Guide to Effective Programs
for Children and Youth

KindergARTen Summer Camp

OVERVIEW

The KindergARTen Summer Camp program is a summer enrichment program designed to boost reading achievement among low-income children. Findings of a random-assignment, intent-to-treat study found improvements on word list scores and reading scores but no improvement on phoneme segment skills, letter naming skills, or dictation skills.

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

Target population: Low income, urban students exiting Kindergarten.

The KindergARTen Summer Camp program is a 6-week summer program designed to reduce summer reading loss among low-income children. It is implemented 5 days per week for 7.5 hours per day – from 7:30 am to 3:00 pm. Each day, students spend almost 3 hours (160 minutes) on learning and practicing literacy skills, and about 80 minutes per day is spent on science and art activities. Fridays are typically reserved for field trips to museums, aquariums, and local community events. Class sizes are limited to 10 students. Breakfast and lunch are served.

Academic instruction is led by one credentialed teacher and two college student interns. Interns receive 4 weeks of training on curricula/instruction, assessment, classroom management, parent involvement, basic first aid, and citizenship/team building and participate in weekly professional development workshops to provide real-time support for any issues that arise in the classroom. This program uses science and art curricula but a manual to guide implementation is not currently available.

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Borman, G.D., Goetz, M.E., & Dowling, N.M. (2007). Halting the summer achievement slide: A randomized field trial of the KindergARTen Summer Camp. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 14, 133-147.

Evaluated population: One hundred and twenty eight urban, low-income students from four schools in Baltimore, MD.

Approach: A sample was selected by asking principals at four schools to recruit at least 45 students. Students from each school were randomly assigned to the intervention or to the control group (with a result of 93 intervention students and 35 control students). Pre- and post-test data were collected for measures such as letter naming fluency, phoneme segmentation fluency, reading, dictation, and vocabulary.

Results: Mixed impacts on literacy skills were found. The program improved word list scores (a small effect size of .27) and developmental Reading assessment scores (a small-to-medium effect size of .40). However, the program did not improve phoneme segment skills, letter naming skills, or dictation skills.

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

References

Evaluation Contact

Geoffrey D. Borman, Ph.D.
Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, Educational Policy Studies, and Educational Psychology

University of Wisconsin–Madison
1161D Educational Sciences Building
1025 West Johnson Street
Madison, WI 53706-1796
Tel: 608-263-3688
Fax: 608-265-3135

Email: gborman@education.wisc.edu

Program Contact

Ron Fairchild
Executive Director
Center for Summer Learning
Johns Hopkins University
3105 N. Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21218
Tel: 410-516-6228
Fax: 410-516-6222
Email: rfairchild@jhu.edu

KEYWORDS: Black or African American, Kindergarten, Children (3-11), High-risk, Urban, Summer Program, Educational, Reading, Community-based, Community or Media Campaign, Co-ed.

Program information last updated 10/2/09.