Fewer kids missing school with expanded community learning centers in Sioux Falls

School district officials report higher scores, better attendance, improved behaviors among enrolled students

Students at a Community Learning Center operated by the Sioux Falls School District. (Courtesy of Sioux Falls School District)

Sioux Falls School District students who are in after-school, before-school and summer programs are showing improvements in many ways, according to Community Learning Center coordinator Rebecca Wimmer.

She told the School Board on Monday night that students at the city’s elementary schools who are in the program are showing higher math and reading scores, better attendance and behavior, and drastically reduced chronic absenteeism compared to students not in the programs.

In gathering data as the newly revamped program enters its third full year, she said staff compared students in the centers with those in the general population, and in each school the math scores were higher. In almost all of the schools, reading scores also improved.

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