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Charter school program reverses summer reading 'slide'

It's summer. It's school. But it's definitely not summer school. Just ask the students. "This is not summer school!" About 20 children, all from kindergarten through third grade, chanted in unison.

It's summer. It's school. But it's definitely not summer school.

Just ask the students.

"This is not summer school!" About 20 children, all from kindergarten through third grade, chanted in unison.

Their teacher asked again.

"Is this summer school?"

The pupils grew more enthusiastic, their response more resolute.

"This is NOT summer school!"

Like the rest of the faculty at Summer Learning Initiative, a new program at Pan American Academy Charter School in North Philadelphia, teacher Alejandro Gac-Artigas wore a neon-green T-shirt that read "This is not summer school" in large, white text.

Artigas, 22, founded the four-week program and led it through its inaugural summer, which concluded Friday with the familiar chant.

The school implemented Artigas' program instead of its normal summer curriculum, requiring those who didn't pass their classes to enroll.

Instead of grouping students by grade level, Artigas grouped them by reading level. He then wrote the curriculum to include parents, asking that they come before work once per week to learn how to help their children learn to read.

Artigas had been teaching at another charter school in Philadelphia for Teach for America, a nonprofit that places college graduates in underachieving public schools.

"I had my students' reading scores from the end of the previous school year," he said. "But when I tested them again in September, they were lower."

Artigas noticed what educators call "the summer slide," a decrease in reading ability that students experience over the summer. As a result, teachers spend the first few months of the new school year catching students up.

The three-month regression in reading levels adds up to a full year by the eighth grade, he said.

Low-income students often have less-structured summers and less parental support, Artigas said, resulting in a more dramatic decline in reading levels.

But by the end of this program, the 42 students made an average of 2.8 months of academic growth - nearly a six-month swing from where they'd be without school.

Parents attended weekly workshops 94.2 percent of the time, an 80 percent jump from school-year functions.

Artigas also made incentives for the students.

Based on how far they advanced in reading levels, 12 students received laptops. Others won backpacks full of school supplies and books on their respective reading levels.

"It feels like an opportunity, rather than a punishment," said Artigas, who will return to Pan American in the fall to teach.

Six-year-old Jenniliz Rivera, who's repeating kindergarten, sat on the floor of the school's hallway after receiving her backpack of supplies.

"I was so close to winning a laptop," Jenniliz said.

She didn't seem to mind the consolation prize, though, as she dumped the backpack to find an electronic Spanish-English dictionary, books, pencils, and other supplies.

"This was more fun than school," she said.

Her 9-year-old brother, Jeremiah Matos, watched the mess unfold as he held his new laptop.

"He's lazy," said Jeremiah's mother, Luz Rivera of North Philadelphia. "So when you offer a child a gift," she said, "they work for that. I'd say, 'You have to work hard for that laptop,' and he did."

Jeremiah progressed in reading level by five months.

The program is free to participating students, funded by the school's normal summer school budget; a grant from Teach For America; and several small, private donations.

Ralph Bouquet, 24, was one of the four teachers running the program. He stressed the value of getting parents involved in their child's education early.

"The earlier we start building these relationships between kids and their parents," he said, "the more likely it is for that bond to be sustainable."