Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
The achievement in numbers <br />Sheldon Lanier, director of equity for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, said overall students enrolled in <br />the program at the three schools, moved from 9 percent to 67 percent in proficiency. <br />“When we talk about proficiency, we’re talking about leveling the playing field and having students <br />ready to move into kindergarten and actually, I don’t want to say compete, but basically be able to <br />achieve on the same level of students who may have gotten some of those resources,” Lanier said. <br />Students at New Hope Elementary went from 0 to 63 percent in proficiency while Carrboro Elementary <br />went from 33 percent to 61 percent. Frank Porter Graham saw the largest gain in proficiency from 0 to <br />74 percent. <br />Forty-eight percent of the children enrolled came into the program with no prior education experience <br />and 70 percent of the group qualified for free or reduced lunch. <br />Seventy-five percent of participants were a race other than white with 62 percent identifying as <br />Hispanic. <br />“In terms of the teachers that were working with the program over the summer, 100 percent of the <br />teachers surveyed felt that the program was extremely beneficial for their students,” Lanier said. “And <br />64 percent said students made substantial gains while 36 percent indicated that students made <br />moderate gains.” <br />All of the families involved with the program reported feeling satisfied with kindergarten readiness and <br />84 percent felt their child was ready for kindergarten following participation. <br />Setting kids up for success <br />Ambra Wilson, assistant principal at New Hope Elementary who served as the administrator of the <br />kindergarten readiness program at New Hope, said numerous parties were involved in making the <br />program happen at the school. <br />“As we began planning for this camp, we didn’t have as much time as we hoped to have in the upcoming <br />year,” she said. “So we started out by talking with our kindergarten teachers—who had met these <br />children who were coming into kindergarten—and asked them to give us their expertise.” <br />From there those involved knew which students should be focused on for kindergarten readiness. <br />“We then reached out to all of the families who were recommended because we knew all of them <br />would not respond or be able to participate,” she said. “We were hopeful to get 30 participants. <br />However, due to people moving or vacations that were already planned and things of that nature, we <br />ended up with 21 students who participated consistently throughout the program.”