Fifteen second graders are beating authentic African drums, following the rhythms of the Ghanaian musicians leading their drum circle outside at Rock Creek Elementary School this July. The students are smiling behind their masks and when they are invited to get up and dance to the music, they start moving their bodies excitedly.
When they go back inside, their teacher reads a book about Ghanaian culture, and they look at maps and talk about the culture of Ghana, from their foods and sports to clothing and burial traditions. The students learn how to say hello and goodbye in Akan, one of the Ghanaian languages. At the end of the day, the students bring home their excitement for school and share what they’ve just learned with their families.
This is the magic of Camp Achieve, the summer program founded and funded by the Beaverton Education Foundation (BEF). It mixes academic learning and positive school experiences while preventing the dreaded ‘summer slide’, when students can lose critical amounts of reading, writing and math skills gained during the school year.
“The day the students did drumming, and really every day of Camp Achieve, my daughter came home so excited about school,” says Chanel Sheragy, BEF board member and mother of a Rock Creek Elementary School student. “Earlier in the pandemic, it was hard for my daughter to connect with her new school and make friends. But this summer, she was sad when we picked her up at the end of the day — she didn’t want to leave!”
Scaling Up a Model
“When first envisioned, the intent of Camp Achieve was to prevent the summer slide,” says Brian Curl, principal at Raleigh Park Elementary School, one of the first Camp Achieve sites. “We soon realized Camp Achieve was an opportunity to couple academic interventions with enrichment opportunities. And this summer, we knew we really needed to re-engage students with school.”
Research shows most students lose more than two and a half months of grade level equivalency in math over summer break, while low-income students on average lose two months of reading skills as well. This is in contrast to their peers who often make slight gains in reading during the summer months.
Camp Achieve started at one school site in 2013 and thanks to the vision and support of BEF, says Curl, additional schools soon started offering Camp Achieve summer programming to students identified by teachers as most in need of academic interventions.
With federal CARES Act funding available to school districts this summer, BSD quickly tapped into the Camp Achieve model to offer academic interventions and enrichment to all students who wanted it, and about 2,300 enrolled. With the combined support from BEF and a grant it received from the Meyer Memorial Trust, as well as state funding, BSD was able to use the proven Camp Achieve format to scale up summer programming much faster than other Oregon school districts.
The greatest beneficiaries this summer, says Curl, are the students who might not have had an adult around during the day, could have had limited access to food or books during the summer, or have infrequent opportunities for structured and regular movement during the day. This summer, 80% of Camp Achieve students were current or former English language learners or migrants, and 21% had disabilities.
Education Cloaked in Enrichment
Sheragy appreciates how enrichment opportunities, like music, arts and sports, turned into a summer of meaningful education for her daughter. “I was worried she’d missed out on some foundational learning in kindergarten,” Sheragy says. “But Camp Achieve helped her stay on top of her academic skills and be prepared for starting a new grade. I could see that for myself in the writing she brought home and I could see her confidence return.”
“This summer, I wanted my daughter to return to loving school and enjoying learning,” says Sheragy, “and my expectations were exceeded. We are so fortunate to have this tried-and-true model of Camp Achieve at BSD schools and that so many students can benefit from it.”
