JCPS' new summer school program offers virtual adventures, big-ticket prizes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Though the ongoing pandemic may mean kids across Louisville are stuck at home this summer, Jefferson County Public Schools is offering up dozens of free virtual adventures through its new "Summer League" program.

Beginning Monday, students in grades one through 12 can log online and be transported across the globe and beyond — from exploring the Australian outback to building a colony on Mars.

They can also explore issues closer to home, from how to be an "activist artist" to making a "podcast that matters."

After months away from in-person classes, JCPS said each adventure is designed to keep students' math, reading and critical thinking skills sharp. (This is summer school, after all.)

But the district also hopes the online activities will be fun — and feel decidedly different than the online lessons students were expected to complete during the final months of the 2019-20 school year. 

"We don't want this to feel like 'NTI,'" said Staci Eddleman, referring to the "nontraditional instruction" implemented across the 98,000-student district after schools closed in mid-March to curb the spread of COVID-19.

And to add a little extra motivation, JCPS plans on rewarding students who take part with big-ticket prizes — including some valued up to $500, said Eddleman, director of federal and state programs for the district.

"We know kids lost out on learning, on socialization, and they've just missed out on a lot," Eddleman said.

"So we would be remiss if we just waited until August," she continued, "and didn't make an attempt to get kids engaged and try to keep those brains active and working over the summer."

More JCPS news:School reopening plan expected to come in mid-July

Making a game of it

With its Summer League, JCPS is reimagining summer school — again.

Last year, JCPS introduced "Backpack League," which brought nearly 900 students to the Louisville Male High School Campus for a month of hands-on learning. JCPS had hoped to double the number of participants this year, but COVID-19 forced the district to cancel.

Since May, the district has been building the Summer League online platform, said Eddleman, who, along with Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Felicia Cumings Smith, has spearheaded the effort.

The biggest change — other than the programming becoming solely virtual — is the "gamification" of JCPS' summer school offerings. As students complete adventures throughout the six-week program, they will earn points on the Summer League leader-board.

At the end of the program, the top point-earners will win prizes. Eddleman said the district hasn't finalized those prizes yet, but they'll be worth some serious cash.

The top three participants in each grade level will win prizes worth about $500 each, she said, with students in fourth through 10th place taking home prizes worth $250, and those in 11th through 20th place winning prizes worth $100.

JCPS is purchasing the prizes with the support of Evolve502, a Louisville nonprofit, which is devoting part of a grant it earned from the One Louisville: COVID-19 Relief Fund to the summer school program.

There will also be smaller "pop-up" prize-drawings each week, Eddleman said.

"We wanted to think about ways to incentivize kids to keep coming back and staying engaged in this," she said. "Not just logging on one time and completing one thing."

Hundreds of adventures this summer

During a normal school year, summer learning loss is a concern for districts like JCPS, which serve a majority of students from disadvantaged households. Amid the pandemic, those concerns have heightened.

And though school districts across the country are scrambling to provide summer instruction, JCPS officials said they're unaware of any taking a similar game-like approach.

Summer League will have two rounds of adventures, each running three weeks.

The first round, which includes more than 120 options for kids to explore, began Monday.

Though JCPS' summer programming has been limited in previous years to younger students, Summer League is open to all students in grades one through 12.

The adventures are organized by "grade bands," with, for example, specific activities listed for kids in the first and second grades and a whole separate slew of activities for students in the third and fourth grades.

JCPS said the activities are meant to serve students based on the grade they will enter during the upcoming school year. But the program is flexible — so if students are reading significantly behind grade-level, for example, they can complete adventures based on the grades they were enrolled in this past school year.

Each adventure includes four or five lessons and culminates in a student creating a learning "artifact" which can be added to their digital backpack. Individual adventures should take about a week to complete, though kids are able to work on as many as they would like, Eddleman said.

At the end of each adventure, students must complete a self-assessment, reflecting on what they learned and how much effort they put forth. From there, they will earn points that will be tracked on a public leader board.

Students can also boost their point totals by completing weekly bonus activities for their grade-level, Eddleman said.

The teachers who designed the Summer League adventures will also be available for virtual "office hours," she added.

"We didn't want to totally negate the importance of that relationship piece between a student and a teacher," Eddleman said. "So our hope is that kids get excited about this and want to log-on and talk to the teacher and ask questions."

More:While JCPS schools wait for June 29, other teams begin practicing

'One-on-one' interventions coming in July

JCPS' adventure-packed Summer League is not the only programming the district is offering this summer.

The district's "Literacy &" camps, which serve third- through fifth-graders, and "AMPED" camps, for students grade six and up, are already underway. Officials said JCPS will also offer career and technical education summer camps for high school students, including one that allows teens to earn their CPR certification.

Additionally, the district is partnering with Louisville Cultural Pass and the summer reading program from the Louisville Free Public Library system.

Participation in each of the JCPS camps, as well as the partner programs, will earn students points toward the Summer League prizes.

Throughout July, JCPS will also run a new program specifically for students identified as being behind in their math and reading skills. The "Empower" camp will combine pencil-and-paper learning with a computer-based program. Participants will also be in the running for prizes.

Teachers providing instruction for the camp will have about a dozen students on their rolls and will provide a minimum of three "live" check-ins — over the computer or the phone — each week, Eddleman said.

Also read:JCPS adds fresh produce boxes to family meal distribution sites

"It's going to be very personalized," she said. "Those interactions are going to be one-on-one and just about what the needs are of that particular student."

Using student math and reading data, JCPS identified 40,000 students eligible to participate in the remedial camp. Each student received an invitation to participate in Empower, but, as of last week, only 3,500 students had registered.

Officials hope to see more students sign up in the coming weeks.

"We may not be able to address all of the gaps and all of the things that (students) missed out on,"  Eddleman said. "But this is a great opportunity just to keep them engaged in learning and practicing content so that they don't start the year behind, as much as possible."

How to participate

JCPS spokesman Mark Hebert said the district encouraged families to keep the Chromebooks loaned to students during nontraditional instruction so that they could participate in summer programming.

The district will make additional Chromebooks and Wi-Fi hotspots available to students participating in the Empower camp, Hebert said.

All of JCPS' summer learning opportunities can be found at https://sites.google.com/jefferson.kyschools.us/summer-learning/home.

Students wanting to take part in the Summer League adventures do not need to register. They can join by clicking on the Summer League icon and then logging on using their JCPS email address and password. From there, they will set up their Summer League profile, including choosing their own avatar and designing a leader-board banner.

JCPS has not yet announced its reopening plans for the 2020-21 school year, but officials said they hope to take pieces of Summer League into the fall.

 "We're trying out some things that may be a model ... for us as we're planning for whatever comes next," Eddleman said.

Mandy McLaren: 502-582-4525; mmclaren@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @mandy_mclaren. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/mandym.