Summer School Education Program, 2015-2016. Research Educational Program Report
Author: Houston Independent School District (HISD), Department of Research and Accountability
Date: 2017-04-24
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Summer Schools,Acceleration (Education),Repetition,Required Courses,English Language Learners,Elementary Secondary Education,Program Effectiveness,Student Promotion,Kindergarten,Grade 1,Grade 2,Grade 3,Grade 4,Grade 5,Grade 6,Grade 7,Grade 8,High School Students,Enrollment,Academic Persistence,Grade 9,Grade 10,Grade 11,Grade 12,Racial Differences,Ethnicity,Grade Repetition,Special Education,Remedial Instruction,Academic Standards

Each year, the Houston Independent School District (HISD) offers a summer education program designed to assist students with a variety of instructional needs. The 2016 summer education program allowed students the opportunity to repeat required courses needed for promotion, to get ahead by taking required courses before the next school year, or to receive specialized instruction based on eligibility. Centrally coordinated summer school programs in 2016 included accelerated instruction for State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) and STAAR End-of-Course (EOC) retesters; bilingual or English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for English-language learners (ELL); credit accrual/recovery for students needing to graduate; Extended School Year (ESY) services; Promotion/Retention classes; and other school-based programs. The summer education program supports HISD's Strategic Direction Core Initiative 3: Rigorous Instructional Standards and Supports. The report shows student enrollment and outcomes for students who were eligible for and attended summer school in 2016. Key findings include: (1) A total of 40,495 students attended the HISD 2016 Summer School program in grades 1-12; (2) Of the students enrolled in the 2016 summer school program, most were in grade 5, (13 percent), followed by grade 3 (12 percent) and grade 9 (11 percent); (3) A greater proportion of grades 1-8 students attending the 2016 summer school program fell into the Below Basic and Basic reading proficiency bands than would be expected given the HISD distribution of student reading proficiency levels; (4) For secondary students, a greater proportion of students fell into the Below Basic reading proficiency band when compared to the HISD secondary students who took a reading inventory at the end of the 2015-2016 school year; (5) When compared to the number of students retained at the end of the 2014-2015 spring semester (n=29,576), there was a 23 percent decrease in the number of students retained spring 2015-2016 (n=22,804); (6) At the end of spring 2015-2016, half of the students in grades 1-8 were retained due to course grades only, 23 percent failed or missed the STAAR exam only, 18 percent failed to meet multiple standards, and five percent were retained despite meeting all standards; (7) Of the students retained at the end of spring 2015-2016, 67 percent of students in grade 5, and 57 percent of students in grade 8, were retained because they failed to meet the STAAR reading and/or mathematics student standard only, or were absent for the exam; (8) Of the students enrolled in the 2016 summer school program, 71 percent attended either 21 or 22 days; (9) Students in grades 5 and 8 were effected by the state STAAR waiver. Nevertheless, many of the students in these two grades attended 21 days or more (74 and 65 percent, respectively); (10) Grade 5 (94 percent) and grade 8 (98 percent) students were likely to attend summer school at a different campus than their Spring 2016 campus; (11) In the summer of 2016, students in grades 9-12 took 53,251 courses, for an average of five courses per student. Of the courses taken by high school students (grades 9-12), 98 percent were designated face-to-face instruction and two percent were taken through Apex/ApexIS or by other distance learning providers; (12) Of the 2016 summer courses taken, 95 percent were in STAAR\EOC subjects. Five percent were from other course selections such as industry classes, physical education, and language courses; (13) A total of 7,001 students in grades 9-12 took at least one STAAR\EOC exam during the 2016 summer school program; and (14) Of the five STAAR\EOC exams administered during the summer, Biology had the greatest proportion of students meet the student standard (69 percent). English II had the lowest proportion of students meet the student standard (16 percent).