Savannah-Chatham teachers prepared to see students make learning leaps when school opens Wednesday

Moving forward and making leaps. Nearly 8,000 Savannah-Chatham County students participated in the district’s EMBRACE summer school program in two sessions in June and July. School leaders and teachers have their sites on continuing those learning leaps into the new school year.

If a student is a little behind, right on target, or a little ahead, teachers will work with their students during the first days of school this month to meet them where they’re at academically, and move forward from there.

More:Teachers, 7,000-plus students in summer school for remediation, enrichment

That’s the message Renee Bryant-Evans, principal at Gadsden Elementary, would like Savannah-Chatham families to know. Rather than focusing on learning loss, Bryant-Evans focuses on what she calls “unfinished learning.”

"One thing that I believe all the teachers in Savannah Chatham County Public Schools [are] good at is catching children up," Bryant-Evans explained. Teachers are the biggest factor in determining a child's success, she added. "We're going to make sure our teachers are equipped with the resources and the tools that they need [and] those engaging lessons and activities."

As for those learning leaps, Bryant-Evans said the district curriculum department has made sure teachers are ready. "We feel equipped to do what we need to do to make the learning leaps that we're going to make," Bryant-Evans added.

In preparing for the returning to the classroom, Bryant-Evans explained SCCPSS teachers have been reading and incorporating resources from "Rebound, Grades K-12: A Playbook for Rebuilding Agency, Accelerating Learning Recovery, and Rethinking Schools" by Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, Dominique Smith, John Hattie.

"The authors discuss not focusing on 'learning loss', but [rather the] 'learning leaps' that our students will make," Bryant-Evans added in a follow-up email. "The authors also encourage us to look at the things students learned during the pandemic and view what they need to learn as 'unfinished learning'."

Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools held two sessions of summer school for the first time since 2019. The summer EMBRACE programs allowed students to earn credit recovery in reading and math and also to explore opportunities in science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) projects. When the program was announced last spring, district officials anticipated 6,000 students would attend — many referred by their teachers when the teachers believed a student would benefit from remediation during the summer.

More:What parents, students, Savannah need to know when school starts Wednesday

The whole idea was to make the experience so fun and engaging the students wouldn’t realize they were getting caught up and learning something new.

It worked.

“One of the things that I noticed immediately was [student] attendance. I rarely had anyone absent,” said Natachsa Hampton, the summer program coordinator at Gadsden Elementary School during the second session in July. “The students that came, they wanted to continue to come.”

Hampton said the students and volunteers were engaged and excited to be there every day. “I think it was a combination of the excitement of being in person with a teacher. They were so engaged [and] listening to the teacher. I didn't have any discipline issues at all.”

In addition to the "three Rs”, students also had practical experience in the three Cs — soft skills in communication, collaboration, and cooperation.

“The children got a chance to practice their speaking and listening skills and their problem-solving skills, which relates to STEAM and our big STEAM initiative and the partnership we have with Loop It Up,” said Bryant-Evans. She added the children demonstrated higher-level thinking, “which is a positive thing. We wanted to make sure everything the children did was engaging and fun,” she added.

While fun and engaging, activities were aligned with Georgia state standards. For example, in first grade, students learn about food. At Hodge Elementary, students learned from Chef Alexander Mack how to make spaghetti from scratch. Gadsden students made ice cream — and learned some basic chemistry at the same time.

School leaders are hopeful the students’ enthusiasm will continue as students return to school on Wednesday.

“When we had our Fourth of July break, parents called [saying] ‘when are they coming back? My children are ready to return’,” said Jacqueline Harris-Solomon, assistant principal at Hodge Elementary, and the school’s summer program coordinator. “They really, really enjoyed the entire program. The curriculum that we use for summer EMBRACE was project-based learning. So the children really enjoyed all of the hands-on activities.”

Community partners 

Molly Lieberman, executive director of Loop It Up Savannah, credits the success of the program to the many community partners and volunteers who stepped up to share their expertise with the students.

“Vallerie Cave dreamed up the program and [Loop It Up’s] collaboration before departing for her new position as superintendent for Colleton County [South Carolina] Public Schools,” said Lieberman. She said Krystal Bell, district director of school improvement, worked with her “through every detail to make sure everything was successful at each school.”

Community partners included Live Oak Public Libraries, Bike Walk Savannah, Rape Crisis Center of the Coastal Empire, The Mediation Center, Savannah Music Festival, 21st Century Community Learning Centers; the school district's Career, Technical and Agriculture Education (CTAE) department, which provided student employees to help with workshops, and PACK Savannah, which provided weekend food bags for students.

Additionally, student teachers from local colleges received opportunities to work alongside mentor teachers and guide students as the student teachers prepared to enter their own classrooms after completing their teaching credentials.

Maia Small, a senior from Georgia Southern University, tutored at Hesse K-8 School, working with eighth-grade students in English/language arts. Due to the pandemic, Small did not get the traditional opportunity to work with students in the classroom during her junior year.

“Since this experience, I am able to piece together the pedagogy [I learned] in the classroom to apply to this summer program,” Small said. “The experience has been excellent and rewarding. I was delighted to see students' growth over just a few weeks, keeping in mind some students have not been in a school setting [for] the past year.”

Barbara Augsdorfer is the education and nonprofits reporter for the Savannah Morning News. Reach her at BAugsdorfer@gannett.com or on Twitter @Babs7983.