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Summer: More of the same or an opportunity for addressing equity in education

CURRICULUM AND PEDAGOGY CONFERENCE 2020

DR. AMY SHEMA AND GRACE KELLY, SUNY BROCKPORT

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Introductions

DR. AMY SHEMA

alshema@brockport.edu

GRACE KELLY

gkelly@brockport.edu

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Problematizing “Summer Slide”

Does not recognize systemic inequities within educations and the “root” of the problem

Disproportionately impacts Black and brown students, students with disabilities, students from low socio-economic backgrounds, and ESOL students

Deficit-based thinking

Summer learning is framed differently based on target audience

Summer Slide is a term used to often describe learning loss students experience over the summer months when they are out of school. However, the “summer slide” fails to recognize systemic inequities within education. This term disproportionately impacts Black and brown students, students with disabilities, students from low-socio economic backgrounds, and ESOL students. This coded language is frequently used by both school districts and summer programs to justify their summer programming and validate the alleged “achievement gap” among students. This is deficit-based thinking, that completely ignores inequities within schools.

Many well known summer programs use summer slide and the increasing achievement gap between kindergarten and third grade comparing urban and suburban peers as their rationale for programming. This comparison – many areas have a “reading by third grade initiative”

This research dates back to the 1980’s and is still prevalent in school districts and summer learning programs.

Summer programming often uses coded language – “at risk youth” to validate the program’s existence and need in the community

not proven to close the “achievement gap” (Terada, 2019).

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Local Context

County does not use a county-wide school district
Area resources are not shared
City School District

Serves roughly 30,00 students
Property Taxes $3,778/child in the 2018-19 school year

Suburb of Pittsford

Serves roughly 5,700 students
Property Taxes $17,429/child for the 2018-19 school year

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Budget Crisis

Fall 2019 – Budget Shortfall of 30+ million

Cut:

18 administrators
168 teachers
38 paraprofessionals
63 civil service hourly employees

All contracted services cut (Includes after-school and summer programming)

Spring 2020

Closed 5 school buildings
Released budget plans that significantly cut:

Social workers, Special Education Programs, Teacher Positions and Art Education �

Fall 2020

State budget cut of 20% would cut 21% of city school district’s overall budget
Potential for more than 300 teaching positions to be cut in the upcoming year

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District Revenue

Figure 1: The Children’s Agenda 2020 Report

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District Revenue

Figure 1: The Children’s Agenda 2020 Report

8.8%

15%

3.4%

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Aid Reduction Per Pupil

Figure 2: The Children’s Agenda 2020 Report

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Taxonomy of Different Kinds of Summer Programs

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Problematizing “Summer Slide”

Does not recognize systemic inequities within educations and the “root” of the problem

Disproportionately impacts Black and brown students, students with disabilities, students from low socio-economic backgrounds, and ESOL students

Deficit-based thinking

Summer learning is framed differently based on target audience

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Challenges Faced Summer of 2020

City School District Budget

Contracted Services + Transportation Cut

COVID-19

No in-person programming
Unemployment
Safe access to food

Local Funders and Supporters

Crisis Relief
Summer program funding cut

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Summer Learning Collaborative �Context and Rationale

Limited

Funding

Resources

COVID-19

Crisis

Family�Needs

Assessment

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Summer Learning Collaborative

Created to meet the needs outlined in the family assessments
Six week program
Weekly deliveries including necessary supplies and meals
Daily Zoom meetings for one hour
Weekly enrichment sessions (Art, Music and Health/Wellness)
Technology support provided

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Collective

Reach

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Collective

Impact

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Thank you!

Questions and Comments?

Dr. Amy Shema

alshema@brockport.edu

Grace Kelly

gkelly@brockport.edu