Deep Growth and Educational Support for students who need it most.
This year, our Maple After School Program team set out to better assess the math and reading needs of each student. During the assessments, the team learned that many of our younger-aged students were far behind in reading. Many students were still struggling from online school and crowded learning environments during COVID times.
Upon this realization, the team quickly moved into action creating individualized plans for the students who needed the most support. It didn’t take long to see growth in the students and prove that individualized care and support would create deep growth in the lives of our elementary students.
One specific student receiving this specialized tutoring, at the beginning of the year, did not want to pick up a book despite the newly installed library in the After School Program room. The team realized this hesitancy was in correlation to her reading ability and began working with her daily, targeting specific areas found from the assessment done at the beginning of the semester.
Over the course of the year, the team spent hours reviewing phonics, sounding out words, and playing reading games. Valuable time was spent reading to this student and allowing her to grow in confidence reading aloud to others.
Last week, Yulissa, our Maple After School Program Lead, gave this encouraging update: “I’ve definitely seen deep growth in the student's reading. She has improved a lot and is very eager to learn new words. When she arrives, she now picks out a book on her own and asks one of the volunteers to read with her. It’s amazing how her newfound confidence in reading has helped her enjoy reading books and learning she is capable of doing hard things.”
Over the past 4 months, the students in Solidarity's Maple neighborhood After School Program have increased in overall accuracy while reading fluency passages by 67%
Of the four students most in need, their reading fluency scores have gone up 68, 73, 80,and 83 percent!
More importantly, through a relational approach and connecting to the individual needs of each student, the After School Program team has observed these reading highlights over the past semester:
“Jennifer volunteered to read instructions Yulissa had written on the whiteboard to the whole group and she did a great job!”
“With excitement, Carrie shared that she was given a reading award at school.”
“Christina has gained a great deal of confidence and is eager to read. She is making wonderful growth.”
“Because he is so motivated, Adam has mastered 5 grade level passages and will soon move on to 6th grade level.”
“Resistant before, Jeremy now reads with me and seems pleased with his ability to tackle 5th grade passages”
“The kids call out "First, second, third..!" when we get ready for passage reading!”
Will you invest in more opportunities for deep growth that is breaking barriers and transforming Latino immigrant neighborhoods one relationship at a time?