First Camp Helps Kindergarten Students Succeed

First Camp students are recommended by their teachers. Each student brings to Camp a complete portfolio with diagnostic assessments reflecting what areas he/she needs to work on to meet standards. Each student leaves Camp with an updated portfolio documenting progress made.

First Camp uses effective teaching strategies, including differentiated instruction, active learning, structured content, and attention to the "whole" development of the child. Filled with lots of movement and engaging variety, a typical day might include shared reading, alphabet activities, guided reading, interactive writing, a reading game, lunch, a review of homework, and other activities.

First Camp is also a model for professional development. Each class has two certified teachers and fifteen students. A seasoned teacher is paired with a novice. The less-experienced teacher works collaboratively with the mentor teacher in the classroom. Teachers receive additional training before the camp session begins.

Parents are also involved in the program. After a thorough orientation, they sign a contract in partnership with First Camp to provide in-home support of the program.

The costs for First Camp are shared between summer school intervention funding and Title I funding. The district provides program staff, student transportation, a home-school community worker who visits the families, and a resource teacher to coach and mentor the teachers.

The positive achievement outcomes of First Camp are well documented in four years of evaluation data. Students who attended the summer 2001 First Camp improved in all ten skill areas measured by the Emergent Literacy Survey and district writing performance assessment. The majority of students who began First Camp performing below grade level were able to attain grade level reading and writing proficiency by the end of the program. Finally, a follow-up study of summer 2000 First Camp students showed that the effects of the program were sustained through the end of first grade—a majority of the previous students scored "proficient" or "advanced" on the district's end-of-year reading and writing assessments and scored above the 50th percentile on the Stanford 9 Reading Comprehension test. From the program's inception in 1997 to 2001, First Camp has served a total of 2,790 students. In 2003, due to the success of First Camp, the district expanded First Camp to Camps II and III for students entering second and third grades.

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