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District reports summer school attendance gains; teachers cite reading and credit-recovery progress
Summary
Elementary, middle and high school summer programs reported higher attendance and measurable student growth; the district partnered with the local library and used Edgenuity for targeted instruction and credit recovery.
Edwardsburg Public Schools administrators and teachers told the board the district's summer learning programs produced strong attendance and measurable academic progress across elementary, middle and high school programs.
Nicole Linton, who led the elementary summer program, said the elementary program enrolled 65 students out of 124 invited and included 14 students with individualized education programs (IEPs) who received services during the five-week session. Linton said teachers provided extended ELA blocks with small-group instruction, paraprofessionals in every primary classroom, and weekly walking trips to the Edwardsburg branch of the Cass District Library. "It was my favorite part of summer school is to watch those faces light up," Linton said, describing incentives tied to reading goals.
At the middle school, Erin Soucek said 25 students attended — the largest middle-school summer cohort in three years — and all showed growth in at least one content area. Soucek described targeted mini-lessons on integers, exponents and single- and multi-step equations in math and focused work on inference and writing in English. "By the end, every kid showed growth in at least 1 area," she told the board.
The high school program served 46 students in morning and afternoon sessions aimed at credit recovery. Staff used Edgenuity for individualized lessons; students who completed a course with a 70% grade or higher earned credit on their transcript. Administrators reported 42 course completions for 46 students during the five weeks.
Linton said the elementary reading challenge asked students to log 30 books during the program; 27 students met that goal and many students received incentives including a trip to a South Bend Cubs game. Soucek and summer staff emphasized that summer learning focused on progress and mastery rather than grades and that staff hoped relationships built over the summer would encourage students to seek help during the school year.
Board members and administrators praised the teachers for creating a positive, personalized learning atmosphere. The superintendent and staff said they will watch fall benchmarks to assess summer-program impact on standard-year performance.
