PHOENIX — Governor Doug Ducey announced this week the state will fund a second year of academic summer camps, which is an effort to further close the learning gap students may have suffered during the pandemic.
Over the summer, 70,000 Arizona school children attended AZ Ontrack Summer Camps across the state.
According to the Governor's Office, 86% of the campers approached, met, or exceeded the academic goals set by the camp.
Julie Verlei, Principal of Eagle College Prep in Maryvale, says teachers are seeing significant improvement from the 100 Eagle College Prep students who attended the camp.
"What we noticed, a huge increase of student social skills, teamwork, collaboration. The students are now able to engage each other more," said Verlei.
Principal Verlei says there are notable signs of improvement in math and reading skills from students who attended the summer camp.
Elva Federico says her son was having a difficult time learning and engaging with his classmates last year in 2nd grade, but the one-on-one teaching he received during the summer camp gave him newfound confidence and a love for reading.
"It's been amazing. It was like a huge change after 2nd grade going to 3rd grade. There was just a completely different kid," Federico said.
The announcement of a second year of summer camp comes after recently released data from the National Assessment of Education Progress found no significant change in the reading skills of Arizona students.
The Arizona Department of Education reports math scores in Arizona reached their lowest level since 2003.
The money for next summer's camps, $100 million, will come from the Federal government.
"We know our kids have already gotten that help and we know they need more. And we said we want to have a return on our investment, and this is a good use of that funding," Governor Ducey said.
The summer camps will again focus on math, reading, and civics.
There are no immediate details on when and how parents can sign up for the summer programs.
Officials say the rules will remain the same as last summer; students in grades K-12 who are enrolled in traditional public and charter schools will be eligible.
Verlei says her school will apply again to be a site.
Federico says if there's a camp, her son will attend.
"It's going to be a learning experience for him and he loves it so, so definitely," Federico said.
