Summer school is beneficial for high school students because it helps students get their education completed faster and helps prepare students for college.
During summer school, students have one subject that they will learn for how many semesters they choose to take. Students can either choose to take one semester which is three weeks of the class or both semesters which is six weeks.
Additionally, students have the same teacher for both semesters and get breaks throughout the day just like in school. This helps students become more familiar with the class and fellow students when they have non-academic time.
The classes in summer school do not start as early as classes during the academic year do which means that kids will not be as tired in the morning and will be able to pay attention in class. Normally, classes start around eight in the morning and only go until twelve o’clock in the afternoon.
Because of this, students are not as drained at the end of the day, which provides them with lots of time to hang out with friends or go do activities for the remainder of the day. The summer school ‘year’ even has breaks in between the two semesters and days off throughout both semesters which gives even more time to go on vacations.
Classes in summer school move faster than a regular class would, and since the teachers only have three weeks to teach a semester, they have to speed up the learning process. This benefits the students because they will always be learning something new which will keep students engaged in the class.
Because of the narrowed timeframe, instructors teach multiple lessons a day but require less assessments. The students will have quizzes after some of the lessons and will have ‘end of the year’ tests after a semester or quarter is completed.
Since students spend the whole day with the same classmates and teacher in summer school, teachers can focus on helping the students excel in whatever subject matter they are teaching since they only focus on one. This helps form a better connection with the teachers and students.
When it comes time to begin applying to colleges, the students can ask their summer school teacher for a letter of recommendation if need be because the teacher knows them very well.
Summer school is a wonderful opportunity for students to earn enough credits to take elective courses and still graduate on time. A band or choir student can take summer school to catch up on their classes and be able to graduate.
Students who are looking to graduate early are also able to take summer school to help complete their classes before graduation. For example, a student needs four years to graduate, so they can take English for a year in summer school.
Some students and parents might be afraid that since it is summer the students might be more distracted and not pay attention in class or skip the class. In summer school the administration has a system that says if a student misses more than a certain amount of days, they will not be allowed to come back to summer school. District 202’s system is that a student is only allowed to miss two days before they are unable to come back.
According to Bright Mont Academy blog, summer school has less distractions than a real school day has, and the students are better focused. Some distractions might include the stress that comes with taking multiple classes.
Overall, summer school classes are beneficial for students, because they help get their education done faster and help students make new connections.