SAIL-ing to academic gains

Summer Adventures in Learning, the Birmingham-centered collaborative of summer learning programs, has expanded to 30 sites this summer offering academically-enriched summer recreational camps, primarily to low-income children.

Children from low-income families often re-enter school in the fall having given up academic progress they’ve made during the school year. SAIL aims to counter this phenomenon, known as the “summer slide,” by providing learning opportunities along with summer fun. The most successful of these programs have seen children make two to three months of academic gain rather than the typical two to three months of slippage that low-income students typically experience.

SAIL was launched in 2012 with the support of six funding foundations and organizations. In 2014, ten funders have provided a total of $675,000 enrichment grants, an increase from the $500,000 provided in 2013. The programs are being offered throughout the Birmingham region, spreading out as far as Jasper and Pinson to the north and Alabaster to the south.

PARCA is assisting in the administration of testing for the students before they begin the programs and as they complete them. The results are used to identify the success of particular models and approaches and flag areas needing improvement. Since early June, 1,344 students have taken STAR assessments for Renaissance Learning, a testing program widely used in public schools. Testing has been conducted at computer labs at multiple Birmingham City and Jefferson County Schools and with the assistance of computer resources from the Woodlawn Innovation Network and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Testing will be performed again at the end of the camps, which typically last five to six weeks.

SAIL funding organizations include the Alabama Power Foundation, the Belk Foundation, the Joseph S Bruno Foundation, the Caring Foundation (Blue Cross and Blue Shield), the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, the Daniel Foundation of Alabama, the Mike & Gillian Goodrich Foundation, the Independent Presbyterian Church Foundation, the Junior League of Birmingham, and the United Way of Central Birmingham. The supporters meet throughout the year with the summer camps and instructional providers to examine the generated data, to learn from each other, to devise quality standards, and to exchange cost-effective solutions to common problems.