WATERLOO REGION

Jelena Lapcevic really likes her science teacher in summer school.

"If he says a definition, he repeats himself. He explains it twice," says the 14-year-old from Kitchener. "If you need help, he'll help you out."

Each day, for most of July, Jelena gets up early to come to Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute. She spends nearly three hours a day retaking Grade 9 science with teacher Matt Schroeder.

She says she failed science last year because she couldn't understand the concepts, and she was too intimidated to ask for extra help. But she wants to "be normal like everyone else," so she's grateful for this class and this teacher.

There are a total of 3,700 credits being taken in summer school this year, including programs run by both the public and Catholic school boards.

More than 85 per cent are students who are retaking courses they failed last year.

Those kinds of students are on the decline, officials agree, because schools are doing a better job at keeping students on target during the school year.

Teens at risk of failing a class now get pulled quickly into "credit recovery" or "credit rescue" programs that offer intensive extra help during the school year. That means fewer students are failing in the first place.

But those spots in summer school are quickly being swallowed up by the more ambitious students.

"There are students here that didn't necessarily fail," says James Stickland, principal of the Catholic board summer school program.

"There's a student that has a mark in the 80s. He's trying to up his average for a scholarship."

So he's retaking the course.

And there are students who are "reaching ahead," taking a course they'll need next year.

By taking it in the summer, they can lighten their academic load next year, leaving breathing room for sports, part-time work and other extracurricular activities.

Some of these students -- more than 150 of them -- are also being pushed into the classroom by the recession, says Mary Anne Richer, principal of summer school for the public board.

"The biggest reason (for taking an extra course) is people didn't get jobs" for the summer, Richter said.

There are also summer school courses to help Grade 7 and 8 students ease the transition to high school, and for those learning English. Richer said it's a different experience for teachers, too.

The teaching style changes when you've got a group of students, some of whom haven't done well in the past, focusing for nearly three hours a day on one subject.

You have to constantly switch teaching styles, from a lecture style to having the students do a group project, then perhaps watch a video that reinforces the material.

"It's hard to keep the students engaged," says Schroeder, Lapcevic's science teacher.

Yesterday morning, he talked about the atom, filling out a worksheet on an overhead with the class.

Then he showed a video, featuring television personality Bill Nye the Science Guy, who pointed out how much space there is between the nucleus and the electrons. He also does a Trivial Pursuit-type game with the students as a group project. This helps each student learn the material in his or her own way, but makes for a busy morning.

"I need to be always moving," he said.

"The more applicable I make it to their lives, the easier it is for them."

ldamato@therecord.com