Ep 78 | Summer Slide or Summer Strong?

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I was looking earlier at our national report that just came in. Um 85% of our participants either gained or stayed at reading levels. Um, and it I think the gain average was like one and a half grades above where they're at right now.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

That sounds really major. Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Escambi County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. No one wants their kid kicking off their next school year to a slow start. But how do you prevent your child from the summer slide and their reading skills? My next guest is the executive director of the Freedom Schools program. And today he's going to share how creativity, sensitivity, and planning can help kids in Escambia County start their next school year strong. Creative problem solver, community campaigner, Tate High graduate Tori Jones. Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 1:17

So can you paint a picture of what the need for a program like this looks like for Escambia County specifically?

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Yes. In Escambia County, we are one of the least fluent counties, probably in the country. During the summers in Pensacola specifically, as a native, I can speak to from my experience as a community member and my experience as a member in the education field. Most of our kids are either not in programs or they are in programs that some perceive to be more like childcare. So they're not in a position to where they can increase knowledge or have support systems in place that help them retain the knowledge that they just gained during the previous school year. And so there is a significant indicator in our graduation rates that speak to the need to have a device in place during the summertime that will help them when it comes to, you know, educational games.

SPEAKER_00 2:30

So you said programs. You're talking about summer programs.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Summer programs.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

And when the graduation rate, are are you implying that the summer slide and how big that slide is has an impact on their graduation success?

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 2:47

Yeah. You know, there are a few barriers in place. The economy being one, you know, parents just not being able to land jobs that will help them earn enough income to put their kid in a program that would offer a literacy component or a Steam component. And then there is just the survival mode that most parents fall into as well. So their engagement levels are kind of low and they don't have time to explore what is out there. Um, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Yeah. So you're saying that parents who are, you know, working multiple jobs, for example, are just trying to make sure that the kids stay alive. They're not worried about like, how can we make sure that you're at the, you know, fifth grade reading level, little Johnny? Because they're just trying to put food on the table, basically.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

For sure. And it's interesting because once parents find themselves in that space, their idea of good parenting is finding as much opportunities for their children to have fun, which, you know, is kind of the direct opposite of what's needed for to support their brain development, which will prepare them for the real world post-high school. So it's tough.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Yeah. And when you say fun, you're talking about like the indulgent fun. Because you know, learning can be fun. But that's like but the fun that I think you're talking about is the educational equivalent of eating dessert every day.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Wow. Yes. For sure. Just freedom in our community just means the to be able to go outside and run up and down the street, have access to a corner store, and and you know, a few coins in the pocket to buy some Debbie cakes. And that's our summer in a lot of for a lot of us anyway in this community.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Was that your summer? Is that right?

SPEAKER_01 4:40

For sure. Yeah. Sun up, you're out, you're on the streets, you know, tossing around a football, playing basketball, just running up and down the street, convenience store once or twice, you know, some now and later's Debbie cakes, and you know, just exhaust exhausting all that energy. School is or education, reading books, none of that stuff is is thought about during the summertime.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

So that sounds like it's a problem that's been happening for a while because I there's a temptation, I think, to associate the problem with kids not reading now to the increase in apps and screens. But I mean, you you, I think, are similar to age and me where we didn't have all that and you're you still did not open up a book during your summer break.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

So we found we will find distractions because, well, I say because, but there are a lot of reasons. But I know for some of us, those reasons include not having that adult figure in the house to encourage us to grab a book, right? Well, why would they encourage us to grab a book? Because that's not how they're able to pay bills right now. And their trajectory career-wise isn't necessarily the highest ceiling either. And so if the parent, generationally speaking, doesn't have a buy-in to that process, it's hard for them to pass that on to the kids.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

So they don't have the the grandma or the auntie, you know, like my both my grandmother and my aunt are teachers. Yeah. So summer, if we didn't read, we got in trouble. And it was like, here's your books. We went to the library every week. Very, even though, you know, we were in a rural community where being smart wasn't cool, it didn't matter because I had these strong women in my life that were dragging my butt to the library and saying, pick out five books or we will be here all day.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Yep. So we we had folks like that, but they were absolutely the minority. You, you know, you knew of those kids and their parents with the mean parents, the mean grandparents that made them read, made them go to the library. But they were absolutely in the minority. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

So how does that that dynamic influence your mission um now in the program to get kids on board with reading and preventing summer slide?

