Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Early Education Summer Programs topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Tea Area presents summer 'Ready to Start' and Frontier bridge programs; early assessments show strong gains
Summary
District staff reported outcomes from the Ready to Start kindergarten readiness program and a Frontier kindergarten→first-grade bridge program: both were grant-funded and produced measurable pre/post gains on classroom assessments and NWEA checks.
Tea Area School District administrators and teachers reported that the district’s Ready to Start summer program and a new Frontier bridge program produced measurable gains in early literacy and numeracy, district staff said.
Administrators said Ready to Start enrolled 41 students this summer in three 15‑student classrooms and ran 20 four‑hour days (five weeks, Monday–Thursday). Staff presented pre/post classroom assessment data showing growth in early math and phonics skills: one‑to‑one counting rose from about 50% on the pretest to 100% on the posttest; writing numbers to 10 rose from roughly 3% to 83%; letter‑sound knowledge increased from about 30% to 83%; name‑writing rose from about 10% to 90%. District presenters also reported that fall NWEA checks found 69% of participating students at grade level in math and 83% at grade level in reading.
Frontier’s bridge program targeted students entering first grade. Teachers said 15 students participated (attrition from additional interest was blamed on summer busing issues). Teachers reported consonant sound skills rose near 100% and vowel‑sound accuracy climbed from about 66% to roughly 92%, and noted that access to the UFLI curriculum in summer allowed students to begin first grade with exposure to the same program used during the school year.
District presenters emphasized that both programs operate outside the regular operating budget. Ready to Start is funded through a United Way grant, and the Frontier bridge program is funded through Title I federal funds, presenters said. Staff said those grant sources covered teacher stipends, instructional materials and transportation.
District staff said there is no plan at this time to expand Ready to Start beyond three classrooms; expansion would be requested from United Way only after the district consistently fills existing classrooms. The bridge program’s presenters said they plan to continue the kindergarten→first‑grade model at Frontier next summer and hope to pilot a first→second‑grade bridge if Title I funding and transportation permit.
Presenters credited consistent staffing and ongoing data checks during the summer for the programs’ results and asked the board to note the programs’ reliance on outside grants rather than the district’s regular budget.
