No Summer Learning Loss for Students Using Classroom, Inc.

Teachers in all our partner sites brought their enthusiasm and creativity to enhance students’ experience of our program:
 

At Clara Barton Elementary in Chicago, Ms. Otto’s students extended their experience on the Alicia Leary Progress Foundation by visiting the Woods Foundation. On their own, students decided to dress in business attire. Woods staff were so impressed by their knowledge and ideas that, based on the well-supported views of these students, they are reconsidering a foundation policy.

New York City Classroom, Inc. users this summer included 8^th and 9^th graders at Groundwork, a community-based organization serving young people in the under-resourced neighborhood of East New York in Brooklyn. The students’ teacher put together a great trivia game to go along with The Sports Network. Students combed through the program’s resource library, excitedly searching for clues to the answers.

Ms. Howard at South Philadelphia High focused on careers with the students in her ELA enrichment classes. While introducing them to a wide array of possible career paths, by using The Sports Network she was able to move from abstract explanation to showing her students the authentic day-to-day experience of a contemporary worker. To further prepare them for the world of work, Ms. Howard had her students create resumés.

Using Classroom, Inc. for the first time, the Summer Dreamers Academy in Pittsburgh offered eighth graders a unique summer experience by equipping them with the skills necessary to excel in their first year of high school while also exposing them to their future college and/or career options. Ms. Anguilar, a participating teacher at Southbrook Middle School, reported that the CI program was accessible to students in that the technology is well-designed and engaging.  She said that having gone through the training before the program started was beneficial so that she could learn the software ahead of time. And her students, she said, definitely became more aware of how difficult it could be to make a “fair decision in a business when different perspectives were taken into account.”

​A guest speaker from Wells Fargo bank came to address students using The Chelsea Bank in Hollywood, Florida’s “Unity for Teens," an initiative of the community-based organization Hispanic Unity. In addition to her prepared remarks, the speaker facilitated a discussion with students about the importance of savings and also filled them in on what type of preparation is necessary for various careers in banking.

For the first time this past summer, Memphis’ Summer Leadership School for Boys: Challenging Minds, Changing Futures used us as part of their academic enrichment and career exploration program. Two hundred and fifteen students in grades 4–7 used our simulations What’s Up Magazine, The Community Clinic, and the Green Mountain Paper Company.  The enthusiastic program supervisor reported that she was pleased to see how students learned to work in teams, a very valuable result for these groups. She reported that CI was far better than other programs used for similar purposes in previous summers as far as professional development, curriculum, materials for students, and on-site support. She also viewed student engagement, attendance, and learning as far better than more typical summer classes.