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After-school program Paiges reports reading gains, expansion across three elementary sites
Summary
District staff presented results and operations for Paiges, the district’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers after-school program, reporting enrollment, staffing, community partners and measured reading-growth data. Board members asked about capacity, funding stability and how to advocate if federal grants decline.
The Corvallis School District’s after-school program supported by the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) grant — presented to the board as Paiges (sometimes referred to in the presentation as Pahinas/Paiges) — is operating at three elementary sites and showing measurable reading gains, program coordinator Emily Peterson told the board.
Paiges operates at Lincoln, Garfield and Letitia Carson elementary schools Monday–Thursday from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m., Peterson said. Enrollment reported during the board presentation: Lincoln — 46 students with seven staff; Garfield — 24 students with four staff on-site (two additional bilingual educational assistants rotate to cover a Spanish-intervention slot); Letitia Carson — 40 students with seven staff. The program provides a full supper prepared by the district before outside recess and an academic/enrichment rotation that includes social-emotional learning, STEAM, reading and math intervention.
Community partners include Smart Reading, which provides weekly one-on-one adult readers and free take-home books; the Corvallis Environmental Center, which provides nature educators and hands-on lessons; and the Crescent Valley STEM Outreach Club, whose high-school volunteers deliver STEM lessons. Peterson said those partnerships are a consistent program highlight.
Reading outcomes presented to the board show Paiges students performing above the average of the three sites on a number of benchmark items used for early readers: decoding words-per-minute (district sites average about 6.5 words per minute; Paiges students averaged about 9 words per minute), real-word decoding accuracy and one-minute accuracy percentages (district average about 8.5 percent accuracy; Paiges students about 15.5 percent accuracy on the assessed measures). Staff said the program intentionally pairs intervention programs (SIPs for English decoding and El Próximo for Spanish) with enrichment to accelerate reading growth.
Board questions focused on capacity and funding. Peterson said most sites are at or near capacity; space, staff and funding limit expansion. The program is primarily funded through the federal 21st CCLC grant; staff noted that continued federal support is uncertain and recommended advocacy via meetings or correspondence with legislators and area congressional offices.
“Every student outside every day” was cited as a program goal during the presentation; Peterson said staff track social-emotional and academic indicators and use district benchmarks and program assessments to make day-to-day instructional decisions. Board members commended staff for the program’s rapid development and asked staff to continue documenting student outcomes for future advocacy.
Sources: Emily Peterson’s presentation to the Corvallis School District Board; Q&A during the meeting.
