Research shows that much of the achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children is due to the “summer slide”, or summer learning loss. A team at Johns Hopkins reported that while low-income and middle-income children made similar progress during the school year, the better-off kids continued to make progress throughout the summer, while disadvantaged kids fell back. By the end of grammar school, low-income students had fallen nearly three grade levels behind their better-off peers, and by ninth grade, “summer learning loss could be blamed for roughly two-thirds of the achievement gap separating income groups.”
Basketball
Team Up Philly sends a group of campers every year to Friends’ Central’s Basketball, Reading & Math Clinic for a five-week comprehensive summer experience. Classroom and court skills are stressed equally, and students also spend time every day engaged in lively discussions designed to encourage them to think through and thoughtfully express their opinions on a range of subjects.
Tennis
Team Up Philly fills its van with students from its school-year tennis programs for five weeks of tennis and life skills camp, held at Rosemont College. Coaches and volunteers provide positive mentoring, and camp is enriched by daily academic activities to help prevent the “summer slide.” Summer is capped off by a special trip to Germantown Cricket Club to watch the National Senior Women’s Grass Court Championship tournament, enjoy a healthy lunch on the porch and participate in a tennis clinic on the grass courts.
Girls’ Leadership Camp
Team Up Philly celebrates the end of a year of accomplishments by girls in our programs with Girls’ Leadership Camp (formerly “Camp Katie”), a adventure-packed week introducing the girls to a variety of cultural, athletic, and fun activities. Yoga, African dance, hiking, preparing meals for MANNA, cooking, public speaking training and hiking are some of the activities we have enjoyed together.