Dist. 158 expands summer program with 3 focus areas

Hold onto those pencils and books.

School will not be out for summer this year for hundreds of students in Huntley Unit District 158.

The district is expanding its summer school program with a focus on three areas: elementary reading, English-language learners and incoming freshmen.

More than 1,200 of the district's 8,200 students are expected to be in one of the three programs this summer, in addition to a few hundred students in other summer school offerings.

District officials hope the summer classes will help bridge the achievement gap between underperforming students and their peers.

The most apparent change in the district's summer school program is the "bridge" program that will help a select group of incoming freshmen learn high school expectations and get a feel for their new classes.

For eight days in August, about 145 freshmen will get their first taste of high school life -- reading short stories and conducting labs like they will in their freshman English and science classes.

"We want to give them a head start and introduce them to material they would be seeing in their first semester," said Cindy Fuhrer, District 158's summer school administrator.

Also this summer, about 830 elementary school students will take a reading class, and roughly 250 English-language learners will brush up on their language skills.

Both programs were offered last year, but the district is aiming to boost enrollment by hundreds of students.

"We can offer them intensive instruction with much smaller student-teacher ratios than we could during the regular school year," said Mary Olson, the district's director of curriculum and instruction.

The "bridge" students, elementary readers and English-language learners will be chosen on the basis of test scores and referrals from reading specialists and teachers.

All of the programs are optional, but the district is hoping to encourage high participation by lowering the enrollment fees.

The elementary reading and English-language learners programs will each cost $20, including transportation, down from last year's cost of $155 and $40, respectively.

The reduced cost for parents means the district will shoulder a greater part of the cost. Officials expect to spend $110,000 on summer school this year.

The expansion comes while the district is already seeing rapid growth in summer school enrollment. Last year's enrollment was 68 percent higher than in 2006, Fuhrer said.

The district plans to send letters after spring break to parents of students targeted for summer school programs.

The school board likely will approve the summer school expansion on Thursday.