ISD 191 presentation: summer programs, VPK and kindergarten jump start show measurable gains for participating students

Superintendent Teresa Battle and community education staff on May 8 told the Independent School District 191 (ISD 191) school board that district summer programming, voluntary pre‑K and a kindergarten jump start program show measurable academic growth for attendees.

Allison Jordan, supervisor of community education, said the district assembled longitudinal data for students who attended the Area Learning Center (ALC) summer program, VPK and kindergarten jump start and compared those students with peers who did not attend. “Students who participated in summer school demonstrated an average growth of 11 points compared to a 5 point growth among students who did not attend,” Jordan said of math results, and for the district’s adaptive reading measure she said, “Students who participated in summer school showed an average of 34 points, while those who did not attend experienced only about a 7 point growth.”

The staff presentation broke the results down by demographic groups. For Black/African American students (the presentation noted this includes Somali families as reported by staff), summer program participants averaged 12 points of math growth compared with 7 points for nonparticipants, and about 32 points of reading growth for participants. For Hispanic students, the math growth was reported as about 10 points for participants versus about 2 for nonparticipants; reading growth for Hispanic participants was reported as about 26 points versus about 9 for nonparticipants. For multilingual learners districtwide, Jordan said summer participants showed about 31 points of growth on both math and reading measures compared with roughly 3 points for nonparticipants.

Jordan said the analysis used a cohort of students who attended summer programming over multiple years (2021–2024) and that the average sample size for summer students during that period was 761. She cautioned that some cohorts include students who were new to the district, which can affect results: “If we did not provide this programming for students, we believe the gaps in learning would be far larger,” she said, and also noted “this data might be a little skewed because last summer, there were about 43 students who were brand new to our system and had never done school before.”

On voluntary pre‑K (VPK), Jordan said roughly seven of every ten VPK participants subsequently enrolled in ISD 191. The presentation showed VPK students consistently outperforming non‑VPK peers on early reading screens and later reading measures; Jordan called out improvements over time on Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCA) reading scores for VPK students compared with non‑VPK peers.

The kindergarten jump start program serves incoming kindergartners with a full‑day, kindergarten‑like summer experience. Jordan reported about 25 percent of incoming kindergarten students attended jump start in the most recent cohort. Fall early‑reading screening results showed a larger share of jump start participants in the low‑to‑some‑risk categories compared with nonparticipants, but winter assessments indicated improvements for jump start students (for example, winter early‑reading low‑to‑some‑risk percentage for jump start rose to 68 percent from 55 percent in fall). On early math, staff reported a modest shift toward improvement between fall and winter for jump start students as well. Jordan summarized: “Although the jump start participants are not outperforming their peers academically, the data suggests that the program supports a smoother academic transition into kindergarten.”

Board members asked about capacity and outreach. Jordan said registration for summer programs remained open and district staff model staffing needs in advance; sections and placements depend on the number of staff the district can hire. If a program is at capacity, the district uses targeted outreach and wait lists and calls families in the first week of summer to confirm attendance and fill openings. On VPK specifically, Jordan said the district had never had a waiting list until the prior year and that ISD 191 worked with the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) to secure additional seats when needed.

Several board members suggested broader community distribution of the findings and asked staff to consider formal family surveys to better understand why some eligible families do not enroll in VPK. Director Mickelson asked whether the district asks families why they chose not to enroll; Jordan said the district does not have a formal questionnaire but has anecdotal information — other child care options, changed eligibility rules, late moves or a lack of awareness.

Jordan and Jason Sellers, director of community education, concluded by noting the program staff and community partners who supported data collection and program delivery. The board did not take action; staff said they will continue to monitor cohorts and consider programmatic changes based on the results.