College-bound dive into summer school

CHICAGO — Lauren Smith carefully drew a triangle in her notebook, her shoulders bent over the classroom desk as she calculated the measure of each angle and the length of each side.

It was 10:15 a.m. on a recent Wednesday, but Smith wasn't playing outside, chatting with friends or even sleeping. The 15-year-old sophomore was halfway through the nearly five hours of geometry that she takes every day at Oak Park and River Forest High School.

Summer school was traditionally seen as a remedial operation, a way for students who had fallen behind to catch up. But today, many students choose to hit the books in June and July so they can rack up extra credits — for a fee — or learn the ropes before starting freshmen year. High schools cater to the new type of teenager with an array of college-prep courses.

Many educators now call it the "third semester" of high school.

"When I was in high school, if you took summer school, you were in trouble," said Brian Mathien, summer school principal at Barrington High School. "It's completely shifted now. Kids take it to get ahead."

One factor is that some high-schoolers, like those in Illinois, must take more courses to graduate in recent years. Students may struggle to boost their academic credentials while leaving room in their course schedule to sing with the choir or edit the school newspaper. For some over-scheduled teens, summer classes are the only way to fit it all in.

To be sure, some summer school students still retake courses and make up credits if they failed during the year. But many more enroll to get a leg up.

Measuring how summer school enrollments have changed over time is difficult because of a dearth of data on the subject. However, a 2009 report by the Education Commission of the States found that about 10 percent of the nation's public school students attend school-sponsored programs each summer, and the number of schools offering such classes doubled in the past 25 years.

Educators say summer class listings help explain the draw.

At Oak Park and River Forest High School, students can prep for a college-level biology class, study the history of World War II or even travel to Tanzania to study ecology. For a lighter touch students may dabble in pottery or computer animation, summer school Director Dale Craft said.

At New Trier Township High School, 1,868 students — nearly half of the school's enrollment — headed back to class for summer session. The biggest hits are in-depth science courses where teens learn a week's worth of lessons each day and tackle a week's worth of homework each night.

"It's definitely another semester and it starts less than a week after school is out," said Superintendent Linda Yonke.

On a recent morning, as The Beatles' "Hey Jude" played in the background, sophomores Spencer Michelson and Eric Chang filtered Grape Kool-Aid down to its basic elements — water, red dye and blue dye — and boiled vials of the liquid on a hot plate to detect the dextrose in each solution.

Chang, 15, said he thinks of the summer in terms of the regular school calendar.

"Right now, it's about February," Chang joked.

"Actually, after Monday, it will be spring break. We're in March," said teacher and science division Chairman Gerry Munley. "This is a way of experimenting with time. Kids don't realize all the ways they can learn."

Summer school evolved from so-called vacation schools that began during the late 19th century as a way to keep kids involved and out of mischief, said Kenneth Gold, author of "School's In: The History of Summer Education in American Public Schools."

Nationwide, many educators see summer school more as a way to narrow the achievement gap and prepare weak students to excel during the year, said Jeff Smink, vice president of policy with the National Summer Learning Association.

But summer learning is not free. Gold said that throughout the 20th century, schools caught in a financial squeeze routinely slashed spending for summer enrichment classes. Cash-strapped local schools are confronting the same dilemma today.

Families face other concerns about summer school, too, such as the nagging worry that kids should have a break from the stress of learning.

Oak Park parent Liz Smith hesitated when her daughter asked to enroll in the summer geometry course. Teachers encouraged Lauren, saying she had the skills to succeed in advanced math.

Smith wanted to be sure it was the right fit.

"The class is 4 hours and 40 minutes. I kept saying that to her. But from day one, she never once thought twice about it," Smith said. "You can't do anything but support that."

With two weeks left before finals, Lauren Smith goes to bed by 11 p.m. so she can wake up, pack herself a snack and report for class by 7:45 a.m.

She said it's not as bad as it seems.

"What else would I be doing?" she said. "All my friends are in summer school."