Thanks to investments from Jeffco Public Schools, Community First Foundation and Gates Family Foundation, we were able to offer six weeks of academic and enrichment programming for Jeffco students this summer through the Jefferson Success Academy.

39 students from Title I schools in east central Jefferson County were enrolled in the program. Initially, the goal was to have 45 students enrolled in Jefferson Success Academy to keep the student-teacher ratio low.

Program Structure, Schedule and Curriculum

Structure and Schedule

The goal of the program was to have fifteen students per grade with a licensed teacher and a co-teacher assigned to each class. By the second week of the program, there were 12-15 students in each class led by a teacher and a co-teacher. Through observing classes and looking at diagnostic data, we found that the best class size was around 12 students, so students could receive personalized instruction and support. We also hired an Instructional Coach to provide feedback and support for teachers and co-teachers. The Instructional Coach also handled discipline issues that arose using the restorative practice framework. Edgewater Collective’s Executive Director oversaw the program and acted as a liaison to families and program partners. Jefferson Success Pathway followed the same schedule as Jeffco Summer of Early Learning so families with younger children could have one pick up and drop off. 

Daily Schedule

8:00-8:30 a.m. – Breakfast and warm up activities in the classroom

8:30-9:30 a.m. – Literacy instruction in small groups and online through the i-Ready learning platform

9:30-10:30 a.m. – Enrichment class (art, physical education, STEM, project-based learning)

10:30-11:30 a.m. – Math instruction in small groups and online through the i-Ready learning platform

11:30 a.m. – Lunch pick up and dismissal

Curriculum and Assessment

We chose the i-Ready curriculum from Curriculum Associates because it provided personalized support in math and reading for students. i-Ready includes an online learning plan which monitors student learning targeted to their learning gaps. The curriculum also allows teachers to group students by their learning strengths and gaps and provides specific learning resources to help these students grow academically.

During the first week of Jefferson Success Academy, students took the first diagnostic in math and reading through i-Ready. Teachers met at the end of the first week to group students into the three classrooms based on learning gaps and opportunities as well as how they saw students interact with their peers during the first week. Students were reassigned to different classrooms for the second week based on the input of teachers instead of just grouping students by their grade in school. We were also able to create a dual language classroom for students whose native language was Spanish. During the last week of Jefferson Success Academy, students took another math and literacy diagnostic to show their growth during the six weeks of instruction.

Academic Growth

Due to the impacts of the pandemic, we knew that students would start the program with unique learning needs. The initial i-Ready diagnostic gave us an opportunity to understand these needs so that we could target instruction to students. Over 80% of our students started the program two or three grade levels behind in reading and math.

The i-Ready diagnostic and curriculum is designed for schools to use over an entire school year. We worked with Curriculum Associates to understand the diagnostic growth given that Jefferson Success Academy was a six week program over the summer. According to Curriculum Associates, one of the main data points to gauge initial success of the program was looking at “Progress to Annual Typical Growth.” Typical Growth is the average annual growth for a student in their grade and baseline placement level. 

Utilizing curriculum and assessments from i-Ready, in our first summer of the Jefferson Success Academy, 51% of our students showed progress toward typical growth for a year long program in just six weeks. Our Green Class of mostly 4th grade students showed the most growth with 89% showing progress toward typical growth and half of the students in that class showing a year’s growth in reading in just six weeks.

Partnerships, Enrichment and Family Programming

Food Distribution and Vaccine Clinics

Through a partnership with Kaizen Food Rescue, we were able to provide free food boxes to families in both Jefferson Success Academy and Jeffco Summer of Early Learning at Edgewater Elementary each Wednesday. Kaizen worked with Conectando to ensure that their Latina family leaders were able to give feedback on the types of food families would enjoy. 

We also worked with Jefferson County Public Health to provide a free COVID-19 vaccine site at Edgewater Elementary on two Wednesdays after the programs were completed for the day. 

Enrichment for Students

We were able to provide enrichment programming for students in Jefferson Success Academy for an hour each day. Museo de las Americas provided art programming showcasing Mexican and Latin American art. CSU Extension provided STEM programming for students. We were able to hire a PE teacher from Molholm Elementary so students could participate in physical education each week. Classroom teachers also designed and led project-based learning on Thursdays and Fridays. Balon USA was also able to provide free soccer programming to students in the area. 

Family Programming

Based on learnings from Pathway Pods in the fall and spring of 2020 and 2021, we continued programming for families. Each Wednesday Zumba was provided for free to area families. On Thursday nights, families could take part in a free cooking class over Zoom and each family received a $25 gift card to purchase the food needed for the meal. These free classes were great spaces for families to connect and have fun in the midst of the pandemic.

Learnings from the First Summer

Fidelity to the Curriculum

The class the showed the most student growth was led by a teacher and co-teacher that best utilized the small group instruction materials and curriculum from Curriculum Associates. They divided students up based on their growth areas and utilized the curriculum to address those needs. In the future, we will work more directly with teachers and co-teachers to ensure that they understand and utilize the curriculum and tools that Curriculum Associates provides. With purposeful teaching that follows the curriculum, we believe that all our students can show the same growth that was seen in the Green Class.

Dual Language Curriculum and Instruction

We saw the benefit to native Spanish-speaking students this summer from having access to a dual language classroom led by a native Spanish-speaking teacher. The teacher and co-teacher saw growth in the students, but the growth did not show up in the diagnostic assessments because they were only available in English. The i-Ready online instruction was only available in English as well. Thankfully, Curriculum Associates has updated their assessments and curriculum to include Spanish which will help our native Spanish speakers in future programs. 

Continued Learning Opportunities During the School Year

After the first diagnostic, we realized most of our students were two to three years behind in their learning. Additional learning supports need to continue beyond the summer into the school year for students to be able to catch up to grade level learning. We would like to continue to offer Jefferson Success Academy as an after school program utilizing elements of the summer program to help students grow in literacy and math. We believe that students could be at grade level by the time they transition to 7th grade if they had Jefferson Success Academy supports (summer and after school) for at least two years of elementary school.