Bessemer school district planning ‘third semester’ to fight ‘COVID slide’

BESSEMER, Ala. – Students who have experienced learning online during the pandemic are showing symptoms of something educators are calling a “COVID slide,” or a brain dump of certain lessons and skills.

Bessemer City Schools is holding what they’re calling a “third semester,” a more intensive version of summer school.

Third semester is a more targeted and enriched learning program that will involve re-teaching and going back through some of the concepts that were interrupted or were just a little tougher to grasp than normal, given the circumstances of learning them during the course of the pandemic. Students won’t have an entire day of just sitting in the classroom either, the third semester model will be hands on to make sure students are better prepared when they go back to class in the fall.

“There is a heavy focus on academic standards in the morning, and for the afternoon for our third semester for K-11, we are going to make sure there is a level of fun, still connected to teaching and learning but engaging, enrichment and acceleration activities or academic assignments and activities for students to engage in,” explained Dr. Autumn Jeter, superintendent of Bessemer City Schools.

Third semester will begin the second week of June and go through July, with more details to come for interested parents.