Spring Hill Intermediate
May 17, 2019
20:5 Pledge to Excellence!
Message from Dr. Guidry, Superintendent SHISD
As we come to the close of another school year, I would like to thank everyone for playing their part in making this such a successful school year. In every school district it takes a collective effort from each teacher, administrator, coach, paraprofessional, custodian, parent and community member to raise our kids successfully.
As we eagerly await our summer vacation, I would like to begin discussing one of the greatest challenges in our current education system ~ the summer slide. Simply stated, summer slide is the term for the learning and skills loss occurring during the break between school years. Research shows students may lose up to two months of reading and math skills over the summer. The loss is often so great teachers may spend six weeks in the fall re-teaching old material to their students. Educational stimulation over the summer months is a key component to students’ academic success each fall semester.
As a parent I struggle to make my own children participate in any type of structured learning to lessen the impact of the summer slide. In order to combat summer learning loss with all Spring Hill students, I would like to implement a very simple form of structured learning for the 2019 summer vacation. I call it 20:5 Pledge To Excellence. We are challenging all SHISD students to read at least 20 minutes per day 5 days a week during the summer months. Each Friday we will provide a SHISD Facebook post so you can upload your child’s picture if they have completed the 20:5 program for the week. We would love to see pictures of students reading in various settings and sharing favorite book titles. We look forward to seeing your student’s picture as our learning community works to prevent the summer slide!