Would Your Child Get Better Grades Without a Summer Break?

While the first summer days always begin with excitement and anticipation, nearly all parents eventually start to worry about their child's summertime video game, television, and computer gaming habits. Many parents want to find ways to help children find an appropriate balance between leisure and learning.

Similarly, teachers actively strive to boost children's educational interests over the summer, as many teachers argue that engaging in summertime learning activities helps improve a child's progress throughout his or her formative years. Studies show that by the time a student reaches middle school, a loss of summer reading can potentially account for a two-year setback in reading achievement! Fortunately, to offer parents guidance and support, public schools nationwide have developed new agendas and programs to keep a child's mind active while away from school on summer vacation.

Summer Assignments

While all public school teachers presumably encourage students to engage in educational endeavors over the summer, some school leaders have taken this hope to the next level with required public school summer assignments. Summer assignments in the past have typically been reserved only for the highly ambitious Advanced Placement kids, but schools are now gradually extending various tasks for all students.

As The Chicago Sun-Times reports, over 170,000 public school students, ranging from kindergarten to 7^th, are being provided with workbooks, lesson plans, and reading assignments for their summer vacations. With a new program to avoid students' historical patterns of education-free summers, Chicago Public Schools have dedicated $2.7 million towards helping

Paying for academic performance has become a consistent debate surrounding public schools. Should children be monetarily rewarded for their grades? What are the pros and cons of financially rewarding teachers for their students’ performance?

Amidst all of these questions, a new theory has entered the ring. Some believe that parents should also be financially remunerated for their child’s public school success. To explore this possibility, some public schools across the country are experimenting with controversial cash incentives for parents, hoping that the “bribe” will help parents take on a more active and much-needed role in their child’s learning.

Will Paying Parents Boost Student Performance?

According to investigations from Time Magazine, programs providing cash motivation to parents have been seen in public school districts in nearly every state. While the moral and ethical appropriateness of such agendas continues to be clouded with controversy, recent studies show that these tactics work!

Specifically, a non-partisan social-policy research group, MDRC, found that cash incentives helped increase lower-income students’ performance and retention rates. In their study, MDRC discovered that families offered financial incentives for positive performance earned both increased grade point averages and enhanced feelings of confidence.

Adding to the reports of Time Magazine and MDRC, CNN also examined the potential advantages of financial rewards. Teachers of various public schools in Des Moines, Iowa, were fed up watching students passively fail through each class and semester.

While many public school classrooms have traditionally taught all children using the same lessons and techniques, recent studies show that a child’s unique learning style should also be taken into consideration. Considering that each child has his or her own learning style, public schools are now experimenting with programs to accommodate the individual needs of every student, gifted, normal, or special.

The Various Styles of Learning

According to Learning Styles, a program devoted to helping each learner understand more about his or her own unique cognitive processes, there is no “right” or “wrong” way to engage in an optimal pattern or routine of learning. As each individual has his or her own intellectual strengths, educators and parents should utilize a child’s strengths in order to teach him or her to succeed.

The various styles of learning are typically referred to as “multiple intelligences.” Although a very recent and often debated theory, many educators and public school leaders are slowly recognizing the potential benefits of incorporating the multiple intelligences approach. As many experts support, by allowing students to recognize and understand their own unique methods of learning, teachers can more appropriately use a variety of techniques to adapt lessons for a range of individuals. Additionally, understanding and accepting the various types of learning most often helps to improve the speed and quality of each child’s comprehension and learning. Currently, there are seven identified basic modes/styles of learning:

• Visual – Visual learners prefer learning with

"Coming together is a beginning.
Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success."

- Henry Ford

What is your vision for the school year? Is academic achievement at the top of the list or will this be the year your child breaks out of his social shell? Will your family grow closer or more distant as they face the challenges of another school year? Who will guide your child’s development?

A vision defines a direction towards a goal. Realizing a vision requires support from a motivated group of individuals; a team of people, who band together through adversity, acknowledge achievements and inspire motivation.

This video offers some tips for a successful school year.

Who’s on your team?

According to the United States Census Bureau, today’s generation of school-age children spends the majority of their waking hours in the care of someone other than their parents. Given the influence that teachers, coaches, mentors, and extended family members have on a child’s development the necessity for building a relationship with this group of people has never been greater. Creating a team of focused and motivated individuals who will continually support the ongoing growth of your child requires a new set of parenting skills.

5 Steps to Building Your Support Team

• Create a roster. Who will impact your child’s life this year? Begin by creating a list of the adults who