Extend, Enrich, and Empower: Closing the Achievement Gap in Science through Summer Learning Opportunities

By Samantha Messier, Ph. D., Director of Science, Boulder Valley School District, Boulder, Colorado

How can a summer-learning experience for elementary students be structured to minimize summer-learning loss and maximize student achievement across contents? In 2010, the Boulder Valley School District in Colorado offered a six-week Summer Science Camp for approximately 1,000 students, all of whom were either English-language learners and/or students with disabilities. Hands-on, inquiry-based FOSS modules and science-notebook strategies served as the core instructional framework for extending the learning opportunities beyond the traditional school year, providing enrichment in science and empowering students as learners.

Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) in Colorado has 29,349 students in grades K–12 and spans an area of over 500 square miles. English-language learners are 8.5% of our student population, and 9.3% of our students have individualized educational plans (IEPs). Students receiving meal assistance are 18.4% of our student population.

BVSD has a large and persistent achievement gap between students overall and students in a variety of sub-groups (Latinos, English-language learners, students receiving meal assistance, and students receiving special education services, see Figure 1). Our district is not unique in this phenomenon. At the national level, the gap between average performance on the fourth-grade science portion of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) shows the gap between students eligible for meal assistance versus students who are not eligible to be relatively stable from 1996 to 2005, while the gap between Hispanic and white students has narrowed only slightly (National Center for Education Statistics, 2005).

Figure 1. Student performance on the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) for science. The data represent weighted indices** for Boulder Valley School District students in grades 5, 8, and 10.

While the factors contributing to this pattern are complex and intertwined with larger societal issues of oppression based on race and class, there is one factor with significant empirical support to suggest a role in contributing to the achievement gap. That factor is summer-learning loss—the decline in students’ knowledge or skills over summer break, as measured by standardized assessments administered in the spring of one school year and the fall of the next school year. Numerous studies indicate that summer-learning loss is greater for students from low-income families than for students from middle- and upper-income families (Cooper et al., 1996).

That English-language learners would be especially vulnerable to summer-learning loss due to limited opportunity to practice reading, writing, speaking, and listening in English is a reasonable hypothesis, but there is little research evidence to support it at this point. Nevertheless, the development of oral and written English-language skills is critical to students’ ability to access content in science, as well as social studies and mathematics (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2004). Of particular importance is the development of academic styles of language that differ from everyday conversational dialects (Gee, 2008). Practice in the use of academic language in the context of learning science should result in both faster acquisition of academic English-language skills and development of proficiency in the domain of science.

The BVSD model for Summer Science Camp was designed explicitly to improve oral and written English-language skills in order to mitigate summer learning loss and reduce the achievement gaps in science, mathematics, and literacy. Development of this model would not have been possible without strong collaboration across the departments of Language Culture and Equity, Special Education, and Curriculum Assessment and Instruction. Our theory of action was based on three key principles:

• Hands-on Science and Literacy Integration The most effective model for science instruction combines the use of hands-on, inquiry-based lessons that are thoughtfully sequenced and supported with a scaffolded approach to writing, discussion, data organization, and vocabulary development.
• Enrichment, not Remediation Children are natural scientists and bring diverse assets to scientific inquiry. Extended learning opportunities should provide rich, challenging, engaging environments in which students can investigate relevant problems and build academic skills such as writing, reading, and mathematical skills in a scientific context.
• Inclusion Inclusive learning environments in which students with differing academic challenges engage in the same learning activities with varying levels of support are beneficial to all students. In particular, having both English-language learners and students with significant disabilities learning science together in the classroom should have positive outcomes for both groups.

Students in the Summer Science Camp were very proud of their science notebooks.

