What Early Start means for Shepard freshmen

Next Monday, a record number of incoming freshmen will start a three-week primer on how to succeed in high school in District 218.

Early Start, a bridge program designed to prepare freshmen for the academic, social and personal challenges that come with starting high school, produced noteworthy results in 2015.

To measure the effects of Early Start, last year District 218 administered pre- and post-tests in English, science, and math. Freshmen posted impressive gains across all subjects in both honors and regular sections of Early Start.
Highlights include a 45% improvement by Shepard High School freshmen and 39% improvement by Richards High School freshmen in honors science. Eisenhower High School freshmen posted the biggest gains on the honors English test at 12%.Math highlights included growth from all three in honors sections: Shepard at 17%, Richards at 16%, and Eisenhower at 13%.

Students attend Early Start, which features interactive, fun, and engaging lessons and activities that teachers often cannot squeeze into regularly school days, for three weeks from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Teachers, who design lessons that make coming to school fun, think they know why the program succeeds. This particular lab shows Shepard science teacher Megan Brewczynski and her students last summer.

“Freshmen loved it. Absences are very low due to the amount of fun and community building at Early Start. Students who participate in Early Start are more confident on day one,” said Cynthia Tebo, an English Language Learner teacher at Shepard.

“The science portion is very interactive and fun, so students enjoy the time they spend with us. I think that is definitely a big reason they improve dramatically,” said Tarek Cattan, who teaches at Richards.Shepard teacher Jen Glaz, for example, led lessons on writing computer code using a program developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

“The coding that the students learned gave them the ability to see the outcome of their efforts, good and bad, immediately. As a group, we would de-bug programs that were not running correctly and the students learned what it was like to work in the industry,” she said.

Aside from academic preparation, Early Start helps dispel much of the tension that many freshmen feel about starting high school.

“Early Start is a great opportunity that enables students to get to know teachers, peers, and their school prior to starting freshman year. This alleviates a lot of anxiety and stress prior to the beginning of the year. Students can walk in the first day confident and excited to begin school and see their peers,” said Carrie Alvarado, a science teacher at Shepard.

“I think all parents should encourage their students to attend because I feel as if we are mentoring their children and giving them a head start,” said Sarina Kledzik, a Shepard graduate who teaches at Eisenhower. “Every parent wants to provide their children with the best of everything and Early Start is a program that fulfills that need.”