\u00a0For Jana Langhoff and her son Tyler, summer days don\u2019t look drastically different from when school was in session.<\/p>\n
Tyler, who finished his first-grade year at home like the rest of his Howard Elementary School classmates amid Oregon\u2019s statewide school closure, didn\u2019t thrive while learning from a distance. And the catch-up instruction his school is offering him this summer won\u2019t work much better, since his teacher still must connect with him over a computer instead of face-to-face.<\/p>\n
Tyler, 6, had been settling into a routine just before the COVID-19 pandemic,\u00a0<\/b>but the ensuing restrictions disrupted that rhythm. If you ask his mother, she\u2019ll tell you Minecraft has been a more effective teaching tool than anything his school offered him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just not having the teacher there,\u201d Jana Langhoff said. \u201cGetting back in the classroom would be great. I know he\u2019s falling behind.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s that lack of connection that makes online summer school less appealing to the Langhoffs and to some older students as well.\u00a0<\/b>Citing the health risks of coronavirus, Howard Elementary\u2019s leadership decided on an online-only model for its first summer school, available to students who need extra help preparing for the next school year.<\/p>\n
Students of all ages, from kindergarten through high school, saw their quality of education lessened and academic trajectories slowed this spring, with students in poverty and without stable housing most likely to have lost ground.<\/p>\n
But one group of Medford-area students is getting a new palette of summer learning opportunities this year, a positive result of the school closure. The school district\u2019s annual migrant summer school is offering career and technical courses for the first time.<\/p>\n
Though COVID-19 precautions continue to affect delivery methods, the summer offerings in Southern Oregon\u2019s largest school district are further-reaching than they\u2019ve ever been, with expanded programming to support students spanning the K-12 system. Multiple schools launched virtual programs to remedy learning loss this summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0For Jana Langhoff and her son Tyler, summer days don\u2019t look drastically different from when school was in session. Tyler, who finished his first-grade year at home like the rest of his Howard Elementary School classmates amid Oregon\u2019s statewide school closure, didn\u2019t thrive while learning from a distance. And the catch-up instruction his school is offering him this summer won\u2019t work much better, since his teacher still must connect with him over a computer instead of face-to-face. Tyler, 6, had been settling into a routine just before the COVID-19 pandemic,\u00a0but the ensuing restrictions disrupted that rhythm. If you ask his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2966,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n