SPEAKER_01 7:07

I was lucky enough to get influenced to begin to appreciate education, but that didn't happen until much, much later in my college years. But I saw what it did for me. The benefit of, I don't know, doing homework, coming to class, preparing for tests, studying for tests, and being able to pass, especially, you know, when I started college, I had financial aid like a lot of folks did. And then my performance resulted in me losing that aid. And so there still was this mission to live up to the expectation of my mom, who was a single mom, who provided for two kids, one of which was special needs. So I felt in debt to her, and her only expectation was for me to complete college. And so losing financial aid did not mean that I could just drop out of school. So I started to have to pay for school. Well, when you have to pay for college and you have to repeat a class, you really kick yourself in the wrong, right? So how do I get out of that rut? I I start studying and reading and paying attention in class, and so you now you change your network, you change your your circle of folks that you associate yourself with, and you see how how they get through these classes and and what uh goals and aspirations are to them. And it it just changes things, and it changed things for me, and it led to me wanting a career.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Wow, it changed everything.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

And then how did you get to this program?

SPEAKER_01 8:42

So Freedom Schools was looking for an executive director, and I saw an advertisement for it. And the first thing I wanted to do was set my eyes on the program because I thought that it was more of an after-school type of program. But I walked into the administrative location and I met one of the folks there and learned a little bit more about the program and just fell in love with the concept.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

So And so how does it work? What's the structure at Freedom Schools that duplicates the total turnaround experience that you had in college?

SPEAKER_01 9:18

With Freedom School, we it's a it's a national program. Our national sponsor is Children's Defense Fund. They have a research-driven model that all of the national sites follow. And so it starts with three hours of integrated reading curriculum that the kids that we facilitate each day with teachers. We have a good student-teacher ratio as well, one uh teacher for every 10 kids. And so the focus is there, the ability to really engage with the child is there as well. And then we we round out the program with our afternoon activities. And so this could be an opportunity for them to just have a field day, so to speak, or go out and play kickball, et cetera. But we use that as an opportunity to expose them to different disciplines within the Steam platform. So science, math, arts, all those things. And this is everyday.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

Are all of those um exposures to the Steam disciplines at the same location, or are you going to different places to do that? What does that look like?

SPEAKER_01 10:30

So we have had the pleasure of engaging in a variety of community partners. For example, Pence Cola Mess Hall. They actually bring their program to our sites physically. And then we have partners that we actually go to their facility. For example, Pensacola Little Theater as an example. And they have a performance that they do for us, and uh it gives them that exposure to, you know, the arts. Uh but so we do it in a variety of ways.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

I can, I'm starting to see how this paints a completely different picture of what kids would normally be experiencing just hanging out at the corner Circle K versus, you know, you're going to Pensacola Little Theater and you're hanging out with the kids at Mess Hall. You're reading three hours a day. Are there reward incentives wrapped in all of that for the kids? Or do they have certain like weekly goals during the program?

SPEAKER_01 11:31

So right now there's not a reward that I can speak to, but we are trying to create ways to participate in the program. For example, you know, if we have a partner that has services that they do throughout the year, right? Outside of just those six weeks in the summertime, maybe providing a scholarship to one of our scholars would be a great incentive for them to attend a program, right? Because it, you know, some of the like my daughter was in gymnastics gymnastics, right? There's a fee associated with that. And not all folks can afford to pay that fee, right? But if we can enable our participants to afford those things, then again, that I think would be just added exposure to those things that we traditionally don't have access to can change their outlook on what they can become.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

On what it's what's accessible.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

I love that. Now, three hours a day of reading for six weeks in the summer. Three hours a day, Tori, that is very tough. Significant. I can read for about an hour a day before I get the wiggles. How are you helping kids who have the chronic wiggles to read three hours a day?

SPEAKER_01 12:55

So the integrated reading curriculum that I speak of, these authors are some renowned authors. They're books, they're colorful, they're vibrant. There are activities associated with the lessons that are inside of the books. And so all of that stuff is mapped out in national training for our teachers, and then a few weeks of local training as well.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Wow, that's amazing. And what's the age range that of children that can participate in the program?

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Right now in Pensacola, we're focused on kindergarten through eighth grade.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Okay. That's a pretty important time frame in a young person's life.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

How do parents enroll their kids in that program? Is it something that they would hear about at school?

SPEAKER_01 13:37

So we do try to partner with the local elementary schools and local middle schools and the administrative office there and provide flyers and get the word out that way. And then outside of that, it's just our website.

SPEAKER_00 13:53

How are the locations chosen? Like how many um locations is this happening in? Is it in the schools or are there other buildings that allow you to come in and operate?

SPEAKER_01 14:05

So we're still kind of exploring that. We had three locations uh this past summer because you know, we all know that in Pensacola, transportation is a is a key issue for us. And so trying to bring the program as close to home as possible really is a goal. And so right now we're we're just in the midst of identifying, you know, the best prospects for where we're going to be housed at.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

So if someone was listening to this, let's say, a parent who had some good connections for you, what would be an ideal couple of spaces that you would like to be plugged into for this?

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Churches, schools, community centers. Just if you think about where you're the community in which your your children are at, right? Ideally, a walkable situation would be great, uh, which is what we did with Montclair Elementary School this past past summer. And we had a few of our clients that did walk. But just we're we're really open to anything because we have the ability and and the the way our program is structured to make any house a home for us.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

So are there particular parts of town that you want the program to be in, or are you trying to spread it out and have it in every corner?

