Summer Compass Program

Note: Please contact ksmall4@lesley.edu for application materials for Summer 2012.

Note:  If you are a Cambridge parent interested in sending your child to Summer Compass, please check with your child's teacher about the distribution of applications, which is slated for mid-March.

If you'd like to do your student teaching in a dynamic summer urban school program, this may be the practicum for you. Summer Compass involves:

• a 7-week half-practicum and seminar during the Summer semester in a Cambridge public school
• a 7-week half-practicum and seminar during the Fall semester at a Massachusetts public school and Lesley University

Current Lesley graduate students in the School of Education and education students in the Lesley Center for the Adult Learner (LCAL) who are enrolled in the following initial licensure programs should consider this program. Practicum prerequisites apply.

• Early Childhood Education
• Elementary Education
• Moderate Disabilities (PreK-8 and 5-12)
• Technology in Education

The program typically runs from late June through mid August at a Cambridge public school. If you are interested in joining us next summer, please call Kali Small at 617.349.8399, or 800.999.1959 x8399. You may also e-mail ksmall4@lesley.edu for program information and application materials.

• Download a description of the Summer Compass Program [pdf] and visit the Summer Compass web site.
• There's also an extensive history of the Summer Compass program which you can download, Community-Embedded Practice: Lesley's Approach to Professional Preparation [pdf].

Summer Compass Program Description

For over thirty years, Lesley University and the Cambridge Public Schools have collaboratively offered a summer program with a two-fold purpose:

1. It provides a child-centered academic seven-week summer program for Cambridge School children in grades PreK-6, extending and reinforcing the children's learning during the school year.
2. It satisfies the practicum requirement for Lesley students in the specialist teacher of reading (K-12) program, and one-half of the practicum requirement for Lesley students in the Early Childhood Education, Elementary, Moderate Disabilities, and Technology in Education programs. (To complete their field experience requirements, summer Compass students are placed in a second seven-week practicum during the first half of the fall semester. It takes place in a Massachusetts public school, and the accompanying seminar takes place at Lesley.)

The program offers an exciting inclusive school environment using a thematic curriculum format, and prepares Lesley students in a setting where specialists and general educators develop and implement programs together.

The student population is determined by the Cambridge School Department. Approximately 125-175 children from the Cambridge Public School system, grades PreK-6, attend the program. They are selected to insure racial and geographical balance, and approximately 30% of the children are identified as having special needs. The student population reflects the cultural and linguistic diversity of Cambridge. The average class size is 20-25 students, and classes are organized in multi-age groupings. Each classroom features a team, consisting of a mentor teacher and up to three student teachers, and often includes both general and special education practitioners in a co-teaching model. A reading consultant also serves each classroom.

Student teachers are closely supervised by Lesley University supervisors who are on site several days a week. Weekly two-and-a-half hour seminars are held on site for student teachers, to reflect on their teaching and discuss issues related to the Compass program and their licensure areas. Classroom teams meet for an hour after school, four days a week, for curriculum planning and discussion of educational strategies for individual students.

Several staff members from the Cambridge Public Schools and the Lesley School of Education are involved in planning and supporting the Compass Program. In addition to mentor teachers, on-site staff include: a director, curriculum coordinator, language arts consultant, staff assistant, computer teacher, library aide, integration specialist, health aide, and several teens from the Mayor's Kids summer employment program.

Before the Cambridge students begin the program, all staff and student teachers are involved in a week of orientation and set-up. During this time, teams design the classrooms, develop curriculum, meet with special educators from Cambridge to plan for inclusion, and attend several workshops on such topics as classroom management, cultural diversity and English language learning, and the reading/writing connection.

Each classroom chooses a theme for the summer and designs an interdisciplinary, developmentally appropriate curriculum related to this theme. The curriculum emphasizes hands-on, activity-based learning in the areas of language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and the arts. Other program components include computer lab, theme-related field trips, and library. Student teachers in the reading program serve as language arts consultants to the classrooms and work on whole-school activities, such as newsletters.

In addition to the strong academic component of the program, the children have access to weekly swimming lessons. Breakfast and lunch are also provided. Parents and families are involved in the program through activities like potluck breakfasts.

At the end of the summer, the mentor teachers prepare narrative reports describing each child's progress over the course of the summer. Throughout the program, there is an emphasis on collaboration, cooperative learning, interdisciplinary teaching, and building a sense of community. These priorities benefit all participants.

We have received some very positive comments about the Compass program:

• "I believe that the experiences we were able to provide (children) in such a short time will have a lasting effect. I grew a lot by effectively presenting lessons to a group of older children and managing classroom behaviors at the same time." (student teacher)
• "My daughter was very happy with the Compass program. Her reading and writing skills have improved a lot." (parent)
• “My experience at Compass helped me to see the potential and strength that I have in me. This experience woke up my 'teacher spirit'." (student teacher)
• "Compass really helped my child a lot in terms of academics and opportunities to meet new people." (parent)
• "This is a wonderful program that allows students to further and maintain their academic skills. It also allows student teachers to begin working on behavior management skills in a low key (academically) environment." (mentor teacher)