Alabama district sees ‘overwhelming’ need for English language summer camp

Madison City English learner camp summer 2019

These students participated in Madison City school district's English learner camp in summer 2019.

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When Rashid Beisenov moved his young family from Kazakhstan to take a job in north Alabama three and half years ago, his children spoke only their native Russian language. On the advice of a family friend, they settled in Madison and enrolled their two oldest children in the city school system.

In the summer of 2018, his children — a son in second grade and a daughter in first grade — were invited to the district’s revamped summer learning program for English language learners. Beisenov’s family speaks Russian at home.

He enrolled them in the program, hoping they could work on their English without sacrificing time spent speaking their native language at home.

It proved to be a great experience for everyone.

“Every day was a holiday,” he said, “with all of these fun activities that they were offered.”

Across the state, districts are looking at this summer as a chance to recover unrealized learning lost as children struggled to adjust to remote schooling or didn’t get as much facetime with teachers during the pandemic. Alabama schools are getting nearly $2 billion in federal aid, and many officials see this summer as the first big chance to help students pick up what they may not have had a chance to learn this year.

Madison City, with a program specifically focused on English learners, has shown that smart planning, along with an intentional focus on individual students’ needs, can chart a course for real improvements.

The summer camp’s structure was key, according to Beisenov. There was learning, sure, but there was also a lot of fun. Field trips to the zoo and cooking classes were all a part of the package.

“That’s why kids were so happy to go every day,” he said. “Every day they would go because of the teacher’s attitude and the fun activity.”

Madison City English learner camp fun

A student in Madison City school district's English learner camp in summer 2019.

Providing fun activities during the summer isn’t just a good idea, but a way to use out-of-school time to offer intense learning opportunities for students in need.

Read more: ‘Don’t call it summer school’: Battling the COVID slide.

This year, schools think even more students will need that time.

Natalia Dooley and Miranda Bolden head planning for Madison City’s summer program, and say demand for this summer’s English Language camp is “overwhelming.” The district has identified double the traditional number of about 100 students as needing summer support, and is looking for additional funding to meet the need.

The district has seen an increase in the number of English learner students enrolling in recent years — from 277 in the 2014-15 school year to 511 in the 2019-20 school year. While those students still represent a small percentage of students overall — 2.8% in the 2014-15 school year and 4.4% for the 2019-20 school year — students come with “critical needs” according to district officials.

English language learners, whose families come from all over the world, typically score low in statewide testing. Fewer than 10% of English learners reached proficiency in reading and science on the 2018-19 standardized test, ranking them as the lowest-performing group of students. In math, scores were slightly better, with 22.5% of students reaching proficiency. Students with disabilities are the only group to log lower proficiency levels.

Children learning more than one language at a time actually can have double the vocabulary of native English speakers, experts say — but may just need some extra help translating that knowledge to school classes and homework.

Last year, the camp went virtual, and the district noticed a specific group of students seemed affected the most: Those in poverty.

Madison City virtual English learner summer program 2020

Madison City schools held their English learner summer program virtually in summer 2020.

The district overall has about 20% to 25% of children in poverty, Dooley said, but of those recommended for camp, “about 60% of those kids come from poverty.”

“In spite of us delivering devices, hotspots and materials to the house,” Dooley said, “we struggled to get our kids in poverty to sign up for camp, and I think it was because of the lack of an adult presence because adults had to work.”

This year, the district is anticipating more of those same low-income, English learner students will need help over the summer — and may also help making up more ground than in other years.

The summer learning program is intended for children K-5 who are in the district’s English language program and whom teachers identify as needing extra help. Typically, they are students who are new to the district or the country.

“Newcomers get priority,” Dooley said.

About half of the students who participate in the district’s summer learning program for English learners are Hispanic, Dooley said, but the district, which has increasing numbers of English learners overall, also has noticed a rising number of Asian students, from countries and cultures as varied as the Philippines, Japan and Vietnam.

Nearly 90 languages are spoken by students across the district, and anywhere from 15 to 20 languages are spoken by students in the district’s summer learning program.

Dooley said the summer is an ideal time to work with students and allows for more intense focus on key subject areas for a few hours — as well as plenty of time for fun.

Enrichment includes everything from art lessons to cooking classes to visitors coming in to share experiences with students. They also get weekly field trips and weekly swimming at the local YMCA. Camps last four weeks and runs from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. every weekday. There is no cost to students or families for any part of the program.

All the while, students add to their understanding of English grammar and vocabulary.

“They learned so much. That definitely helped them grasp not only school English but also day-to-day English in everyday life,” Beisenov said.

Also, students learn they aren’t alone in their quest to learn about their new country.

“They weren’t embarrassed,” he said, a key goal of district officials who designed the program.

English language learner students are welcome to attend other summer programs in the district, Dooley said, and sometimes non-English language learners — like siblings who are native English speakers — join the program. But Bolden says that while students have a wide variety of cultures and backgrounds, it actually makes sense to pull them together in one program. That way everyone is learning together and has a chance to learn from one another.

“Their self-confidence is increased because they’ve had that time to be around other like peers,” she said. “It gives them a chance to take a deep breath and really be who they are and grow from there.”

“When they go back into the classroom in the fall, they have increased confidence, increased vocabulary. They have in most cases, less summer slide, so they’re not as far behind academically.”

Connecting with other students in similar circumstances is valuable, according to the National Summer Learning Association’s Brodrick Clarke.

“There’s value in them coming together, still having the opportunity to celebrate their cultural traditions and being able to see themselves in the others around them,” he said.

Though the district had offered an EL-focused camp since 2010, but before 2017, it mainly focused on English language acquisition, not broader improvements in academics.

In the past few years, the district got connected with SAIL, and received additional funding and help adding academic support and tracking impact.

This year, the foundation will fund 14 summer programs, including the camp for English learners, combining grant funding from SAIL and the area’s Community Foundation.

SAIL is providing nearly $1 million in funding to more than 50 summer learning programs across the state. Those programs plan to serve more than 3,000 students this summer.

“The acid test of a good summer learning program is if the kids think they’re at camp, but the teachers know they’re at school,” said Jim Wooten, who leads SAIL’s efforts statewide.

The district uses tests at the beginning and end of the programs to measure growth, and says results show large gains for the four weeks children spend in the English Language program.

“We often see not just a month’s growth, but up to six months’ growth,” Bolden said.

Families — who are invited to parent nights, a Gallery Walk and a potluck over the course of the summer — say they see progress, too.

Beisenov, who said he was proud to attend the summer potluck with other families and parents, hopes his youngest daughter, a rising kindergartener, will be able to attend this summer.

After all, his son, now in fourth grade, recently won the school spelling bee.

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