Here are the top 10 reasons students choose online summer credit recovery:

#1 Flexibility — Students can still enjoy the summer with friends and hold a job, all while recovering the credits they need.

Taken over the summer, face-to-face classes can pose logistical challenges for students who need to recover credits by interfering with their ability to keep a part-time job, go on the family trip, or even hang out with friends.

One of the benefits of online courses is that they are typically asynchronous, meaning students and teachers work online at different times of the day. That means that students can still enjoy their normal day-to-day activities while making time to complete their credit recovery class at their own pace.

#2 Portability — Students can work anywhere with an internet connection.

With online summer courses, students can work anywhere they have an internet connection.  Vacationing in Florida? They can take an Algebra quiz from their hotel room. At their family’s cottage? Students can break their learning into manageable chunks to get ahead on a couple of assignments or email teachers to ask a question. The portable nature of online courses makes it an ideal option for summer learning.

#3 Expediency — Taking a summer course helps students graduate on time

If you have students who failed courses required for graduation this year,  online learning can provide them with a second chance at success. Taking an online course over the summer can keep students on pace to graduate with their classmates.

#4 Value — Online summer courses can be more cost-effective than face-to-face alternatives

Online summer programs can help schools stay on budget while still providing students with a wide array of summer learning options.

While we do recommend that schools provide a local mentor and optional lab space for students to come work during the summer, online courses can still be more cost-effective than face-to-face models when all costs are accounted for.

#5 Immediacy — Guess what? There’s no commute!

Many students agree — It’s pretty wonderful to be able to complete classes from your living room while hanging out in your pajamas! There’s no getting up early (unless you want to!) and no drive to campus to complete your coursework.

#6 Accessibility — Students have all their materials at their fingertips.

We’ve all been there.  You go to class, get an assignment, and then when you get home, you forget what the teacher said to do! With online courses, students have all the notes, lessons, and materials right at their fingertips to review whenever they need them.

#7 Comparability — With a highly qualified instructor present, online courses are comparable to having a 1:1 experience between student and teacher

For students who need more one-on-one support in order to succeed, online learning can be a great option. Because the course content is available for students to access 24/7, instructors are able to focus on providing student’s individualized feedback, making their learning experience completely personalized. Students work at their own pace and receive feedback on areas relevant to their individual areas of growth.

#8 Formative — Students will practice their self-discipline skills.

To be successful in online courses, students need to complete their online lessons and assignments by the end of the semester while balancing any other responsibilities they might have. Success in this format requires self-discipline and time management skills. By taking online courses, students can practice the independent learning skills they need to excel in college or the workplace.

#9 Immersive — Students will improve their technical skills.

Do your students know how to communicate professionally with classmates or teachers? Do they know how to create documents or presentations that can express your skills and knowledge? Online classes help students with these practical workplace skills and many more that will benefit them several times over as they progress through schooling and into the workplace.

#10 Engaging — By keeping students’ minds active over the summer, online courses help prevent summer brain drain!

On average, it is predicted that students lose about one month’s worth of learning over the summer. In math and reading, these predictions are even more drastic, with an estimated two months of learning loss in some studies.

In addition to helping students get ahead and meet their scheduling needs, enrolling in online summer courses can help them keep their minds active, so as to mitigate the effects of the dreaded summer brain drain. Not only will they learn new content over the summer, but they may also come back to school having forgotten less of last year’s content than their peers.

The caveat: Not all online courses are created equal.

Offering your students online credit recovery courses over the summer is a great way to provide them with flexible paths to graduation. That being said, we also find it important to clarify that not all online courses are created equal.

Online learners need to be supported in order to succeed.

That’s why we work so hard to hire only highly qualified, Michigan-certified instructors to teach our online courses.

That’s why we encourage schools who partner with us during the summer to open up lab space for students to work if they need additional support from a trained mentor.

That’s why we allow our credit recovery students to move past content they have already mastered and focus their attention and energy on concepts they are actively struggling with.

