Re: Test-Prep Summer Camps

["gerald w. bracey" <gbracey@erols.com>]

If the students get intensive reading instruction in these camps, should we
then refer to them as reading concentration camps?



----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Schaeffer" <bobschaeffer@earthlink.net>
To: "FCAR list" <FCARFORUM@yahoogroups.com>; "ARN Main List"
<arn-l@interversity.org>
Sent: Monday, May 26, 2003 9:27 AM
Subject: [arn-l] Test-Prep Summer Camps


>                    FCAT READING CAMPS DEBUT
> Third-graders statewide who failed the reading section of the exam hope
>
>          to improve their reading skills during a new summer camp
>                 St. Petersburg Times -- May 26, 2003
>                       by Stephen Hegarty
>
> Last week, 9-year-old Jordan Sanders got out of school for the year.
> He's already headed back.
>
> The St. Petersburg third-grader will be one of the first children in
> Florida to participate in one of the summer reading camps soon to be in
> session around the state. For four weeks he will head to Lakewood
> Elementary for summer camp. Each day he'll get an hour or two of
> intensive reading instruction.
>
> Jordan's father hopes the camp is what his son needs to pass a reading
> test and earn passage to fourth grade. He's one of the 43,000 children
> statewide who failed the reading section of the Florida Comprehensive
> Assessment Test and now might have to repeat third grade.
>
> "I don't want him to lose focus on the reading," said Tommy Sanders,
> Jordan's father.
>
> The camps have been hastily arranged and will be decidedly brief. School
> districts had little more than a month to organize them, learning in
> April that the governor and education commissioner wanted the camps held
> across the state. By the time notification came, most districts already
> spent the money that might have gone to pay for summer school.
>
> In most districts, the lengthy reading camps envisioned by Gov. Jeb Bush
> and Education Commissioner Jim Horne will be something smaller, more
> brief. The Pasco and Hernando county districts, for instance, will hold
> two-week camps starting June 9.
>
> Pinellas will hold a four-week camp starting Tuesday. The cost has been
> estimated at roughly $250,000. Depending on how many children show up,
> the Pinellas third-graders could get an hour, maybe two, of intensive
> reading instruction per day, usually in groups of three kids per teacher.
>
> "We're going to do everything we can, but this is very short notice,"
> said Elaine Cutler, assistant superintendent in charge of elementary
> education for Pinellas County schools.
>
> Although the reading camps are free to families, the last-minute nature
> of the camps also has put a strain on some parents. Some had already
> paid deposits to secure spots in recreational summer camps. Some had to
> adjust vacation plans.
>
> Not surprisingly, there was some confusion about how and when to sign up.
>
> "There are a few details I still don't know about," Sanders said.
>
> Like many parents, he is prepared to send his son to the daylong camp
> but wants to know what time of day the reading instruction will take
> place so he can make sure Jordan doesn't miss a moment of that. Those
> details should be available by Thursday. Wednesday will be devoted to
> assessing the children and scheduling the reading sessions.
>
> Tuesday will be a day for the teachers - who were selected because of
> their experience and ability as reading instructors - to train and
prepare.
>
> One obvious goal of the camps will be to prepare the children to pass a
> tough reading test to earn their way to fourth grade. For some children
> that extra boost will do the trick; the FCAT test was back in March and,
> especially for young kids, a lot can happen academically in a few months.
>
> But the standard on this test is higher than the FCAT passing score, so
> many children still will struggle.
>
> Some educators insist that passing the test is not the only goal.
>
> "Our goal is to make sure they're much stronger readers at the end of
> the summer," said Joyce Haines, general director of elementary education
> for the Hillsborough County schools. "We're not just preparing them for
> a test."
>
> In Pinellas, roughly 700 students have signed up for the camps. That's
> out of the 1,800 third-graders who failed the reading section of the
> Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.
>
> What are their prospects?
>
> Educators and parents are hopeful. They have reason to be: Some kids
> already have passed the test.
>
> At the end of the school year, 300 Pinellas third-graders facing
> retention took the reading test that could earn them a promotion to
> fourth grade. Historically, only about 5 percent of the children who
> fail the FCAT reading test pass the other test. This time, about 7.5
> percent of the Pinellas kids passed. That's 23 out of the 300.
>
> Given the cost and effort devoted to the reading camps, is that kind of
> passing rate worth the effort? Educators prefer to shift the focus.
>
> "If you just look at the pass rate - 10 percent, 15 percent - maybe it
> won't be that successful," said Cutler, the Pinellas assistant
> superintendent. "But it is never a waste of time or money to have kids
> reading with good teachers. So long as they're making progress."
>
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