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On Thursday, during the TCSS school board meeting, Tabatha Lawrence, director of elementary education and Jonathan Laney, director of secondary education presented the board with the summer school plans for 2023.

“The purpose of our Troup County School System summer learning program is an opportunity for our students to accelerate or recover credits between the summer and then started the next school year in English language, arts and mathematics,” Lawrence said.

“This year, we are going to focus heavily on acceleration. We recognize that we spend a lot of time remediating students and what we’re learning is that remediation is not helping our students reach mastery of standards. This summer we are hoping for our students in grades two through five to get a preview of the content that’s coming up in the upcoming school year so they will be in a better place — ready for the content that they’re going to be exposed to.”

Lawrence said they will be allowing students in grades three and five, who do not perform to state mastery on Georgia milestones, the opportunity to retest.

“Those students who are going to be participating in summer school are going to be reviewing and getting that opportunity to be successful on that second try,” Lawrence said.

Elementary School

Summer school for currently enrolled students will be held June 5 to June 22, Monday through Thursday, held at each elementary school site.

The program is open to students enrolled in second grade through fifth grade. GMAS and additional student learning data will be utilized to select students for program participation.  During the program, students will be educational resources called Making Connections and Ready Mathematics Practice and Problem Solving.

“We used Making Connections last year in summer school, so our teachers are very familiar with it. We received very positive feedback, and it’s back to the basics when helping our students be able to comprehend those skills that we know are important,” Lawrence said.

“Ready Mathematics Practice and Problem-Solving help accelerate student’s understanding of concepts and skills through teacher-led instruction that integrates concepts skills for multiple standards to solve rigorous tasks. It also provides a framework that encourages our students to engage in mathematical discourse, develop their mathematical reasoning, build math fluency and form strong mathematical habits.”

She said because it is a new resource teachers will be trained before using it in summer school.

Middle Schools

Summer school for currently enrolled middle school students will be held June 5 to June 29, Monday through Thursday, held at each middle school.

Laney said performance on the GMAS testing will be utilized to select students for participation.

Eighth-grade students who performed poorly and do not participate will be placed in the 8.5 program in the coming school year, Laney said.

“The resource we’ll be utilizing is called Triumph Learning: Georgia Coach Books, which are helping prepare students for retesting. We’ll also be using iReady: My Path and Ready Reading, to differentiate based on student needs. Students will retest in the areas of language and math at the end of summer school,” Laney said.

“Students in grades six and seven will utilize the practice tests provided by Triumph Learning. In eighth grade, it will be the actual GMAS retest. Eighth-grade students who do not show progress on the GMAS from their original taking the GMAS will be recommended for the 8.5 program for the coming year.”

High School

Summer school for currently enrolled high school students will be held June 5 to June 29, using virtual educational resources called Odysseyware and Edgenuity.

“We will have credit repair and credit recovery offered. Credit repair being students who came very close to passing but didn’t quite pass the courses that they had, and they have an opportunity to fix those grades. Credit recovery for students who failed with a lower score and need to retake the entire curriculum for their class will have the opportunity,” Laney said.

Lawrence said transportation and meals (breakfast and lunch) will be provided. She estimates there will be roughly 300- 400 elementary students in the program.

Laney said he estimates 100 secondary students, depending on the size of the school, to attend summer school.

“We do expect to see some growth this year, and we’re excited about that. The work has been done and is continuing to be done. Just because we’re done officially with testing doesn’t mean we’re giving up we’re going to continue to try to support our students,” Lawrence said.