The moral of the story

Before you select an online learning provider, make sure your students are getting a high-quality and supportive learning experience. Your credit recovery students will thank you for it later when they’re strutting across a stage wearing their cap and gown.

In math and reading, these predictions are even more drastic, with an estimated two months of learning loss in some studies.

This atrophy wastes valuable time in school at the beginning of the next Fall when students have to relearn much of what was lost over the summer. Some estimates suggest that teachers spend up to six weeks each Fall re-teaching old material.

The worst part? Research shows that the summer slide has its greatest impact on students of low socioeconomic status, whose parents are not able to provide the same summer learning opportunities as wealthier parents — from summer camps to educational trips to museums, zoos, etc. to books and other school supplies.

In fact, some even claim that summer learning explains up to two-thirds of the income-based achievement gap.

Together, these statistics ought to inspire us to act.

When it comes to summer learning, most school administrators would love to provide families in their districts with options. But they often have logistical questions, such as:

• What types of summer learning programs should I offer?
• What type of students typically take summer courses?
• What indicators of success should I look for?
• What kind of support systems should I implement?
• What are common challenges that schools face when setting up summer learning programs?
• Who pays for summer learning programs?
• How do I inform students and parents about their options?
• What advice can you offer me?

This guide was created with advice given in a recent webinar by educational leaders from two Michigan school districts — Northville Public Schools and Brighton Area Schools — on how they’ve found success with summer learning.

If you’re interested in setting up an online summer learning program specifically, we also encourage you to check out our step-by-step guide on this subject.

What types of summer learning programs should I offer?

For many, “summer school” brings to mind a slew of preconceived notions and misconceptions. In popular media, for example, summer school is often presented in a punitive light, something students are forced to complete as a form of remedial education.

But in reality — at least in the way many of our partner schools implement summer learning programs — this couldn’t be further from the truth. The umbrella concept of summer learning has evolved far beyond credit recovery and has come to include everything from:

• Traditional face-to-face classes taken over the summer
• Online summer courses
• Kindergarten readiness programs
• Events at the local community center or library
• Practice workbooks
• Reading challenges
• Apps and video games with educational content

Part of the beauty in summer learning lies in its flexibility. You can pick and choose the options you’re able to offer that fit your staffing capacity, budget, and the needs of your students at different grade levels.

Take Northville Public Schools as an example.

Over the past several years, they’ve taken great strides to grow the quantity and quality of summer learning options they offer to local students. A few of the options they offer include:

• A face-to-face kindergarten readiness program
  Designed to help students transition into kindergarten the following year
• 4 face-to-face courses in civics, economics, honors geometry, and PE/Health
  Typically with 25-30 enrollments each
• Online courses through Michigan Virtual
  With over 1,000 enrollments from both Northville students and interested students from surrounding districts

Trust your own expertise

When it comes to your district, you know what’s best for your students. While popular subjects may have enough demand to justify a face-to-face summer section, the strict scheduling of this model can be difficult for some families’ summer schedules, particularly if their students have travel plans, extracurricular camps, or will be working over the summer.

On the other hand, some students may be too young or simply not ready for the kind of self-directed learning that the online environment necessitates and benefit from having onsite options.

“I think that face-to-face is really important for some students who just might not be ready for online,” says Dr. Sandra Brock, director of instructional programs and services at Northville.  “That being said, we have a variety of different families here. The online model really allows them to travel during the summer and be flexible and self-paced. For students who are recovering credits and students who are really trying to accelerate.”

What type of students typically take summer courses?

Historically, summer learning has been associated with credit recovery. This makes sense since students who fail courses during the academic school year need to make them up, and summer break provides them with ample opportunity to do so.

But as research and awareness on the “summer slide” grows, many have begun thinking about summer break differently, reimagining it as an opportunity for flexible and continued growth rather than a vacation from learning itself.

Increasingly, we have found students participating in summer learning as a means of credit acceleration rather than credit recovery. In our webinar, both Northville and Brighton express witnessing a massive growth in the number of students taking online summer courses for credit acceleration.

