Save summer school for those who need it

By Jonathan Zimmerman

What are you doing over the summer?

That's what adults like to ask teenagers this time of year, as school draws to a close. And we're often surprised to hear the answer: more school. Believe it or not, the kids actually choose this option.

When I was growing up, summer school was a kind of low-security prison for students who had failed during the regular year. But in affluent communities like my own, it's increasingly dominated by high-achieving kids who want to buff up their transcripts for college.

By taking required classes in the summer, they can pack their fall and spring schedules with honors and advanced-placement courses. They can also clear out space for study halls during the school year, giving them more time to hit the books and get the grades.

I've always been a bit depressed by this phenomenon, which reflects the worst aspects of contemporary, upper-middle-class childhood: the rigid management of time, the grim quest for the upper hand, and the constant fear that someone, somewhere, is getting a leg up on you.

So I was almost relieved to read that cash-strapped school districts around the country are dropping summer school. In California, 41 percent of parent-teacher associations say summer school has been cut or limited in their districts. Two-thirds of school districts in North Carolina report the same.

But then I thought about those who will get hurt: our poorest children. Unlike most students in my community, who will be fine without summer school, disadvantaged kids really need it. Low-income students typically lose more than two months of reading achievement over the summer, whereas their middle-class peers make slight gains.

It's not hard to figure out why. Wealthier kids are more likely to have books and magazines at home, as well as parents who read to them. So, each summer, the more affluent kids move forward, and the poorer kids fall further behind.

Unless, that is, they go to school. Students who participated in Baltimore's Building Educated Leaders for Life (BELL) summer program in 2007, drawn from 12 low-performing schools, gained an average of four months of reading and math skills. In New York City, 82 percent of students in a program run by Harlem RBI showed no reading loss at the end of the summer.

Instead of eliminating summer school completely, then, our school districts should restrict it to the kids who need it most. And if federal stimulus money helps shore up summer-school budgets, as some districts are hoping, the Obama administration should make sure the money goes solely to low-achieving students.

Earlier this spring, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan spelled out what typically happens to these children in the summer. "You have kids who don't have a lot of books at home and aren't read to," Duncan told an interviewer. "You get kids to a certain point in June, and when they come back in September, they're further behind than when they left you three months ago. It's heartbreaking."

Yes, it is. In these tough times, let's devote every available summer-school dollar to the least fortunate American families. The rest of us can fend for ourselves.