Critical Thinkers Summer Camp Goals

Goal #1: Provide a Christ-centered approach in developing the whole child

As a Christian community, it is our responsibility to do everything we can to “train up a child in the way they should go” (Proverbs 22:9). This entails a multi-faceted educational experience that includes both academic excellence and a biblical worldview. Neither can be exclusive if we are to provide our students with the best opportunity to influence their community and stand firm in their faith. A Christ-centered, academically-excellent foundation is the best way to prepare our students for whatever their future holds. 

Goal #2: Review and strengthen students’ literacy and academic skills

Campers rotate through learning centers spending thirty to forty-five minutes in each center on reading comprehension, creative writing, reading strategies, phonics/encoding/decoding, pleasure reading, and sight words. Working with certified teachers and trained assistants, the campers receive one-on-one and small group instruction that identifies deficiencies and builds their literacy skills in a failure-free setting.  Critical Thinkers Summer Camp learning is based on core content from the Florida Department of Education curricula.

Goal #3: Enhance social skills development and other “soft skills” that are predictors of success

Emerging research demonstrates what intuition has told us: conscientiousness, self-control, and ability to process before acting are all predictors of success, both academic and economic. Critical Thinkers Camp volunteers create a safe space for learning and growing where children are coached to verbalize their feelings, think before acting, calm themselves when frustrated or angry, and to assign themselves consequences for negative behaviors. The methods are non-punitive, allowing campers to take part in their learning, process their emotions in healthy ways and practice new ways of communicating

Goal #4: Prevent/reverse summer learning loss

Summer learning loss is a well-documented problem. Students who do not engage in educational activities during the summer perform worse on fall assessments than they did at the end of the previous school year. Summer learning loss disproportionately affects low-income students, who lose more than two months in reading achievement while their classmates make slight gains. More than half of achievement gap can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities.

Goal #5: Increase access to academic enrichment opportunities for underserved students

Critical Thinkers Summer Camp works to close the achievement gap by offering summer learning opportunities geared specifically for the needs of struggling elementary school students. Importantly, the program model incorporates self-confidence building activities with the literacy learning process, helping campers develop a love of reading and learning. Over 90% of the children who enroll in our programs qualify for the federal free/reduced lunch program, and all are at least one grade level behind in reading skills. Critical Thinkers Summer Camp is offered to qualified applicants at no cost to their families. We seek to enroll children who might not otherwise have the opportunity to attend camp or review and build their reading skills over the summer.

Goal #6: Offer parent engagement training and opportunities

Extensive research has shown that students achieve more in school when their parents are involved in their education. Parents of minority or low-income children are less likely to be involved in their children's education than parents of non-disadvantaged children. If they receive adequate training and encouragement, parents of minority or low-income children can be just as effective as other parents in contributing to their children's academic success. Critical Thinkers Summer Camp parents are required to attend weekly parent engagement activities.