“We’re seeing more of our advanced students taking summer courses, and we’ve had an increase in early graduates who are getting into college earlier. We’ve gotten to the point where the right kids are taking the right courses,” says Henry Vecchioni, principal of Brighton High School.

“The number one reason for students to take credit ahead,” he explains, “has always been to open up more room in their schedules and create flexibility, since there are so many requirements now. It really has allowed them to take the courses that they want at the next level.”

Keep reading to learn more in, “7 reasons why your high-achieving students deserve online summer learning options.”

What indicators of success should I look for?

Student success rates for summer learning vary based on students’ unique motivations for enrollment.

When interviewed for our webinar, representatives from both Northville and Brighton both consistently have found high pass rates — between  90-95 percent pass — among students who take online courses for credit acceleration.

This number, however, is typically more variable among credit recovery populations, due to the complexities of each student’s unique situation.

That being said, both schools emphasized another important variable of success:

Growth.

“The best PR for this is the students themselves,” says Vecchioni. “If the kids are coming back, you’re doing something right.”

What kind of support systems should I implement?

Under the traditional summer school model, students return to their classrooms and are instructed by a teacher in a manner that’s familiar to them.

When it comes to online learning, however, this support system looks a little bit different.

When reflecting upon their high student success rates for online learners, both Dr. Brock and Vecchioni were clear to signify how crucial it has been to have dedicated mentors supporting their online summer learners.

Though we can’t speak for all online learning providers, our courses at Michigan Virtual include a highly qualified, Michigan-certified teacher who is an expert in their subject matter. Because of this, the work of content instruction, providing feedback, and grading student work does not fall squarely on the mentor’s shoulders.

Rather, the mentor provides a unique, but critical support for the online learner by serving as:

• A steward of the student’s progress
• A caring liaison between student, teacher, and parent, and
• A face-to-face connection, if needed

“The way that we implement our program,” explains Dr. Brock, “the kids have an onsite Northville high school teacher — we call them teacher-mentors — who are available all summer at one of our schools in the computer lab. Therefore, they have a highly qualified online teacher AND a Northville High School teacher who is supporting them if they need it. I think this definitely helps with our success rates.”

We were fortunate to have Lynette Daig — who is a certified math teacher at Brighton High School and the recipient of our 2016 Mentor of the Year award —  join us for our webinar.

When it comes to best practices for supporting online learners over the summer, she says:

“I try to start off the summer with a good, strong start. I give students a very detailed email outline and informational flyer about everything they need to know for the summer. I check their scores and results, and if I see that kids are struggling, I’ll send them screenshots and say, ‘This is the area you need to work on.’”

“You have to keep a close eye on the students,” she says, “to monitor them and keep them and their parents posted about where they are and what they need to do to reach their final goal.”

The truth is that — for online learners — a diligent mentor can have a big impact on student success.

“Sometimes, online communication sans a face-to-face conversation can be challenging” says Dr. Brock. “Our mentors are really good at communicating with students, but now we’ve been CC-ing the parents, just so everyone’s on the same page.”

For both schools, dedicating the time and resources necessary to implement these supports has been reflected in their high student success rates.

Check out our free guides to online learning to learn more about research-based, best practices for supporting online learners. If you find these resources helpful, considering linking them out to students, parents, mentors, and staff at your school.

What are common challenges that schools face when setting up summer learning programs?

When it comes to traditional, face-to-face programming, both Northville and Brighton express that it’s difficult for many students to work class times into their busy schedules.

“We have too many students who cannot follow a traditional schedule,” says Vecchioni, “which is why we have been really embracing the online model.”

With online learning, a different set of challenges arise.

For some students, the temptation to procrastinate is strong.

At Northville, — where students are required to come take their final exam proctored by a mentor — school computer labs become busy spaces in August, right before the school year starts.

This is another reason that mentors play such an important role in keeping students on track throughout the summer, so they are not rushing to complete at the end of the term.

