Times Observer file art Warren County School District has waived the usual fees for summer school in order to help address learning loss that may have occurred due to COVID-19 closures, restrictions, and quarantines.

COVID-19 is driving the bus with respect to summer school again this year.

In the past, the Warren County School District’s summer school programs were mostly intended to help students who failed a course get back up to speed.

For a few years, some students have taken classes in the summer to give them additional flexibility during the school year.

Last year and this coming year, summer school has added the role of combating “learning loss.”

“Recently, we’ve been trying to provide it as learning opportunities to close learning gaps,” Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Eric Mineweaser said. “It also seems to have shifted at the high school level for some students entering ninth grade to provide flexibility in their schedules for more core and/or elective courses.”

“Our feeling is that we will need to continue to analyze all the data we can get based off our local benchmarks as well as our PSSA and Keystone scores to see where there are potential gaps,” Mineweaser said. “Summer school can certainly assist with learning loss and that’s something we’re really trying to push – especially for any student who may have failed a course during the 2020-2021 school year.”

In 2020, summer school was offered at no cost to all district students.

“We offered it to all of our K-12 students and it was done via virtual learning,” Mineweaser said.

District officials wanted to offer a way to address learning loss from the months students were out of the school buildings.

“In relation to elementary and middle level summer school, the goal was to provide enrichment and remediation for any interested student,” Mineweaser said.

That will be the case again in 2021.

Elementary programming will focus on opportunities to build on English language arts and math skills, as well as enrichment activities.

Middle levels students who did not receive passing scores may take any core course virtually. “This is providing them the chance to combat any learning loss during the pandemic,” Mineweaser said.

At the high school level, students “have the opportunity to take credit recovery courses for any core course they may have failed,” he said. “They may also take a handful of electives and core content courses for initial credit.”

The will be free again this summer and applications will be available on the district and school websites. “The fees were waived in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic related to potential learning loss and gaps that we will continue to face for a while,” Mineweaser said.

Summer programming grew in 2020 and administrators expect another year of elevated attendance.

“In 2020, there were more students than in years past,” he said. “We expect a similar number this year.”