Summer school: The essential bridge

For thousands of students across the region, summer school is no way to make up work or squeak through to the next grade - it's an essential part of their school year.

"It helps me learn," said Janita Vazquez, 17, a Philadelphia student whose teachers say she's thriving in an extended-school-year program. "It helps me read."

An increasing number of special-education students require longer school years. More students need the summer weeks as a bridge between grades so they do not regress and are ready to learn new skills in September.

Many special-education students have extended school years written into their individualized education plans - legal documents that determine which services they qualify for.

Some districts run their own programs; others rely on outside providers.

The Philadelphia School District pays Valley Forge Educational Services, the Chester County nonprofit group that runs the Vanguard School, for Vazquez to spend six summer weeks working on math, reading, and vocational skills.

A six-week extended-school-year session costs $6,870.

Lessons are hands-on. When it is time for math, Vazquez's teacher, Michele Seel, might take the class of seven students, ages 15 to 17, out into the community to buy food or order a meal.

"A lot of them can do it on paper, but once they get into a restaurant, it's different," Seel said. "We work on that."

Classes are small, with an average adult-to-student ratio of 1-4. Physical, occupational, and speech therapists are on-site, along with counselors, their services integrated into a regular day. Students' disabilities range from mild to severe.

Vazquez, who has academic and social learning challenges that place her behind grade level, has blossomed, her teachers say.

"Kids feel relaxed here," said Holly Zipperer, director of Summer Matters, an arm of Valley Forge Educational Services. "They're not the exception to the rule. They feel comfortable."

Districts from Philadelphia to Lancaster County pay to send 165 students to the extended-year session at the Vanguard School, one of many programs in the region that offer such services.

On a recent day, the 28-acre campus in Tredyffrin Township was alive with activity. In one classroom, students in a program for people ages 18 to 21 played a game of SAT Prep Jeopardy, tackling words such as opportunist, wan, and somnambulist.