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Every corner would be great. But, you know, we do try to stick as close to area housing developments as we possibly can. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:35

How effective has this program been so far?

SPEAKER_01 15:39

It's been significantly effective. I was looking earlier at our national report that just came in.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

That sounds really major.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:59

That's I mean, compared to sliding backwards, that is light years ahead.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

Because we know, you know, repetition is is a thing, and no matter what you're you're doing, right? It it helps you learn and it helps whatever you've learned stay with you. And so you don't get those reps in over the summertime. A lot of us lose. I I can tell you, you know, I remember starting the eighth grade or the ninth grade in a pre-algebra class or whatever the case was. Yeah, I didn't remember any of that material. Right. Just it wasn't. I was that kid. I was these kids that we target now through and through. And so I I know the the struggle and I know how important it is just to touch it over the summertime.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

It must have an impact on the kids' confidence as well to go into that first day of school and the new school year and sit down with the feeling that they are not gonna need a refresher. They're not gonna have that learning curve all over again.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Right. So anybody who is familiar with the program, they know that Freedom's freedom schools is big on cheers and chants. And so that is a part of something that we do daily. It's what we call our morning harambe, which is Swahili for come together. So we unite in the morning time, we go through a a few cheers, a few chants to prepare our scholars to engage in the learning process. And it it again is the model is to do it every day. And it as much as the literacy component is important to the program, the cultural enrichment is equally important. And so that's where that instilling the confidence and all those things comes into play too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

I have goosebumps thinking about that. Imagining the the kids and the their little faces as they much must be doing the the back and forth calls.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Yeah. So it's difficult initially to get that buy-in sometimes. Now you do get kids that, you know, they come in, they they drop their book bags, and they are really into it. You have a couple like that. But, you know, it does take a day to several days for a few of them to kind of loosen up and and and start participating. But once they get into it, man, they, you know, my kids attended freedom school for the first time this summer. And, you know, they are kind of introverted, not necessarily social butterflies, and weren't necessarily thrilled about participating in the program. But, you know, I'd be cooking and all of a sudden I'm hearing some of the cheers and chants. I'm like, is that my kids doing this? And yes, they, you know, it it transforms, their energy is just transforming. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

I love that. Before we wrap, are there any other examples that come to mind when you think of transformation of kids or kids and their families?

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Well, I do have, you know, a couple of students who were, and I'll use this as an example, they were homeschooled students and, you know, talk about introverted, extremely introverted, just nervous around people in general because they had been homeschooled their whole life. And so in preparation for them not being homeschooled this upcoming school year, their parents brought them to freedom schools. And it was a slow transition, right? And they so they both ended up writing speeches at the end of the six weeks. And in the speeches, they spoke to how they never had confidence, they never believed in themselves, and they were afraid to really engage and interact with people and how Freedom School has forever changed that about them. Now they have goals, now they want to get into public speaking. And so that for me kind of, you know, solidified what we do as a program and who we are.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

If you could speak directly to the parent that you imagine that is the perfect uh part of the family that you want to be participating in freedom schools, the parent that you might not be getting f Face time with on the regular basis, but if you had the opportunity right now, if they were, let's say, listening, what what piece of advice would you give them to help their child prevent summerslide?

SPEAKER_01 20:20

Yeah. So it's difficult to be a parent in this community given the limited amount of resources that we have knowledge of. It's not that the resources aren't there, right? We're so focused because we have an abundance of responsibility and we're engaged in trying to meet the demands of those responsibilities. So, you know, there's a challenge to attend this informational session about this program or, you know, learn about, you know, how the this service provider can offer a service to you. So Freedom Schools is a program for the community at no cost. And so we provide, we're already supporting you in that way, in a in a sense of providing that child care over the summertime at no expense to you. In addition to that, right, we're providing services that you would pay uh a good deal for. So the other important thing I think to to uh mention is our parent engagement. It is a part of our model to have weekly parent meetings. And so my goal with the program is to not just keep you engaged and informed on the progress of your child, right? But we want to wrap our arms around the entire situation, aiding you in your career development and your career aspirations, just finding a way to meet the needs that you have is of great importance to us as well. So with Freedom Schools, you're not just getting uh daycare, you're not just getting a summer camp, you're getting an invested community partner that wants to partner with you on your parental journey.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

Well said. Thank you so much for coming and sharing about this today. The goal of this podcast is to let parents know about the resources that are out there in a way that doesn't take up more of their time because they can listen on the go, in the car pickup line, commuting to work while they're doing their, as you said, multitude of responsibilities. So thank you for being a part of that. This was great.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

I'm grateful to be in a position to be here. So thank you for having me today.

SPEAKER_00 22:42

Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Scambia County Public Schools.