Program Description

Salisbury Summer School

Academic Enrichment Program
Salisbury, Connecticut


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For More Information, Contact
Summer School Office
Salisbury Summer School
251 Canaan Road
Salisbury, Connecticut 06068
860-435-5700
http://www.salisburysummerschool.org
E-mail: sss@salisburyschool.org

Type of Program: Reading, writing, study skills, and math
Participants: Coeducational, ages 13–18
Enrollment: 100–105
Program Dates: June 28 to August 2, 2008
Head of Program: Ralph J. Menconi, Director

Location

Salisbury School is set on a hilltop surrounded by more than 600 acres of extensive woodlands, fields, streams, and lakefront in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains. The campus is bordered by the Appalachian Trail to the west, and the Twin Lakes to the north. While seemingly rural, Salisbury is only an hour from Hartford, 2 hours from New York City, and 3 hours from Boston.

Background and Philosophy

Founded in 1946 as a unique program for students in need of academic assistance, the Salisbury Summer School of Reading and English continues to be recognized by educational consultants and educators from the United States and abroad as the finest resource for helping students whose lack of motivation, language skills, and/or self-confidence have prevented them from achieving their full potential.
The Salisbury Summer School of Reading and English provides the comfortable environment needed to learn the most important lesson in all of schooling: how to learn. In a nongraded curriculum, the teachers at Salisbury Summer School are trained to make young people become better students or true students for the first time. Skills training focuses on the study of English through reading, writing, vocabulary development, time management, and note-taking, with an optional algebra review or creative writing course. The skills learned also transfer easily to disciplines other than English and math. Course credits for English and math are available by arrangement with the Director.

Program Offerings

While many summer schools offer reading and study skills courses, only Salisbury immerses students in a curriculum and academic environment structured exclusively to promote better organization and improved reading and writing. Minimizing distractions and maximizing student-teacher contact (a ratio of 4:1), Salisbury employs experienced teachers who also serve as dorm monitors and academic advisers. Students become part of a five-week summer boarding school in which teachers get to know students in all facets of their lives.
All students are required to take the three core courses: reading and study skills, composition, and word skills (outlined below). In addition, students may choose from electives in creative writing or mathematics review. Math offerings cover prealgebra, algebra 1 and 2, and geometry. Students in the Creative Writing classes write poems, short stories, and journals for peer review and discussion under the guidance of instructors trained in these areas. Classes in verbal areas and math include SAT preparation–type assignments as part of the curriculum. Certain class sections are dedicated to serving international students whose English skills are weak.
Reading and Study Skills The core of the Summer School program, the skills course integrates proven reading comprehension techniques and study methods that are designed to help students work more accurately and efficiently in their winter school courses. All students are trained to use a plan book to take assignments, to maintain an organized notebook, and to use a study schedule to plan their time. Outlining provides essential training for the development of skills of logic, discrimination, and orderly thought. Since reading must have lasting value, strategies to reinforce recall and improve memory are presented together with a variety of study systems, in order to synthesize the total study process. The double period course also emphasizes application of the various comprehension techniques. Sentences, paragraphs, and longer articles are analyzed for their underlying structure. Common paragraph patterns such as cause-and-effect, comparisons, examples, and analysis are studied. Other exercises seek to develop discrimination between main ideas and supporting details. The course concludes with how to prepare for and take examinations. Developmental reading classes are given three days per week to all students with the aim of significantly improving each student’s reading rate and comprehension. Reading outside the curriculum is also required of each student, using books of his or her own selection.
Composition This class seeks to give students the writing skills necessary to perform well on the kinds of academic essays and tests they encounter during the school year. Writing practice is given every day, and assignments are structured along the lines of English papers, history essays, or sometimes science laboratory reports. Other composition assignments may include book reports or book reviews, dramatic criticism, and, for older students, timed writings required for the SAT. Peer evaluation, in the form of oral readings, forms part of each class and most papers are revised and rewritten to correct errors. This class also stresses grammatical accuracy and proofreading skills. In coordination with the study skills class, composition class reinforces note taking, outlining, and other organizational techniques. Class texts include a book of writing models, a grammar exercise workbook, and other basic writing sourcebooks. Every composition class has 2 instructors and meets for two periods every day.
Word Skills Diagnostic tests determine the placement of each student in different sections of this course, each of which includes varying amounts of vocabulary, spelling, and word analysis, depending on individual needs. In word analysis, the student examines the structure of language from a phonetic and structural viewpoint; those in need of more remedial instruction focus on decoding skills. In spelling, rules and their exceptions are presented in a systematic manner and commonly misspelled words are examined. Vocabulary study is based on the study of affixes, roots, word families, word histories, and words in context. Emphasis is placed not only on the acquisition of a larger vocabulary over the summer but also on stimulating the student’s curiosity about words and definitions. Word Skills classes also help prepare students for the SAT.

