As the 2017 MLB season nears the All-Star Break and the ensuing dog days of summer, students across the country are ending school and likely soon to forget much of what they just learned.
To counter this effect, MLB and education technology company EVERFI have created “Summer Slugger,” an online course aimed at 4th- and 5th-graders that helps them retain basic skills like math and vocabulary.
“Each fall, teachers spend an average of 6 weeks re-teaching their students old material that was lost during the summer months. This summer slide creates long-term consequences that only widens the achievement gap particularly for students from low-income communities,” EVERFI CEO Tom Davidson said in a statement.
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The course, which is free and available across the United States, focuses on mostly foundational math and literacy tools, according to a Wednesday news release announcing the partnership and course. Particular areas of focus include spelling and grammar, vocabulary, and various aspects of math and geometry. The course is designed to feel like a baseball game that will take place over 18 weeks, extending from the end of the 4th-grade year into the beginning of the 5th-grade year.
The program is divided into twice-weekly series. Each series is supposed to take 10 minutes to complete, and the entire course can be completed in five to seven hours, often the duration of a single school day. The program also offers an option to complete the course in as little time as necessary; each series becomes available after the completion of the previous series. Consistency and progress in the program offer the potential for rewards.
“We are pleased to announce this digital education platform with our new partners at EVERFI,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred Jr. said in a statement. “Summer Slugger will help address a critical academic issue among young people around the country while also providing a fun, interactive baseball experience for children on their favorite tech devices. The summer months are synonymous with our game and this is a great opportunity to have a positive impact on students through this program.”
Currently, 14 MLB baseball teams are involved as partner locations in the program. Among them are the New York Yankees, Washington Nationals, Colorado Rockies, St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers. The Yankees were effectively represented at the Harlem introduction event by Torre, who managed the Bronx Bombers from 1996-2007 and a run of World Series championships.
Joe Torre, MLB’s Chief Baseball Officer and a Hall of Fame manager, presented “Summer Slugger” at Harlem’s DREAM Charter School — an academic and sports enrichment center — according to yankees.com.
“We had this one thing that we always told the players: ‘If you don’t use it, you lose it,'” Torre told about 200 kids at the event. “They were sharp when the season ended, and the thing about playing baseball, and really about life, is that you want to learn something every day.”