By By ANDY HAMILTON / Niles Daily Star
NILES – Niles Community Schools has had a chance to analyze the fall MEAP scores, and curriculum director Jim Craig said there's data showing the first summer school program was a success.
Niles has "dabbled" in summer school programs before, Craig said. But the MEAP scores of the 366 students that attended the 15-day program held August 2006 have shown improvement enough believed to be directly tied to summer school.
"This is a very effective intervention," Craig said.
Principals selected the summer school-eligible students in the first through eighth grades based on test scores – including if they had failed to achieve a 1 or 2 on previous MEAP tests – as well as classroom performance. Only five parents refused consent to the program.
"It was kind of mandatory," Craig said. "We told [parents], 'this is what your child needs to do."
Students were counted in their exiting grade and were broken down as follows: 30 first graders, 30 second graders, 161 third through fifth graders, and 145 sixth through eighth graders. The program was held in August as opposed to June so students could "hit the ground running" when school started in the fall, Craig said.
The instruction concentrated on reading, writing and math, and most instruction was in small group formats. A majority of the work was done in the computer labs.
Principals recorded 90 percent attendance at summer school. Attendance during the regular school year is about 93 percent.
The district budgeted $75,000 for the summer program, with $6,750 for lunch, $6,000 for transportation, $8,000 for materials, and $54,250 for 16 teachers and six instructional aides. Principals and the curriculum alternated supervision at no extra charge to the district.
Craig said half of the summer school cost was from Title One funds the district was mandated to re-direct from central office costs. The remaining balance was paid out of the general fund.
Craig said 63 percent of Niles students that attended summer school improved their math scores on MEAP tests taken September 2006, and 44 percent improved their score in English language arts.