Last summer, an innovative program helped incoming 7th-grade students at Granite Park Jr. High improve their math proficiency by one to three grade levels. As part of Promise South Salt Lake’s summer programming, 19 students enrolled in the Math Boost program, and 14 students completed all six weeks. Students met at the Historic Scott School for two hours, four days a week, for six weeks to engage in focused math activities on the same iReady software they use during the school year. They also received individual and small group tutoring from highly qualified teachers.
Carla Locatelli was the Promise South Salt Lake Afterschool Program Coordinator at Granite Park Jr. High who helped facilitate the Math Boost program. “It was important to align the curriculum that we were covering during the summer program with what they were learning at Granite Park Jr. High so they would go back from the summer into seventh grade ready for math,” Locatelli said.
Investing in Community Solutions
One of the key components of the success of this program was the financial incentives provided to students and their families. Students received up to $500 as an incentive for attending at least 90% of the sessions and for their math progress. Their families received a $500 incentive for bringing their children and making sure they could attend the sessions.
This investment in the community’s youth is part of a comprehensive pipeline of resources and services that support kids and families from cradle to career through Promise South Salt Lake. Mayor of South Salt Lake, Cherie Wood, led the establishment of Promise South Salt Lake as a city department shortly after she took office in 2010. “It was an opportunity to see what would happen if we prioritized our youngest residents and making sure that they get through the educational system here in our community with a little bit (of) added support,” said Wood about the Math Boost program in a news interview with KSL-TV.
This approach yielded dramatic results. Pre- and post-program assessments revealed that 79% of students improved their math proficiency by at least one grade level, and 50% of students moved up two or more grade levels. This is an increase that we would normally expect to see after 2.5 school years but was achieved with this program in just 22 days.
For Locatelli, the results are evident in more than just math scores. She witnessed greater confidence in the program participants and an increased willingness of the youth to get involved in their school communities. “The ripple effect of youth participating in programs like this one … the moment that we invest more in education, the moment that we have more opportunities for youth to succeed, they will start participating more,” she said. “They will contribute more to the communities. As the youth realize that they are capable of anything, they will invest in different opportunities and challenges that maybe they wouldn’t otherwise.”
Cross-Sector Collaboration Adds Up
The success of this program demonstrates what can be achieved through cross-sector collaboration between many partners including Promise South Salt Lake, Granite Park Jr. High, Mark and Kathie Miller, Curriculum Associates, and Jackie’s Classroom with the support of the Promise Partnership Utah backbone team.
“We have all these incredible organizations doing incredible work,” Locatelli said. “When we take the time to partner up, I think there’s something even stronger…We had shared goals, and I believe that everyone came in with a really strong sense of what we wanted to accomplish and very strong and clear communication. The result ended up being huge collective impact and community impact as well.”
The Summer Math Boost program has continued throughout the school year in the form of Math Academy, a focused math tutoring initiative that occurs twice a week during the afterschool program at Granite Park Jr. High.
Written by Jenna Fischer, Content Strategist
