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At New Hope Elementary, 63 percent of students exhibited basic proficiency — up from 0 percent during the pre-tests. At Frank Porter Graham Elementary, 26 percent of students fell in the basic proficiency level and 48 percent of students were fully proficient — both up from 0 percent two weeks prior. Magda Parvey, assistance superintendent for instructional services for Chapel Hill- Carrboro City Schools, said the readiness program aligns nicely with other steps the district is taking to close the achievement gap the district has struggled with for years. Some students entered the program with little to no English. At each of the three sites, the majority of students were Hispanic. “Language and vocabulary put students at a deficit,” Parvey said. “So when you give them the exposure to read-alouds where they’re hearing language and learning to have that listening comprehension, it very much helps them in terms of school readiness … Coming in with some language, coming in and understanding what school is about, that puts them on equal footing.” Ambra Wilson, New Hope Elementary’s assistant principal and site administrator for the kindergarten program, said the program was not only about helping the students adjust to school, but about helping the parents feel comfortable, too. “And really, we’re a family at New Hope,” she said. “So now (the students are) a part of that family, and we want the parents to feel a part of that family. And they did tell us at the end of this program 100 percent of them felt welcomed and ready to be a part of our school. So we really feel like the kindergarten readiness camp provided us with that springboard that we needed to really launch this school year in the right direction.”