Summer Academy successful

We have always provided additional help via tutoring and a wide variety of intervention programs for those students needing it. During the past year and a half, that academic help has expanded even more than usual, given the challenges students experienced during the past year.

One of our most successful programs was our CMS Summer Academy held this past summer. We had an amazing turnout, with over 600 students enrolling in this program. Ordinarily, the grades covered in a summer school program are kindergarten through fifth grade. Because of the enthusiastic response, however, the grade range was extended in both directions: secondary classes as well as pre-kindergarten. This has been the highest enrollment for a summer program we have had.

The Summer Academy was held at Cameo, Highland, Parkview, and Lockwood elementary schools, with secondary students at our iAcademy. Our administrators for this summer program were Corey Lucero, Nicole Hahn, Roxanne Mitchell, and Rafaela Sisneros.

One of the components for the summer program was an adaptive, personalized online learning program called SuccessMaker, which we have used for a number of years in regular classrooms for supplemental reading and math instruction. The program, built on complex algorithms, responds to the individual child's learning, providing exactly what is needed, whether remediation, additional practice, challenges, adjusting the pace, or a combination of these and other elements.

At the beginning of the Summer Academy, each student was enrolled in the program at their end-of-year academic levels, so they could continue in the summer program just where they left off. It turns out a highlight of the Summer Academy was the option for each student to continue their SuccessMaker courses after the Summer Academy was officially over, and quite a surprising number of students opted to do so.

Two of our students enthusiastically opted to continue throughout the entire summer and reaped the rewards. These two students gained the most growth and happen to be brother and sister: Rachel and Richard Harding, now in first and third grades, respectively. Continuing all summer in their online courses, both gained an entire grade level of academic growth.

When mom brought these two by our Central Office to collect their prizes, books, goodies, and take pictures, I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen such happy, shining faces. These students were especially thrilled with the books they received.

We are so proud of these two and offer our hearty congratulations to Rachel and Richard, along with their proud mom, always the first teacher.

Cindy Kleyn-Kennedy is the Instructional Technology Coordinator for the Clovis Municipal Schools and can be reached at

[email protected]