LEWISTON, N.Y. — School districts across Western New York are preparing to welcome students back in a matter of weeks. In addition to concerns about health and safety, there are concerns about potential education gaps as a result of distance learning.
One district, the Lewiston-Porter Central School District, used summer school to proactively identify and address learning concerns. The superintendent of the district, Paul Casseri, told 2 On Your Side's Karys Belger that learning loss was not as much of a concern as he anticipated, but there were still some concerns that came up among certain groups of students.
Casseri explained that much of the noticeable learning loss occurred with lower-income students and younger grade levels. To address these concerns, teachers used summer school to engage students ahead of the upcoming school year.
At the Primary Education Center in the district, teachers and staff used a hands-on and engaged approach to assess students. Instead of a traditional summer school structure, the teachers created a learning camp with a rainforest theme.
For many students, this was the first time having face-to-face interaction with instructors and classmates since March of 2020. Karen Yager, a 5th-grade teacher 2 On Your Side spoke with, said the first thing was rebuilding the expectations of a classroom structure and using themed activities to help fill any of the gaps that became apparent as they were teaching students.
"We wanted to make the learning fun for them, so we did do two three week programs. And all of our learning-centered around the rainforest; the math, the reading, the writing," Yager told 2 On Your Side. "We did projects... a couple of our classes we're having the students create zoo animal enclosures where they had to research animals and put together a whole enclosure for animals."
Yager explained the hands-on projects seemed to help rebuild the foundational knowledge the students needed in order to grasp the concepts that were necessary for them to be on track going into the school year.
Principal Tamara Larson told 2 On Your Side that she knows there are still some gaps to fill for students, but since they’ve already identified what those gaps may be over the summer, they’re prepared to provide extra support for those students who need it.
Superintendent Paul Casseri explained for the higher grade levels, federal money was used to create a learning center where students can go to a designated instructor and get help in whatever subject they had difficulty retaining information in during remote learning.