Another challenge:

“Academic honesty can be an issue, and we do have to follow our Board Policy,” says Dr. Brock. “We’re very clear about our expectations up front. . . But we also have students come to the school and take their final onsite, which helps with that academic integrity and honesty piece.”

In our online courses, we take academic honesty very seriously, and our Michigan-certified online teachers are trained to use tools which detect plagiarism to help mitigate any potential issues as well. The online teacher, mentor, student, and parent work as a team to make sure every student is supported and thriving.

Despite the challenges, however, both schools are clear in echoing that the pros outweigh the cons.

At the end of the summer, it’s worth it to have students who are able to make room in their schedule for AP courses or dual enrollment, recover credits, and move forward toward their goals.

Students and parents in their districts express immense gratitude for having these opportunities.

Who pays for summer learning programs?

Though pay models for summer learning vary from district to district, both Northville and Brighton structure their programs so that parents are responsible for course costs.

This cost is critical for providing the support systems that students need to succeed. For both of these programs, the cost of courses is used to pay mentors a stipend and keep a lab space open during the summer.

To ensure equitable access, however, both Northville and Brighton offer scholarship programs for students whose families cannot afford the cost of summer learning.

“We have a process to support every student who asks for financial assistance,” says Dr. Brock. “We try to make sure everyone has access to summer programming that wants it.”

How do you inform students and parents about their options?

“Upfront communication with parents is really pivotal to our program.” says Dr. Brock from Northville. “Having everything posted — especially online since we’re in such a digital era — saves us from a lot of email and parent phone calls. We really try to have everything — including the pamphlet, the FAQs, the contact info — all in one spot. I probably copy-and-paste that link 300 times between now and June 16th.”

Every year, Northville Public Schools updates a few different key communications for parents and students:

• Parent Meeting — An annual meeting where parents are invited to ask questions and learn about more how online learning works and what the expectations for learning will be, etc.
• Co-branded pamphlet — A catalog co-created between Northville and Michigan Virtual that overviews courses offered — both online and face-to-face — as well as key contact and registration information.
• Summer school webpage — A webpage that provides all key information relevant to summer school, including FAQs, downloadable versions of pamphlets, and who you should contact if you have questions.

Particularly for online summer learners, she emphasizes, these communication channels are critical for helping students and parents acclimate to the world of online learning and its expectations.

For schools who offer online courses over the summer, we’ve created  a summer school communication kit to help them spend less time writing communication materials and more time doing what they do best — helping students! Check it out!

What advice can you offer me?

We asked both Dr. Brock and Vecchioni what advice they have for other Michigan schools looking to start a summer learning program or expanding their existing programming.

“Talk to your stakeholders first,” says Dr. Brock of Northville. “See what the needs are for summer education. It’s really important that courses are offered that the students want to take, and this differs from district to district. Gauge what the needs are for students in your area, and then make sure that planning and logistics are very clear. People are a little bit less connected during the summer, so the more that you can be very organized and clear with your communication the better.”

And from Vecchioni?

“The bottom line is about the people you have working for you in this. Summer learning programs are only as good as the people overseeing it. I think we’re lucky in Brighton to have Lynette — and I think Sandra is lucky with the staff that she has in Northville. If you’re going to start a summer learning program, invest in that staff member. Don’t come up short.”

Looking to set up a summer learning program?

If you’re interested in offering students in your district online summer options, we can help you get started with our step-by-step guide to setting up a successful online learning program.

Learn more about our summer offerings by visiting: michiganvirtual.org/summer

Other resources you might find helpful:

• 7 ways taking online summer course benefits your high-achieving students [Blog article]
• How to prevent the “summer slide” without giving up your hard-earned break [Blog article]
• 10 Reasons Students Take Our Online Summer Courses [Infographic]
• 4 Types of Online Courses Your Students Can Take This Summer [Infographic]

Step-by-step guide to setting up a successful online summer learning program

If you’re an administrator or school counselor, maybe this story rings familiar:

Students and parents in your school or district are coming to you asking for summer learning options.

