Oracle Summer Academy Spells Success for Incoming Freshman

As a parent, there’s nothing worse than seeing your child struggle in school. It can be both frustrating and demoralizing when they bring home a report card full of Ds and Fs.

As educators, when we see these kinds of issues, it’s our job to intervene as quickly as possible. In past years, we’ve done so by dedicating significant resources after the start of school. However, this year, we decided to take a more proactive approach to the situation, launching Oracle’s first-ever Freshman Summer Academy.

The Academy, which was offered free of charge, was designed to help incoming freshman prepare for high school by addressing basic skill deficiencies in literacy and math – before they even set foot in their first high school class.

To identify students in need of extra help, we reviewed their past report cards and also set up meetings with students and their parents to get a better sense of where the students were in terms of their literacy and math skills. One interview in particular highlighted the need for the Academy. During it, the student confessed that, while he could read all the words, sometimes the information just didn’t get to his brain.

For many, the thought of summer school conjures up images of teenagers trapped in hot classrooms, desperate to escape. But thanks to Sheri Voss, an instructional consultant to Oracle and education professor at St. Bonaventure University, and Barbara Payne, a teacher consultant at Oracle, our first Summer Academy was anything but. With the motto of “Author Your Own Learning,” their approach could best be described as engaging and hands on.

One example of the interactive strategies they employed was the use of “text circles.” A small group of students was tasked with reading an article and each student within the group was assigned a specific role. For instance, one student was asked to look for challenging words in the text, while another student was responsible for looking for connections between the article they were reading and past articles they had read. Afterward, the group had an in-depth discussion about the article. This approach not only helped stimulate the conversation, but it also forced each student to engage in more critical thinking, as well as articulate their ideas.

For many students, vocabulary was also an issue. Through the Academy, they were taught different strategies to put to use when a word gave them pause, such as looking to the surrounding text for answers. At the end of the Academy, each student came away with a color-coded literacy “toolkit” that summarized these different strategies. Whether in the classroom or at home, they now have a valuable literacy resource available to them, right at their fingertips.

At the end of the Academy, Oracle hosted a celebration and invited parents, teachers, Board Members, and the community to attend. The students proudly showcased their work at the event, including video trailers they had created of books they read.

While students and teachers alike enjoyed participating in the Academy, we know that it’s really about results – and the results were quite encouraging. Before and after the Academy, we conducted online diagnostic testing of each student. And we’re happy to report that every student made excellent progress; one student even improved their reading proficiency by two grade levels!

Even though we were able to achieve a positive outcome, our work certainly hasn’t ended with the Academy. During the course of the school year, we will monitor each child who participated to help ensure they are staying on track. Of course, whether a student participated in the Academy or not, we will intervene immediately if we see someone struggling with their course work.

Besides helping our newest students shore up literacy and math deficiencies, the Summer Academy had an added bonus – it helped improve the confidence levels among many of its participants. In fact, one parent said her son was very nervous about starting high school, but that after the Academy, he felt ready and couldn’t wait for his first day.

For us, that’s what it’s all about.