Teachers at Roundstone Elementary School use time during the summer to develop curricula, improve teaching strategies, and analyze data.

Their work starts the week after school is out, when they spend four days of compensated time refining instructional units. That week is followed by workshops that, this past summer, zeroed in on the writing process and included help teachers had requested with writing prompts. During evenings once a week, technology courses were offered, and nearly the entire staff attended each course. Compensation is not provided for teachers' participation in the workshops and evening technology courses.

Using time during the summer for this work is important, a Roundstone teacher explains, because, "During the year, when you have the children, you are so concerned about their individual needs that it is difficult to develop quality questions." She and other Roundstone teachers found that the best time for curriculum work is the week after students leave. "Even though we are mentally and physically tired, if we sit down when everything is fresh in our minds, then we can adjust the curriculum and have the summer to work on the changes so that nothing is thrown in and disconnected." Roundstone's principal notes that this curriculum work has had another important effect: it has created a strong bond among teachers.

When Kentucky began ranking schools in 1990, Roundstone Elementary school was near the bottom. Today and for the past few years, test scores of the 260 students in this rural elementary school have put Roundstone among the state's top performing schools.

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Teachers and the principal at Heritage Hills, a junior/senior high school in the second poorest district in Indiana, have used time during the summer to learn new methods to improve student reading and writing. In July 2000, during the seventh summer academy, they focused on expanding students' vocabulary, using picture books as a source for writing prompts, and developing rubrics for student assessment. Strategies introduced in the summer academy have acted as a springboard for teachers who then spend time during the rest of the summer integrating the new strategies into their curriculum.

During the school year, a literacy consultant works with teams of 6-8 teachers in two-hour blocks to follow up on the summer work. She has helped teachers improve their ability to develop writing prompts, to introduce writing in all disciplines, and to assess student work.

Teachers are not compensated for participating in the summer institute, and not all teachers have been able to attend. Yet ideas from the workshops have filtered into most classrooms. The principal estimates, based on his weekly visits to every classroom, that at least 80 percent of teachers are regularly using some methods from the summer academy.

Student performance on state reading tests has improved. Between eighth and tenth grade, the number of students scoring in the top quartile in reading comprehension rose from 42 to 55; the number of students scoring in the lowest quartile dropped from 37 to 12. Scores on the State Essential Skills Test have also steadily increased, from 53 percent who met the standard in 1992, to 70 percent in 1999-2000. As a measure of student's expectations for themselves, 68 percent of the senior class took the SAT 1998-1999, compared to 51 percent in 1994-1995.

According to Vicki Winkler, a media center specialist and the chairperson of the school improvement committee, none of these changes would have happened if teachers had not attended the summer academy.

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When North Lawndale College Preparatory Charter High School opened its doors for its third year in fall 2000, teachers had already been on the job for two weeks in intensive professional development workshops. As a public charter school, North Lawndale had the flexibility when it was founded to specify in its charter that teachers would be paid on an 11-month salary schedule even though the students attend for only 10 months.

This summer, the entire faculty of 18 teachers jointly attended workshops targeted at two areas. A week-long workshop on team building helped the faculty with communication skills. In a second workshop, the faculty spent four days on recognizing indicators they currently use to assess student achievement and on evaluating skills needed to accomplish complex tasks. The university professor who provided training in assessment is returning at intervals throughout the year to help as teachers refine their ability to design assessments that target specific skills such as fluency and decoding in reading.

This coming summer, teachers will use a portion of the two weeks after students leave to analyze results from multiple assessments. With this information and with the year's successes and failures fresh in their minds, teachers will also use these two weeks to revise curricula and set the calendar for the following year. During the two weeks before school begins, they will continue their work on assessment and curriculum development.

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Before opening this charter school for inner city students four years ago, the founders of North Star Academy and its newly hired staff spent the summer designing the school to reflect their collective vision. Teachers visited exemplary inner city schools, had intense discussions about what they had seen, and brought their own ideas to the table. They decided to extend their school day an hour longer than in other Newark public schools, and they created an 11-month school year.

They designed July to be different from other months. Students attend half-day classes that include a poetry workshop, an interdisciplinary course on the Italian Renaissance, and a class that uses sports to teach statistics. Intensive remedial work is offered for students who need it. Teachers spend the second half of the day improving their own skills. In planning the July time, the faculty picks an "area of concern" on which to concentrate.

This past summer, the faculty chose to focus on technology and performance assessment. For a few days, North Star staff with expertise conducted workshops on how to use PowerPoint and Front Page in the classroom. Teachers spent other joint sessions in workshops on assessment. The faculty focused on what they wanted students to know and be able to do in different disciplines, and on designing tasks that targeted these goals. They also spent time refining rubrics, aligning them so that teachers are all using the same criteria to assess students' work.

During the school year, the faculty continues to develop these skills in faculty meetings and in monthly half-day professional development days. This year the school will continue to hold technology workshops, and time will be provided for teachers to reflect on their experiences with alternative assessments. Teachers are given a "homework" assignment to observe each other's classrooms as a way to improve the quality of these discussions.

Eighty-eight percent of the student body was rated proficient or advanced proficient on the state criterion-referenced test in language arts and literacy, compared with an average of 53 percent in the city as a whole. Sixty-six percent of North Star students earned proficient or advanced proficient on the math test, compared with 24 percent of students across the city. Only three teachers out of 20 have left the school since it opened. A founder attributes this low turnover rate to selective hiring and to the fact that teachers feel ownership for the program, in large part due to the summer sessions.

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Written by Lucy Steiner and Bryan Hassel, Public Impact, with assistance from Alex Medler, Tracy Sisser, Sharon L. Nelson, Terry Dozier, Carole Kennedy, Jennifer McMahon, Peter Kickbush, and Kirk Winters. Supported by the Public Charter Schools Program, U.S. Department of Education.