes to matters of the achievement gap, summer is a crucial time for helping to improve or providing a detriment to the achievement gap. Positively, it seems like Richmond, California has this figured out.
In an article from The Richmond Standard titled, “Free Richmond summer camp helping to close the achievement gap,” some of the nuances of how Richmond is helping matters of the achievement gap through their free summer camp, Camp Achieve, are detailed. Camp Achieve was founded in 2013 as a way to mitigate the loss of learning that comes with summer vacation. It is offered to students between the ages of six and twelve, and it serves more than 300 students each year from some of the lowest-income neighborhoods in Richmond.
Summer vacation is particularly important for low-income students, as they are the ones who typically fall behind in learning during these months, while higher-income students enrich their skills and learning over these months. According to the National Summer Learning Association website, two months of math skills are lost every summer, while low-income students lose an additional two to three months in reading skills. Additionally, the loss of learning during the summer months during elementary school is accountable for two-thirds of the achievement gap in reading between low-income and middle-income students by the time they’re in ninth grade. This is astounding, and it should be looked upon with more urgency in terms of helping to alleviate the achievement gap.
Camp Achieve in Richmond has been doing a great job with helping to close the achievement gap, as it was reported in the article that K-3 students showed a grade-equivalent increase from 2.98 to 3.17 between Spring 2018 and Fall 2018, and older students showed no drop in learning during the summer of 2018. Also, in 2017, those who participated in the camp showed increases in their reading scores by 4 months, compared to the traditional 2-3 month loss of learning that tends to happen over the summer.
Now, while it would obviously be fantastic for free summer camps for low-income students to be possible everywhere, it’s understandable that money and funding for such camps is a concern. However, if Richmond figured out a way to do it, it certainly may be possible for more and more cities to be able to work something out. For Camp Achieve, Richmond provides around $50,000 annually to fund the camp, as well as more funding coming from the Ed Fund and the West Contra Costa Unified School District.
Perhaps what Camp Achieve does so well is that it provides enriching programs during the summer, centered on academics, literacy, physical activity and field trips. According to Troy Porter, Richmond Recreation Coordinator, having this enriching structure is essential to helping close the achievement gap. Needless to say, more and more cities should be taking a page out of Richmond’s book if society is truly committed to helping close the gap, as the stats back up the claims that summer is essential.
So, hold on to those papers kids, summer time may have a new meaning going forward.
Post by: Jacqueline Albanese