TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — It's full steam ahead for summer school sign-ups in Tucson Unified School District.
TUSD said severe widespread learning gaps during the COVID pandemic have made this option more important than ever.
Curriculum Assistant Superintendent Flori Huitt said it'll take a lot to get students caught up.
“There are academic losses and they are severe,” she said.
“Especially in Math,” said Heidi Aranda, Sr. Director of Curriculum, “Across the nation, what we learned through COVID is that students struggled to learn Mathematics remotely.”
Like so many districts, Tucson Unified is addressing some of the learning losses before the next school year.
They said summer school is by no means a full fix, but it's a starting point.
“It's to reengage our students back into our environment after a year of being at home and in remote learning,” said Huitt.
To get kids really engaged, the district is taking a non-traditional approach to summer classes.
It's using a more hands-on learning approach to get kids excited about being there.
“We have the science based curriculum and it's going to be more exciting,” said Huitt, “There are manipulatives. And just make it more exciting, not only for our students but our teachers as well.”
Recruiting teachers to work through summer is another challenge for the district.
For the first time, TUSD is offering summer school to every student at all campuses.
“It definitely depends on our teachers stamina and willingness to come out and provide that instruction to our students, so we're going to do our very best to recruit them,” said Huitt.
TUSD is offering these options online and in person to every student at all campuses.
For more information on summer school sign-ups, click here.