Learning Academy 2022: Shine Bright

Forty-three students enrolled for the summer of 2022 — a 33% jump in enrollment over the year before, the second straight year of growth since Learning Academy returned from its pandemic pause. Full-day classes began July 7, 2022 and ran four weeks, over 100 hours of instruction split across four small-group classes: third-grade reading, math, English Language Development, and writing.

Every third-grade reading student grew in word fluency over the summer. Writing students all improved their scores on a post-test argumentative-writing assessment. Math gains were more modest — 36% of students grew on a grade-level Common Core assessment — a reminder that not every class closes ground at the same rate, even in a strong year.

Attendance mattered as much as instruction: 39 of the 43 enrolled students hit the program’s attendance goal, with the remaining seven missing only the final days for reasons outside the classroom’s control.

Two classrooms, one summer

Small-group instruction meant students moved between rooms over the course of the day — a reading circle here, a math table there — the same “school without walls” structure the program has used since its first summer.