It’s that time of year again. The school year is coming to a close. For some, it may be time to pay the piper. How were the previous 10 months spent? Depending on this answer, it may or may not be wise to take summer school.

The purpose of summer school is for students who came close to passing and just need some minor reteaching to master the missing content. The other reason to take summer school is for students who barely passed. A student who barely passed will likely struggle next school year in the next level of math.

Catching Up – For the Failing Student

Don’t take summer school if you are in need of a wholesale re-teach. (A meeting with the instructor may be needed.) The reason many schools have a cut-off (mine is 55) to qualify to take summer school is that the deficit may be too great to overcome in just a short period of time. Summer school is usually about 4 weeks in July. Typically, a student with very little content understanding is unlikely to learn in 4 weeks what they couldn’t do (or wouldn’t do) in 10 months. So you will likely need a complete do-over of the entire course next school year.

Also, don’t take math in summer school if you don’t want to do hard academic work during all your friends’ summer breaks. They slightest temptation will sideline your objectives. It’s okay to step up to the plate again next school year. Not everyone is in love with math. Although algebra has many finance applications, and geometry has many building implications, you aren’t likely to use conceptual math in real life. The best use of time may be in nailing down your elementary functions (adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing) and maybe some basic algebra and geometry.

So catching up involves getting some assistance on a few key topics in which you struggled. When I have taught summer school, I have used a diagnostic tool to pinpoint the students’ exact areas that I need to focus on to help that particular student. Beyond sharpening the saw, I’m not going to waste time drilling students on things that they have already mastered.

To summarize, catching up means you were close to passing and just need a little tweak to unleash your understanding.

Keeping Up – For the Barely Passing Student

Keeping up is usually for students who passed but not necessarily with flying colors. Let’s say you barely passed Algebra 2 with a D or even a C. You may not be as ready as you could be for PreCalculus. If possible, it may be beneficial to retake Algebra 2.

I chose PreCalculus, because I teach this course in my school. In any event, each school year in PreCalculus, I am presented with a batch of transcript chasers who are not in any way, shape, or form ready for the level of rigor they are going to come into. I estimate that about half (actually maybe a little more) of my students are not ready for this level of rigor needed by a successful student. If you want the PreCalculus trophy on your transcripts, you have to be willing to go through the blood, sweat, and tears.

So often, we see students who know that such courses look good on their high school transcripts. But rather than go all out on the course, they will shore up academic weakness by becoming joiners. Remember that the number one correlation with college success is the high school transcript. Sure, extra-curricular activities can look nice on your college admission applications. But they don’t look so nice when they were gathered to offset the optics of bad grades in challenging courses.

In summary, don’t take a course like precalculus if you can’t factor trinomials without photomath. Beside your teacher can tell when you have used photomath. Although the technique used may work, it is often a technique that no reasonable math student would use due to its unnecessary complexity.

Leveling Up – For Ambitious Students

I once had a senior Calculus student who passed Algebra 2 her junior year. Since she wanted to take Calculus her senior year, she decided to take PreCalculus – a Calculus prerequisite – during the summer between her junior and senior year. Now that’s dedication! And it’s a perfect example of leveling up.

Sometimes, policymakers are looking for new math electives. There really aren’t any math courses beyond the calculus that could be offered to high school students (possibly real analysis). So they are usually looking for an easier course that can be offered for students who are not able (or willing) to take the hard courses — either because they lack the bandwidth or don’t possess the work ethic.

The irony is that these courses often become leveling up courses that many student truly enjoy. I am reminded of my personal finance class. This is a course that primarily focuses on financial content, but the math still takes on a secondary role. In a manner of speaking, this is a “Keeping Up” and a “Leveling Up” course. It helps students become better at arithmetic skills that they will actually need in life. The tertiary skill is the good feeling that students are learning topics they will most definitely encounter in real life.

The Bottom Line?

The choice to take summer school will usually depend on the reason for the retake. The two main reasons are that a student barely failed or barely passed. If the student barely failed, then they can sharpen what they were good at and shore up any weak areas. If they barely passed AND are going into a challenging course like precalculus, they would probably benefit from a retake of the same content to solidly their understanding moving forward.

Until next time…

Remember that success is a planned event. Believe in yourself.

Pay attention, do the work, and don’t give up!

And don’t forget to check out my new YouTube channel!

www.youtube.com/@PlanetNumeracy