Of course, you want to offer them summer learning options. In a perfect world, you’d give them everything they need to succeed and more.

But perhaps, you’re struggling to find the budget and staffing capacity required to create a sustainable summer school model.

One of the benefits of setting up an online summer learning program is that you can have your cake and eat it, too, by:

• Providing students with a robust array of summer learning opportunities
• Improving graduation rates at your school by allowing students to participate in summer credit advancement or credit recovery
• Accomplishing all of this while designing a system that is cost-neutral or revenue-positive

If you’re looking to provide students at your school or district with more summer learning options, this step-by-step guide will help you think through the process of building a highly successful online summer learning program. 

What questions do you have about summer learning? Explore answers in: “Summer Learning FAQs (with advice from Michigan districts who are doing it well!)”

STEP ONE: Choose your online summer learning model

There are many different ways to run an effective online summer learning program. Every year, we work with schools across the state of Michigan to offer their students online summer courses, and each school does it a little bit differently.

Here are the most common models we see schools using:

• Model #1 — Parent- or student-led approach
  

Some of the schools we work with choose to take parent- or student-led approach to offering online summer learning programs. What this means is they allow students to earn credit for taking online summer courses, but provide few school-sanctioned supports (e.g., a mentor, lab space, or proctored exam).  In this model, parents and students are the primary responsible units for ensuring student success.

• Model #2 — School-sponsored, minimal supports provided

Other schools take a more active role by encouraging students to take online courses over the summer and providing students with some supports to help them succeed. Often times, the schools using this model will actively promote summer learning options to students through school counselors or schoolwide communications. A mentor may be paid a stipend to work remotely to check in with parents and hold students accountable for completing their coursework, but a lab space is typically not provided for students to work.

• Model #3 — School-sponsored, highly supportive

The model that often yields the highest student outcomes is a school-sponsored online learning program with high levels of student support. In this model, the school pays a mentor or several mentors (depending on program size) to run a summer lab space where students have the option to come work on their online coursework. This mentor serves an active role in holding students accountable and also provides a safe, positive learning environment with stable internet access.

To fund these student supports, schools using this model typically ask parents to pay for summer courses and raise the price of each course to cover the cost of paying mentors and keeping a lab space open during the summer.

Which model is most conducive to student success?

You can find student success in any of these models, but generally, we see the highest and most consistent student outcomes in schools who use Model #3. Why? Because we know from research that online learners perform best when they receive the appropriate supports.

Before continuing the rest of the steps in this guide, you may want to start thinking about which model will work best for your school.

STEP TWO: Select mentor(s) for online summer students

Optional, but encouraged

When it comes to online learning, mentors play a critical role in student success. While some parents do a great job at supporting their online learners and holding them accountable for completing their summer coursework, we generally find higher student outcomes in schools that invest in paying a mentor — or several mentors, depending on the size of their summer program — to monitor and support online learners.

To learn more about what an online mentor is and why they’re so critical to the success of online learners, visit our mentor page. 

STEP THREE: Set aside lab space for students to work during the summer

Optional, but encouraged

While this step is not strictly necessary, we generally recommend that schools set aside lab space for students to come work on their online coursework over the summer. Having a computer lab open during the summer provides students a positive learning environment. This is particularly important if students have a distracting home environment, trouble with time management, or an unstable internet connection.

Typically, mentors make themselves available during lab time to support online learners. Some schools keep lab space open every day during typical school hours. Others set aside one or two days per week for students to come work on their coursework with their mentor.

STEP FOUR: Create a brochure or website with summer learning options

Optional, but encouraged

If you are offering summer learning options to students at your school, it can be helpful to create a brochure or website that overviews what options are available to them and how they should go about registering and receiving credit for their courses.

For schools who partner with us to offer summer online courses, we create a co-branded brochure at no cost that highlights summer offerings available to students as well as key registration information.

