It was a busy summer for the Vernon School District, which offered a number of programs to students, under the leadership of Rod Peters, vice-principal of summer programs.
The online summer session had four teachers in place who combined to offer 17 courses, with 96 students taking advantage of the offerings, and 66 of those students achieving a successful completion and credit in those courses, resulting in a 69 per cent completion rate.
“Given the short time frame of this program, that completion rate is a success,” said Peters, adding that the program is a way of keeping critical funding in the district.
“If this program was not offered, it is safe to assume that these students would seek out online courses from other distance learning schools.
“I would recommend an increased out of district marketing effort, to improve the overall district bottom line and in turn increase our ability to offer a wider spectrum of courses to our local students.”
The Face to Face summer sessions in math and English were both offered at W.L. Seaton Secondary, School. Seventy-one students enrolled with three teachers over four levels of math and three of English, and an overall completion rate of 72 per cent.
Peters added that 24 of the 38 international students successfully completed their courses, whereas 29 of the 33 non-international students completed their courses.
“This program offers a strong support for the international students who need to keep academically active through the summer, and they quickly became comfortable in this environment,” he said.
“Overall, this program was a success for both international and local students.”
This year’s summer reading program was a successful one, with programs offered at Mission Hill, Kidston, Silver Star, Harwood, Ellison and Beairsto schools, and 117 students accommodated by 17 teachers.
“The team teaching skills of two teachers at each school dealing with low teacher-student ratios really makes a difference in the students’ abilities and confidence levels,” said Peters.
“The majority of students improved in their PM Benchmark reading scores with a few staying at the same level.
“The students themselves were excited to be there and in my visits I did not witness any students who appeared to feel that they may have been missing out on other summer activities — to the contrary, these students were genuinely engaged and responsive to the goals and expectations of the classroom.”
