Teachers in the Parks stops the ‘summer slide’

This summer, students and teachers from Exeter Township SD will meet in the park for fun and learning as part of the Teachers in the Parks (TIPS) program. The brain-child of Matt Hathaway, a teacher in the district, the program is designed to bridge the summer gap between grade levels so that students enter the next grade prepared and confident. In 2009, the district adopted the program as a way to fill the need for summer learning in reading and math for students in grades 3-6 without the stigma of traditional summer school. Donations from local organizations and businesses help fund the program in addition to grants. Because the groups of students and teachers meet in parks, libraries or at pools, there is no school building to maintain, and overhead costs are very low. The program has recently expanded to other school districts including Antietam, Governor Mifflin, Schuylkill Valley, Boyertown, Daniel Boone and Reading. For more details on the TIPS program, visit http://www.teachersintheparks.com/.