STEP FIVE:  Share summer learning options with counselors, administrative staff, and/or community education offices

Before getting too far in planning your online summer learning program, make sure to involve key stakeholders, such as school counselors, administrative staff, and/or community education offices. First off, it’s important that they are aware of the summer learning options available to your students. Secondly, if you involve them early on in the process, they may provide you with valuable feedback and help you solidify and optimize key processes!

STEP SIX: Establish a process for registering students AND for sharing grades with school stakeholders, so students can earn credit for their summer work.

This part is pretty important. . . Before communicating learning options to students and parents, make sure you’ve created a tried-and-true registration and credit submission process that will work well for all key stakeholders.

You’ll want to make sure that it’s perfectly clear how students and parents should enroll in their online summer courses AND how they will receive credit for completed coursework.

Questions to consider:

• Who will be enrolling students in online summer courses? Parents? Counselors? Someone else?
• Who will be paying for summer courses? If the school is enrolling students, but parents will be paying for courses, how will you capture their payment information?
• How will parents/students share course completion certificates with your school to ensure students earn credit for completed coursework?

STEP SEVEN: Establish a process for communicating summer learning options with students and parents.

Next step! Communicating summer learning options with students and parents at your school or district!

There are may communication channels you can use to accomplish this goal:

• A webpage that provides all key information relevant to summer school, including course offerings, registration information, and who you should contact if you have questions.
• Emails to students and parents
• Flyers posted around your school
• Brochures available in the school counselor and/or principal’s office
• Social media postings
• Snail mail to parents
• And more!

To avoid any confusion, you may even consider creating a list of FAQs on your school’s website. One school who has done a great job communicating summer learning options to students is Northville Public Schools with their summer programs webpage.

For schools who offer online courses over the summer, we’ve created  a summer school communication kit to help them spend less time writing communication materials and more time doing what they do best — helping students! Check it out!

STEP EIGHT: Enroll students!

This is where you really begin to see the fruits of your labor! If you are having a school counselor or program administrator do the enrolling, this is where they take over and make sure all students are enrolled in the appropriate online courses. Otherwise, if parents/students are doing the enrolling themselves, all you have to do is wait patiently for the numbers to roll in. . .

STEP NINE: Host a summer learning open house for parents and students.

Optional, but encouraged

One strategy that we have found to be particularly effective is hosting a summer learning open house for parents and students. This open house doesn’t have to be anything extensive, but it can be incredibly helpful to set aside a one-hour informational session and Q&A for students and parents interested in online summer learning.

A few helpful topics you might cover during this open house include:

• What is online learning? What does it look like from the perspective of an online learner?
• Where do students log in to their online courses?
• How do parents view their student’s progress?
• How should students submit completion certificates to earn credit for their summer courses?
• How can students be successful in their online learning?
• As a parent, how should I best support my online learner?
• What is the role of the mentor? — If applicable
• Why and when should students attend lab time? — If applicable
• Why do students need to have their final exam proctored — If applicable

If you’re unsure about the answers to some of these questions, you can find many tips, tricks, and best practices in our free guides to online learning.

If you are using our courses to power your summer learning program, we encourage you to share our Student Quick Start Guide and Parent/Guardian FAQs with students and parents as well.

STEP TEN: Figure out a process for ongoing communications between parents, students, and mentors over the summer.

Optional, but encouraged

This step is important because, in our experience, we have found that student pass rates significantly improve when parents receive regular updates from a mentor on their student’s progress. Having a third party involved in this process helps keep students more accountable and on track to complete their coursework on time, rather than rushing to finish the bulk of their work in the last week of the semester. Talk to your mentor(s) ahead of time to make sure they have a process in place for communicating with parents and students about student progress!

STEP ELEVEN: Set a date to proctor the final exam.

Optional, but encouraged

Some schools with online summer learning programs choose to have each student’s final exam proctored to ensure the validity of exam results.

In our online courses, we take great strides to ensure the academic integrity of student submissions, relying on the expertise and critical eyes of our online teachers and advanced online teaching tools that monitor plagiarism.

