Summer Learning

Date came into force or revised

Issued July 1, 2013

Status

New

Policy statement

This policy outlines the circumstances in which the Ministry of Education and Child Care will provide operating grant funding to boards of education for eligible student summer learning claims.

Summer learning courses must comply with Section 82 of the School Act, which requires boards to provide instruction in an education program sufficient to meet the general requirements for graduation, free of charge, to every eligible school-age student resident in British Columbia, as well as the educational resource materials necessary to participate in the education program.

Rationale or purpose of policy

To maintain focus and commitment to student choice by providing multiple learning options for students throughout the calendar, the Ministry of Education and Child Care committed to provide funding for school-age non-graduates for any course that leads to graduation based upon a set funding and reporting schedule.

Authority

Section 81 and 82 of the School Act (PDF)

Policy in full

Summer schools are assigned a separate ministry school code for this reporting.  Districts must request a school code by contacting the Ministry’s Data Management Unit.

All students attending summer school must be assessed and assigned a mark.  The courses/programs and marks must be reported to the Ministry in the October SADE submission.

Eligible students may be reported as attending multiple schools and districts.

Eligible students are school-age non-graduates meeting the criteria set out in the K-12 Funding-General Policy, and are:

1. Enrolled and attending at the Grade 1 to Grade 7 level, for the completion of courses that align with the provincial curriculum, and are offered for a minimum of 40 hours; or
2. Enrolled and attending in Grade 8 to Grade 9 level courses that align with the provincial curriculum, and are offered for a minimum of 40 hours; or
3. Enrolled and attending the following in Grade 10 to Grade 12 level courses:
   • Four-credit courses (80 to 120 hours) that meet all the provincial or board/authority authorized learning outcomes within the provincial curriculum; or
   • partial credit courses that align with the provincial or board/authority authorized curriculum and are offered for a minimum of 40 hours

Summer Learning students may also be eligible to receive supplemental funding for Indigenous Education, English Language Learning or Inclusive Education funding, if the requirements of these programs are also met.

Respective funding rates are per the current year’s operating grant manual.

Those not eligible for summer learning funding:

• Students in Kindergarten
• School-aged graduates
• Adult students
• Students taking part in summer camp
• Grade 10 to 12 and SU students enrolled in Distributed Learning programs
• Out of Province/International Students
• Students enrolled in a Provincial Resource Program for 3 months or less
• Exchange Students
• Pre-primary or early child education students

Courses must be offered, taken and completed between July 1 and August 31 of the current calendar year.

The following courses are not to be reported for summer learning funding:

• Career Life Education
• Career Life Connections
• Youth WORK In Trades
• Work Experience
• Support Blocks
• Prior learning assessment credit granting
• Tutorial time
• Teacher Consultation
• Courses completed via challenge

Procedures

School districts must comply with the Form 1701: Student Data Collection Completion Instructions for Summer Learning and Form 1601: School Data Collection Forms Completion Instructions for Public Schools when submitting Summer Learning student and school data to the Ministry