FARMINGTON – Ninety-five percent of the students who attended an extended-year school program this summer in SAD 9 completed their goals.
The program was voluntary and designed for students who needed additional time and instruction to reach either common assessment standards or report card standards. Additionally, high school students could get credits reinstated.
This was the first year a six-week program was offered to students in grades three through 12, Assistant Superintendent Sue Pratt said.
Students were referred by classroom teachers after parents were notified of the academic needs of their children.
Pratt deemed the program a success and commended coordinators Maureen Perkins, Keith Martin, Sherry Karkos, Sarah Carlson and Patty Veayo for making it work.
In all, 198 students were referred to take part in the program, and 163 of those students participated, Pratt said.
Two students were removed before completion of the program due to behavioral issues, she said.
Transportation, which Pratt said was critical to the success of the program, was provided for 124 of the students on at least one occasion.
The district’s summer lunch program was a real asset, she added.
Participating were:
• 6 students from Academy Hill School in Wilton.
• 28 students from Cascade Brook School in Farmington.
• 13 students from Cape Cod Hill School in New Sharon.
• 45 students from Mt. Blue Middle School in Farmington.
• 72 students from Mt. Blue High School in Farmington.
Pratt said the staff thought a big strength of the program was that it was a teacher referral program.
Students who needed academic support were the ones referred, and all the students understood that the program was designed to address academic needs, she said.
Another strength was the communication that took place between the staff and parents about standards and types of support that were available to the students in the district, she said.
Many times the communication was “very personal” and occurred several times during the six-week program, Pratt said.
“Students felt empowered to make decisions about their own program,” she said. “Students knew what goals they had to accomplish and what completion would look like. At the middle and high school levels this was really powerful. Students worked hard to complete goals and knew that they would graduate from the program when all their goals were completed.”
Pratt said students noted that extra help give them encouragement to ask for assistance when they needed it. It also helped them to stay organized, gave them confidence, helped them stay on task and made them believe that they were actually capable of doing their school work, she said.
Not everything was positive, Pratt said. There were some weaknesses. Among them were the need to have teachers set clearer goals for students, and to educate parents to help keep students focused on their tasks.
There was a scholarship program for those who qualified, to meet the $100 fee for the program.
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