CMSD Proposes 'Summer Learning' To Deal With Pandemic Learning Loss

Updated: 11:17 a.m., Friday, April 2, 2021

Summer classes and academic enrichment programming for all students are part of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s $19.5 million plan to make up for lost learning during the pandemic, according to paperwork CMSD submitted to the state April 1, as directed by Governor Mike DeWine. 

According to the CMSD Extended Learning Plan posted to the district's website, summer classes will be broken up into two sessions over an eight-week span to provide more “access and choice to our scholars, families, and staff in the summer from June 7 through August 6, 2021.”

Cost estimates listed in the proposal include $10 million to pay teachers and staff, another $3 million for instructional materials and $2 million for books. A $75,000 personal protective equipment budget is also included.

“The structure will be in-person and students will be broken into small, targeted cohorts for academic instructional supports in the mornings,” according to CMSD. “The morning will consist of an academic focus that is targeted towards filling the gaps of unfinished learning and academic enrichment. The afternoon will have a strong social emotional learning focus that is activity-based.”

In documents submitted to the state, CMSD called the plan “a work in progress” that will be “updated on a regular basis.”

“The district is working on a far more detailed plan that will provide many options for CMSD families,” the district told ideastream in a statement.

CMSD expressed to the state that based on recently collected data, there is a need for academic support in a wide variety of areas, including:

• Kindergarten readiness, with a focus on language development and numeracy;

• Early literacy and numeracy development;

• Literacy for kindergarteners through fifth graders;

• Disciplinary literacy and writing for sixth through 12th graders;

• Developing conceptual understanding and skills of whole numbers, fractions and percentages for third through eighth graders;

• Social Emotional Learning;

• Focusing on academic language development for English learners; and

• Developing Specially Designed Instruction (SDI) for students with existing Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and making intervention specialists available to provide direct instruction for part of the day during summer learning.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more infromation becomes available.