Summer Camp Puts 72 Students Into Next Grade

Highlands County fourth-grades got 72 new students on the first day of school after three-fourths of third-graders who scored low on the reading FCAT last year were promoted after a successful summer camp.

Nearly 100 third-graders who scored low on the reading FCAT attended one of the six-week summer reading camps, which were held at Park, Woodlawn and Lake Placid elementary schools.

Students were tested on the last day of the camp to find out if they could be promoted.

Elementary Programs Director Joyce McClelland was happy with the passing rate, which is up from last year's 67 percent.

"We had a lot of schools that were impacted by that success rate because you had quite a few students who moved from third-grade to fourth-grade," she said.

The district used the same study material from last summer and a new computer program designed for the study program.

"I really feel that made a significant difference," McClelland said. "The students were motivated; they got to work on the computers at school and they could access it at home as well."

Federal Programs Resource Teacher Pat Landress helped train teachers for the camp's reading comprehension strategy portion.

"We were very excited about the results," McClelland said. "Staff and students and, of course, the parents are very pleased."

The students' reading progress will be closely monitored to make sure they stay on track.

"They definitely need that support," McClelland said. "They had to have the extra support in the summer camp to get them to fourth-grade so we know that if we don't continue that they are likely to stumble again."