Enrollment

Most students come from across the U.S., with others coming from such countries as Argentina, China, Germany, Korea, Mexico, Spain, and Turkey.

Daily Schedule

8:00–8:30
8:45–12:55

1:00
1:30–2:30

3:00–4:00
4:00–5:00
5:00
6:00
7:30–9:00
9:00–9:45
10:00–11:00

Breakfast
Classes (each class is 35 minutes in length
with a midmorning break)
Lunch
Adviser/advisee conferences, reading time,
or town trips
Recreational sports and activities program
Free time
Quiet reading and study period
Dinner, followed by free time
Study period
Free time
Quiet time in dormitories

Extra Opportunities and Activities

As part of the boarding school experience, the school offers a number of options for the afternoon portion of the day. A shopping trip to town is offered certain afternoons each week. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, every student is required to attend an athletic or activities commitment from 3 to 4 p.m. During weekends, activities include games, swimming, theater trips, movies, and shopping trips. Also on weekends, Salisbury School offers cycling and hiking trips and waterfront activities at a nearby lake and waterfalls.

Facilities

All classes are held in the new, 40,000-square-foot Humanities Center that is located on campus. The new building is a state-of-the-art facility, which also houses the library and computer lab. Students are separated into six dorms by age and gender. Access to numerous indoor and outdoor athletic facilities contributes to a diverse afternoon schedule. These sports and activities include basketball, dance, drama, hiking, music, soccer, tennis, weight lifting, yoga, and others.

Staff

Many teachers have come long distances to teach at Salisbury, and most of them return for many summers, showing their confidence in the school’s program. The faculty of Salisbury Summer School is a diverse group of professional educators who come from both public and private schools. Many are department chairs or division heads at other schools. In recent years, Salisbury School, Suffield Academy, Loomis Chaffee School, and the Gunnery in Connecticut have been represented, as have Tampa Preparatory School in Florida, the Ojai Valley School in California, the Newman School in New Orleans, and the Langley School in Virginia. Salisbury has also drawn teachers from the American School in London; the Maret School in Washington, D.C.; and Robert Moses Junior High School in New York. A small number of teaching interns who plan careers in education have the opportunity to work with experienced educators at Salisbury Summer School.

Medical Care

Medical services are available to all students on a 24-hour basis and under the supervision of an RN and the school physician. Sharon Hospital, located in Sharon, Connecticut, is a well-equipped community hospital with a full complement of board-certified specialists. Students are referred to the emergency room or to a medical specialist when necessary. Students may come to the school’s health Center for evaluation and treatment of illness and injuries, as well as for dispensing of medications.

Costs

Tuition for the 2008 program is $6950, which includes all textbooks, classroom supplies, entertainment fees, and town trip expenses. Room and board are included in the tuition fee. A nonrefundable tuition deposit of $1000, payable on acceptance, is required. The balance of the tuition is due before June 15. Charges for medical needs and transportation, if any, are billed separately.

Financial Aid

Financial aid from the Harold Corbin Summer School Scholarship Fund is available on a limited basis. Inquiries should be addressed to the Summer School Admissions Office.

Application Timetable

Applications, accompanied by a $30 application fee ($100 for international students), are accepted on a rolling basis. Interviews and tours are given throughout the school year. Acceptances are also sent out on a rolling basis, usually within two weeks of a completed application, including interview and recommendations.