Our Summer Science Camp spanned six weeks from the beginning of June through the middle of July. The students attended Monday through Thursday of each week from 8:30–11:30 a.m. Students in grades K–7 for the 2009–10 school year were invited to attend the 2010 Summer Science Camp if they were non-English proficient (NEP) or limited English proficient (LEP) on the Colorado English Language Assessment (CELA), or if they qualified for Extended School Year (ESY) services. Students qualifying for ESY typically had an IEP and had demonstrated significant regression over extended breaks from school in the past. Overall, 986 English-language learners and 151 ESY students attended. Fifteen students, all at the same grade level, were assigned to each class with a lead teacher, as well as one or more para-educators to support students with significant needs.

We provided a pacing guide and detailed lesson plans for teachers that specified the learning objectives aligned to our district and state standards as well as learning activities from FOSS, including use of the FOSS Science Stories and Math Extensions from the FOSS Teacher Guide. We also provided prompts for the teacher to facilitate the classroom discussions, especially the discussion in which the teacher led a whole group analysis of patterns in the data that led to claims and evidence (see Figure 2). Teachers also received a packet of printed vocabulary words in both English and Spanish along with color images representing the words. The teachers used these to construct bilingual word walls. All teachers attended a one-day professional development session, which introduced the instructional model.

Figure 2. Sample excerpt from detailed lesson plan

Parent, teacher, and student feedback on the 2010 Summer Science Camp was very positive. ESL/ESY Summer School has traditionally focused on mostly math and literacy remediation with a minimal focus on science using FOSS kits. This year, the recruiting materials for summer school emphasized the focus on science, and enrollment increased by 23%. Students completed surveys (in both English and Spanish) at the end of summer camp. Of the 918 students who completed a survey, 95% of students either “loved” or “liked” studying science in summer school; 95% of students also reported that they “loved” or “liked” coming to summer school. Among the things that students wrote they liked the most were “learning new things” and “not being bored.” Parents were not formally surveyed, but the few calls made to the program staff expressed a high degree of satisfaction, including, “This is the best summer school ever.”

Teachers reported that students were more engaged than in previous years and that they were surprised by the degree of ownership and pride that students took in their science notebooks. Many teachers expressed their intent to continue the work with science notebooks during the regular school year. Although a few teachers expressed concern about the inclusion of the ESY students with the English-language learners before the start of Summer Science Camp, comments were overwhelmingly positive after the program got underway. For students who are often on the receiving end of “help,” having the opportunity to act as helpers to other children was empowering.

Students review vocabulary on the word wall.

Plans are currently underway for 2011 Summer Science Camp, which will include additional FOSS modules: Air and Weather at second grade and Water at fourth grade. A goal for this year’s program is to include more nonfiction reading linked to the science content and to collect data that will facilitate a more rigorous measure of the program’s success.

The author wishes to thank the following people, without whom 2010 Summer Science Camp would not have been possible: Karen Carr, BVSD Director of ESL Summer School; Karen Daly, BVSD Executive Director for Student Success; Catalina Martis, BVSD Director of Language Culture and Equity; Dr. Ellen Miller-Brown, BVSD Chief Academic Officer; Mim Campos, BVSD Assistant Director for Family Engagement; Francis Schneeweiss, BVSD Assistant Director of Language Culture and Equity; Kim Bane, BVSD Director of Special Education; Angel Stobaugh, BVSD Director of Literacy; Bryce Winton Brown, Growe Foundation; plus all of the amazing summer school site administrators, teachers, and paraprofessionals.

Samantha Messier, Ph.D.
Director of Science
Boulder Valley School District
e-mail: samantha.messier@bvds.org
phone: 720.561.5198

References

Cooper, H., et al. 1996. “The effects of summer vacation on achievement test scores: A narrative and meta-analytic review.” Review of Educational Research, 66:227-268.

Echevarria, J., M. Vogt, and D. J. Short. 2004. Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP® Model. Pearson Allyn and Bacon.

Gee, J. P. 2008. “What is Academic literacy?” In Teaching Science to English Language Learners: Building on Students’ Strengths, eds. A. Rosebery and B. Warren, 57-70. NSTA Press.

National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). 2005. 1996, 2000, and 2005 Science Assessments.