Proctoring the final exams of online learners, however, does add an extra layer of security to ensure all students have fully mastered the content they studied in their online summer course.

STEP TWELVE: Develop and make clear your school’s stance on grade replacement.

Especially when it comes to credit recovery, students and parents often have questions about whether or not the grade received in their summer online course will replace the grade they received when taking the course in a previous semester or school year.

To prevent students and parents from being frustrated if they are unable to replace their grade, it is best to develop a policy on grade replacement and communicate this policy clearly to parents, students, school counselors, and other key stakeholders up front.

Concluding thoughts

Well, there you have it. While perhaps not exhaustive, we hope this step-by-step guide has helped you start thinking of ways to set up an effective online summer learning program in your district or improve your existing program.

If you’re curious to learn how other schools have gone about creating highly successful summer learning programs for their students, check out this webinar recording where we talk to representatives at Brighton and Northville schools about what they’ve found effective in their programs.

Other resources you might find helpful:

• Summer Learning FAQs (with advice from Michigan districts who are doing it well!) [Blog article]
• 7 ways taking online summer course benefits your high-achieving students [Blog article]
• How to prevent the “summer slide” without giving up your hard-earned break [Blog article]
• 10 Reasons Students Take Our Online Summer Courses [Infographic]
• 4 Types of Online Courses Your Students Can Take This Summer [Infographic]

Empower your students to learn this summer with the help of a highly qualified, Michigan-certified instructor!

This summer, we’re offering online courses on over 150 different subjects, including core areas (i.e., science, math, English, and social studies), as well as a myriad of fascinating, career-oriented electives. Students have 10 weeks to complete summer coursework at their own pace and will be supported along the way by a highly qualified, Michigan-certified online instructor who is an expert in their subject area. These courses provide a flexible opportunity for students to recover credits or fulfill requirements in advance of graduation while keeping their minds active over the summer!

You can learn more about our summer learning options at michiganvirtual.org/summer

Interested in setting up an online summer program powered by Michigan Virtual?

Fill out the form on this page and one of our representatives will get in touch with you!

It’s a frigid day in Lansing. The first blankets of snow have settled on the ground. The cold air sears your lungs with each inhalation. The colorless gray of the sky is relentless. It’s time for us to admit the inevitable truth:

It’s officially winter in Michigan.

Today might not seem like the best time to be talking to you about summer school, but give us just a few minutes to challenge this perception. Because — while it may seem counterintuitive — now is the time that school administrators need to start thinking about their summer learning programs.

Why start now?

The simple truth is: It takes time, energy, and resources to build an effective summer school program. If you want your students to succeed this summer, then you have to start laying the foundation for their success ASAP.

It might seem far away now, but you only have about six months to complete the following:

1. Evaluate, design, and/or redesign your summer school program
2. Find teachers who are able to serve as instructors or mentors over the summer
3. Reserve classrooms and/or set aside the technology needed for students to work on their summer courses
4. Communicate options to students and parents, and
5. Enroll students in their courses

We know about the negative effects of summer brain drain.

We know that summer learning is important and that all students deserve opportunities to learn over the summer. But, from our experience, the students that most often take advantage of these opportunities fall into two groups:

1. Students who are trying to get ahead on their coursework
2. Students who are trying to recover credits needed for graduation

When designing your summer school program, we recommend that you consider the needs of your high-achieving students who are trying to leverage summer learning opportunities to get ahead. These students often know what they want and are willing to do what it takes to accomplish it.

Your questions should be: What do these students need to succeed? What is it that they’re looking for in a summer school program?

For self-motivated learners, taking online summer school courses can be liberating because it allows them to make progress toward their goals while studying at their own pace in time blocks that fit their busy schedules. In some cases, online programs offer students more learning options with more flexibility than their face-to-face counterparts.

