Wake County outlines summer 2025 menu, reports mixed Read to Achieve attendance and outcomes

Wake County Schools staff provided the Student Achievement Committee an overview of 2024 summer programs and a preview of summer 2025 offerings, including Read to Achieve literacy camps, Power Scholars (YMCA partnership), high-school credit recovery using Edgenuity, career accelerator programs and extended school year (ESY) services for students with IEPs.

Delinda/Doranda Ramirez Carter (summer programming staff) and colleagues said Read to Achieve in 2024 invited 4,045 students; about 51% attended at least one day. Attendance patterns showed that among second- and third-graders who attended, 48% attended 10 or more days, 41% attended 5–9 days, and 11% attended 1–4 days. End-of-camp testing found that 23% of tested second-graders were proficient on the end-of-camp composite and 22% of third-graders reached the Lexile threshold after camp; 37% of third-graders tested met the 725 Lexile requirement for a “good cause” exemption (some had met the goal earlier in the year and still attended). Staff said parental reasons for declining invitations included vacations (about 39%), attending another camp (26%) and moving out of district (6%).

Power Scholars, a five‑week YMCA partnership that added enrichment and math, served rising K–5 with 318 invited and about 75% attendance; staff reported literacy and math gains roughly equivalent to 1.5 months of instruction and positive stakeholder feedback. Credit recovery used Edgenuity with virtual, blended and on-site options; more than 2,000 students enrolled and recovered 3,233 credits in summer 2024. The Wake Ed Partnership and District C teamship career accelerators continued and are slated for 2025.

ESY (extended school year) served 429 students in 2024; services included specially designed instruction and related therapies and were delivered at host sites with transportation and meals. Staff said EOG/EOC remediation and retesting produced districtwide proficiency gains (about a one percentage point gain districtwide; some schools showed 5–6% gains) and that remediation/retesting will again be offered in 2025.

Presenters told the committee the 2025 summer menu is reduced from pandemic-era offerings as COVID-relief funding has sunset; the district is returning to a pre-pandemic menu. Staff said they are working already on communications (save‑the‑dates and updated invitations), recruiting staff and drivers, coordinating transportation and implementing progress monitoring metrics for 2025. Committee members requested multi‑year comparative outcome data (attendance and learning gains) for Read to Achieve and Power Scholars and asked staff to provide program-by-program breakdowns.

"We had about a little over 4,000 students invited and 51% of them attended," a summer programs presenter said, emphasizing the district will increase outreach and communications and return outcome comparisons to the board.