VALDOSTA — Education never takes a vacation.
That is how Carlos Hundley, educator and Advancing Valdosta volunteer executive director, approaches the Bridging the Gap: Summer Reading Loss Prevention program.
Now in its fifth year, the program, formerly known as the Summer Reading and Feeding program, is a collaborative effort between the Southside Public Library, Advancing Valdosta Incorporated and the Second Harvest food bank.
Hundley decided to rename the initiative “Bridging the Gap” to better reflect its comprehensive approach. The program aims to address the learning gaps that K-12 students may experience in various content areas, including reading, writing, mathematics, social studies, science and study skills.
During the summer months, Hundley said students often experience a learning deficit, forgetting much of what they learned in the previous academic year.
“A couple years in, bridging the gap became the official name of the summer initiative. A couple years ago, I decided that the emphasis is really a little bit beyond just focusing on helping students with their reading or their Lexile learning capability. It was a lot more comprehensive and it involved covering all of the content areas that we teach in the school system, which is reading, writing and mathematics, social studies, size and study skills. And so what happens is during the summer months, there’s a gap or a deficit and learning with a number of students and so they tend to forget a lot of the learning that they learned from the previous academic year,” he said.
Bridging the Gap aims to prevent this loss by providing targeted instruction and engaging activities.
The summer classes are typically held at the Southside Public Library. However, due to ongoing renovations, Hundley anticipates that the venue will not be available until September 2023.
Despite concerns about transportation challenges caused by the change of venue, Hundley expressed gratitude for the parents’ support.
“The parents have really stepped it up this year by bringing their children to the program and picking them up without any issues. The first day, we saw over 30 children make it to class and I’m confident we’re going to see a lot more,” he said.
To measure the impact of Bridging the Gap, the program will be piloting an evaluation this fall. Hundley has sought the assistance of a local epidemiologist from the Department of Public Health to compile the data gathered during the four-week series. Hundley is optimistic that the evaluation will reveal a positive impact on students’ learning when they resume classes in the fall.
Bridging the Gap will be held on Monday-Thursdays from 9:30 p.m.- 1:15 p.m. at 1998 Old Statenville Road until July 20. For more information call 229-262-9982.