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After over a year of pandemic schooling, and after now receiving a huge influx of funds,  at least some districts have begun thinking about what summer school might look like.

I say some because one thing that has been made transparent over the past year is the lack of skilled leadership in many districts, and I’m sure that quite a few haven’t even begun thinking about it yet.

Despite overwhelming evidence that just throwing time at learning challenges without modifying what and how content is taught is a recipe for disaster, I fear that many districts will ignore the research (see The Best Resources On The “Summer Slide”) and push for a lengthy classes with an idea of just trying to “cover” content.

Sigh.

Here are a few articles that I hope will inform the thinking of at least some districts:

Teacher: What’s missing from calls for summer school to stem ‘learning loss’ is a piece I wrote for The Washington Post.

Summer school programs are set to grow. Here are 6 tips for making them successful. is from Chalkbeat. This is a great piece, though I disagree with their argument against online teaching. I think good teachers can make it very engaging.

3 Studies for District Leaders to Read as They Plan for Learning Recovery is from Ed Week.

As the school year ends, many districts expand summer school options is from The Washington Post. For what it’s worth, it includes a quote from me:

“Many teachers, including me, are exhausted right now from teaching during the pandemic,” said Larry Ferlazzo, who teaches English and social studies at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento. “Many of us are not going to have anything left to give this summer.”

Go back or push forward? Schools look to ‘acceleration’ to fill pandemic learning gaps is from Chalkbeat.

How Educators Are Approaching Summer Learning This Year is from Ed Week.

Summer School Is More Important Than Ever. But Teachers Are ‘Fried’ and Need a Break is from Ed Week.

Education Department Kicks Off Summer Learning Collaborative is also from Ed Week.

I’m adding this list to many others related to pandemic teaching.

How To Use Summer to Close Student Learning Gaps is from The Teaching Channel.

LePage & Jordan: Designing Fun-Filled Summer Learning Programs That Students Will Want to Attend is from The 74.

How the pandemic is reshaping education is from The Washington Post and has an important section on learning acceleration.

Summer school plans hinge on teacher energy is from Ed Source.

DESIGN PRINCIPLES FOR EFFECTIVE VOLUNTARYACADEMIC SUMMER LEARNING PROGRAMS is a new research paper from Annenberg.