Cajon Valley Union School District is providing a nurturing and engaging summer camp experience for its students thanks to the hundreds of teachers, counselors, staff and partners who answered the call to serve the Cajon Valley students, families and community.

Camp Cajon is a free summer camp with extended day care that includes daily field trips, outdoor immersion, computer science, engineering, club level sports, performing arts, daily learning explorations and community building activities provided by Cajon Valley teachers.

Camp Cajon is based on the design principles from “Summer Learning and Beyond: Opportunities for Equitable Learning Postpandemic,” a report co-produced by the Learning Policy Institute and the Spencer Foundation that supports schools and districts in developing systems that are equitable, rigorous and meaningful in the pandemic and post-pandemic world.

David Miyashiro, superintendent of the Cajon Valley Union School District, along with several leading educators from the fields of higher education and K-12 research and policy, was invited to participate with The Learning Policy Institute and The Spencer Foundation during Spring of 2020 in the production of this holistic framework for designing goals, practices and activities for summer learning and beyond.

The Six Design Principles for Summer Learning and Beyond include:

1. Center Relationships
2. Create a Culture of Affirmation and Belonging
3. Build From Students’ Interests and Take a Whole Child Approach to Their Development
4. Engage Students’ and Families’ Knowledge in Disciplinary Learning
5. Provide Creative, Inquiry-Based Forms of Learning
6. Address Educator Needs and Learning

The Cajon Valley Union School District drew national attention when it reopened schools for Emergency Childcare for Essential Workers in April 2020. Building on the success of this program and hearing feedback from families that parents needed to work and that their students were struggling amidst shelter-in-place orders, Cajon Valley reopened all 27 of its schools in June 2020 using federal CARES Act funds to create a free, optional Summer Enrichment Program for the district’s students. Under the care and nurturing of their teachers and school employees who know them so well, students participated in small groups, personalized instruction, hands-on science activities, arts, organized sports, swimming and field trips. The district also partnered with Beable, a literacy platform, to organize Summer Spark reading challenge with weekly prizes for students showing the most growth.

On average Cajon Valley students experienced extraordinary outcomes: five times expected Lexile gains and increased levels of hope and engagement. These growth measures remained consistent throughout the 2020-21 school year as all Cajon Valley schools stayed open for their students.

This summer at Camp Cajon, reading growth will continue with Beable, providing teachers with a comprehensive learner record to monitor progress in literacy, social-emotional learning, career development and to personalize learning for each student with ease. Camp Cajon’s six-week program will culminate with celebrations and live performances at the Magnolia Center for the entire Cajon Valley community to attend.

For more information on Cajon Valley Union School District’s Camp Cajon summer program, please visit www.cajonvalley.net/campcajon.