Summer Academies: Boosting Senior Year Readiness

Students nationwide submitted more than 4.3 million applications last year to pursue various postsecondary education pathways. Though technology and the Common Application have made college planning more streamlined, the reality is that many pieces of the process applications, essays, school selection, resumes, etc. — are still a daunting endeavor. Students only click that “submit” button after having already dedicated considerable time completing a multitude of steps, and a completed application isn’t the only piece in the postsecondary puzzle, though it is a critical one.

Educators in RISE’s Core Network recognized that the amount of steps involved in completing an application and the lack of scaffolding for students at each stage of the process creates a challenging experience. Tracking each individual milestone completion leading up to a completed application, as well as the various milestones that happen before and after, is crucial to a student’s ability to manage the entire process. What could school teams do to build awareness of the time and steps required and give students a head start on the work? Enter the Summer Academy, a pilot program launched in the summer of 2018 at Platt, Maloney, and East Hartford High Schools.

Summer Academies invite incoming 12th graders to get a head start on completing postsecondary milestones before they begin their senior year by participating in a one- to two-week program during which educators connect with students to review the steps necessary to pursue postsecondary goals, including the college application process.

“The impact of Summer Academy is that you’re helping 80 or so of your students to complete as many of their milestones as they possibly can before the school year,” said James Donewald, Assistant Principal for Maloney High School in Meriden. “Giving them that time alleviates much of the anxiety of postsecondary planning. The program helps create a better transition to senior year for our students.”

As in past years, the work didn’t stop when Summer Academies concluded. Throughout the school year, educators provided direct follow-up support for students, with Grade 12 improvement teams leveraging meeting spaces and the RISE Data Hub to monitor students’ progress in achieving their postsecondary milestones.

“The relationships we built over the summer allowed us to get right to work in the fall,” said Jenni Melnik, Summer Academy Coordinator and College & Career Counselor at Middletown High School. “Summer Academy gave students the confidence to complete their applications early and meet their goals.” All 67 students who attended Middletown’s Summer Academy successfully applied to at least one college by December, a benchmark date RISE educators collectively established to build urgency amongst their graduating seniors.

The positive impact for those students who attended Summer Academies was clear (see opposite page). These figures are encouraging as we continue to build upon Summer Academy programming as a key transition support for rising seniors.