Upper Cumberland Schools Have Learning and Fun in Summer Programs

Summer learning programs continues this week at schools across the Upper Cumberland, and educators say the students are both learning and having fun.

Putnam County Pre-K through 4th grade Supervisor Jill Ramsey said the state-mandated programs help close the summer learning gap they see in students. Ramsey said the program will also help with gaps in learning from COVID.

“We saw gaps in that end of the year skills that kids covered in particular from Kindergarten to 1st Grade,” Ramsey said. “The end of the year is when they introduce the letters.”

Ramsey said they plan on following the kids enrolled through the years to measure the impact the program has had on their learning. She said there are some thousand kids enrolled, with about 800 in the elementary age-range.

Jackson County Middle School Principal Gary Tinsley said that students took a pre-test before coming to their program. Tinsley said based on formative assessments, he thinks there are already improvements in the students.

“We’ll know at the end when they take a post-test, but I do feel like we’re seeing some progress,” Tinsley said.

Tinsley said that program is more of an educational camp, rather than a traditional summer school.

“I think a lot of the districts are probably doing what we did, a lot of people put time into planning it, so it’s really a summer learning camp, not the traditional summer school,” Tinsley said. “We’ve got a lot of activities going on, we’ve had the fire truck come out and talk to all the grade levels, and got to have a water day, we’ve got the 4-H Extension coming out making ice cream as a STEM activity with the students.”

Tinsley and Ramsey both said the goal with their summer learning programs was to be both an educational and fun experience for their students.