ISD 191 reports strong participation and measurable academic gains from 2025 summer programs

ISD 191 officials reported to the Board of Education on Sept. 11 that the district’s 2025 summer programming served roughly 3,800 participants and produced measurable academic gains across multiple grade levels. Director of Community Services Jason Sellers and Community Education supervisor Allison Jordan presented the overview; Caitlin Cantola, early learning coordinator, and Courtney Jackson Floback, youth services and credit recovery coordinator, provided program and outcomes detail. The presenters described site‑based enrichment, full‑day kindergarten Jumpstart, adult basic education, credit recovery, and targeted math and literacy instruction as the core components of the summer portfolio.

The report said kindergarten Jumpstart was restructured to enroll students as VPK learners through June 30 so the district could claim 0.6 ADM for those days; beginning July 1 those students transitioned into Area Learning Center programming. Cantola said summer assessments showed the greatest growth in phonemic awareness — work she attributed to teachers’ consistent implementation of the Heggerty phonemic awareness curriculum and an expanded full‑day kindergarten schedule that added music and naturalist specialists and three dramatic‑play rooms.

Supervisors told the board the adult basic education program served 371 students, generating more than 5,800 hours of instruction. The district reported that middle‑grade EDGE programming (grades 6–9) increased participation in fee‑based offerings and that multiple grade levels posted double‑digit gains in math and literacy after targeted instruction, including work by two hired middle school math teachers who grouped students by pretest need. Courtney Jackson Floback said the eighth‑grade STEM Success Academy registered 102 students with 59 students earning 84 credits; the summer credit recovery program enrolled 529 students and recorded 472 credits earned. Of 200 seniors who participated in credit recovery programs during the year, 146 graduated on time; district staff said an additional 69 students graduated after summer programming (those 69 were not counted as on‑time graduates).

Presenters highlighted nonacademic supports, including weekly book checkouts, pop‑up food pantries in partnership with Open Door Pantry, and hiring practices that recruit returning summer staff and high school students as program staff. Staff said these supports and the project‑based, experiential learning model contributed to social‑emotional gains as well as academic growth. The team outlined continuous improvement goals for 2026: revise training for nonlicensed staff, refine K–5 summer curriculum, expand outdoor experiences, and examine summer credit‑recovery structure to support more students.

Board members praised the presentations and asked clarifying questions about wait lists, staffing, and the distinction between on‑time and post‑summer graduations. Director Ault noted 41% of seniors had some connection to credit‑recovery supports across the academic year and summer, and board members asked staff to continue tracking longitudinal outcomes for students who attended VPK and summer programs. The presenters said the district plans to pull follow‑up data in the spring.