YOU LEARN. WE LEARN. ALEARN: It's well-documented how summer learning loss deeply hurts underrepresented students -- one meta-analysis estimates that a dormant summer could equate to losing an entire month of previous instruction. So with all the hoopla around blended, flipped, Common Core MOOC-iness, it's also important to highlight initiatives like ALearn's Math Acceleration Program (MAP), based in Santa Clara, Calif. The intensive, four-week summer enrichment program does not explicitly attack summer learning loss. Even so the 1,200 students in the program, all of whom scored below "Proficient" on Math CST 2010 test -- and were largely low-income (60%) and from underserved minority groups (94%) -- are most susceptible to the phenomenon. For 2011, the results look promising. Students who took part in the ALearn MAP program in 2011, made big improvements in their scores, specifically in understanding fractions (up 20%) and in understanding word problems (by 18%). Overall 70% of the incoming 7th graders made the cut for pre-algebra when school started again in September. Even more impressive: a whopping 96% reported feeling "more motivated to go to college." Get a full overview of results and commentary here.