Here are 7 ways online summer school benefits your high-achieving students:

#1 — By freeing up space in their schedules for next year’s electives and dual enrollment

High-achieving students are often busy students. Curious and driven to learn, they likely have more subjects they want to study than they have time available in their schedules. Unfortunately, unlike in the Harry Potter-verse, there are no magical “time turners” in our simple, Muggle world. Unlike Hermione Granger, students cannot be in two courses simultaneously, so they often run into scheduling conflicts that disrupt their best-laid plans.

If you have students who regularly run into this issue, then summer online learning may be a great option for them. This way, they can take Orchestra, Band, German, and dual enroll next semester, without having to worry about how to fit in their Algebra 2 requirement.

#2 — By allowing them to complete necessary prerequisites for next year’s AP courses

One of the biggest problems for high-achieving students is trying to find ways to get the most bang for their buck during their high school years. Let’s face it: Getting a college education is an expensive endeavor. If a student wants to gain college credits while still in high school, they’ll need to plan strategically. Online summer learning is one way they can optimize their schedules, so they are able to enroll in AP courses at the start of next year’s Fall semester.

#3 — By keeping their language learning skills fresh, so they don’t lose 3 months of practice 

Gaining fluency in another language requires dedication, practice, and consistency. For this reason, taking three months off during the summer can cause attrition of fluency and have a negative impact on student proficiency. One way for students to keep their language skills sharp during the summer is by taking online world language courses, where they can work alongside an expert instructor and practice their skills by conversing with other budding language learners around the state.

#4 — By keeping their minds active and preventing summer brain drain

On average, it is predicted that students lose about one month’s worth of learning over the summer. In math and reading, these predictions are even more drastic, with an estimated two months of learning loss in some studies. In addition to helping students get ahead and meet their scheduling needs, enrolling in online summer courses can help them keep their minds active, so as to mitigate the effects of the dreaded summer brain drain. Not only will they learn new content over the summer, but they may also come back to school having forgotten less of last year’s content than their peers.

#5 — By giving them maximum flexibility to fit summer learning into their busy schedules

It’s hard to blame students for not wanting to give up their precious summer break, or skip out on their family vacation, to participate in summer school after working so hard during the previous school year. One of the benefits of online summer learning is that it’s a more flexible alternative than most face-to-face programs. Students have more course offerings from which to choose, as well as more time to complete their assignments. For self-motivated students, who thrive when given autonomy and control over their learning, online courses can provide a summer learning option that fits into their professional or personal schedules.

#6 — By helping college-bound student-athletes earn NCAA credits

When evaluating summer learning options for student-athletes, one factor worth considering is whether or not their summer learning options are NCAA-accredited. The goal with these requirements is to ensure that athletes are well-prepared for the rigor of college academic study. Online courses that are NCAA-accredited can help student-athletes get ahead on these requirements over the summer, so they have more flexibility for balancing sports and school in the upcoming year.

#7 — By giving them the opportunity to audit a challenging course they plan to take in the fall

Another reason students enroll in online summer courses is not to earn credit, but to audit a challenging course they may take in the fall. By taking this course over the summer, they can familiarize themselves with course content and begin the process of concept mastery, so the course is more manageable when they take it in-person during the following school year. This is a less common motivation, but we have witnessed it rising in popularity during recent years. We only recommend this course of action to students who are serious about auditing and are willing to complete the work, even if it means not earning credits.

The caveat: Not all online courses are created equal. 

We hope you find this list helpful as you consider which types of students might benefit from summer learning programs this summer and what type of learning options you might offer them. We believe that self-motivated, high-achieving students can benefit from the flexibility and autonomy offered by online summer courses.

That being said, we also find it important to clarify that not all online courses are created equal. Online learners need to be supported in order to succeed. That’s why we work so hard to hire only highly qualified, Michigan-certified instructors to teach our online courses. That’s why we encourage schools who partner with us during the summer to open up lab space for students to work if they need additional support from a trained mentor. That’s why we offer the same quality content in our 10-week abbreviated summer courses as we do during our 18-week, full-semester courses.

The moral of the story

Before you select an online learning provider, make sure your students are getting a high-quality and supportive learning experience. Your high-achieving students will thank you for it later.