Oct. 5, 2005
After-school
program will focus on reading, writing, math
The Arkansas
City Public Schools after-school program will focus on reading, writing
and math, and recently approved state law allows the district to require
attendance. Sept. 12, the board of education approved after-school
acceleration programming.
Dr. Voss said up to 600 students in grades 1-12 may attend the after-school
program (ASP), with classes beginning Monday, Oct. 10. Classes will not
be in session during parent-teacher conference week Oct. 17-21, and will
resume Monday, Oct. 24. ASP will then follow the district calendar.
Grades 1-5 will attend classes from 3:15-5:15 p.m., Monday through
Thursday. Middle school students will attend from 3:15-4:45 p.m.,
Monday through
Thursday; and high school students will attend from 3:15-4:30 p.m.,
Tuesday through Thursday. The staggered dismissal times will
assist with transportation
routing.
Group learning will create acceleration of academics with maximum
group size of 15. Certified teachers will offer best practice
teacher’s
strategies, and aides are available to assist. A homework component will
be incorporated into ASP, and math and reading instruction will be offered
through NCS Learn and small group instruction.
Parents may voluntarily enroll their children in the program. Teachers
may also recommend students based on grades and test scores. Students
may enroll in ASP throughout the year.
Recently approved Kansas state law allows districts to require
students to attend after-school programming. The district will
enroll students
who need extra assistance closing their achievement gap, and
placement is made
on grades and assessment data. Attendance for any student enrolled
in the ASP is required once enrolled, and truancy may be filed
if students do
not attend as required by Kansas state law.
Dr. Voss said best practice strategies will be used to keep students
excited and engaged with their learning.
“The after-school program isn’t about a ‘program,’ it’s
about using instructional strategies that work. Our teachers
have demonstrated their passion for helping all students learn and are demonstrating
they
know what supports students’ success,” she said. “This
is about learning, not teaching. Data is going to drive what
we plan to do.”
Dr. Voss said assessment data will be provided for the ASP
coordinators throughout the school year so students’ progress is monitored in
both the regular and extended day classrooms.
The sole community partner for ASP is the Denton Art Center,
which will integrate art into the core curriculum.
A snack will be served, and transportation will be provided.
Point of pickup bussing will be offered for students
in grades 1-5; students
in
grades
6-12 will be transported home.
Attendance sites for elementary students are Roosevelt
and Adams Elementary Schools. IXL and C-4 students
will attend
Roosevelt,
and Jefferson
and Frances Willard students will go to Adams.
Joy Hunter, four-year-old preschool teacher at Adams,
will be the coordinator at Adams; and Luann Hoskins,
academic
coach at
Roosevelt,
will coordinate
the program at Roosevelt. Cheryl Carter, assistant
principal at ACMS, will coordinate the middle school’s program; and the high school program
will be coordinated by Tara Taylor, assistant high school principal.
