Horizons of Kent and Queen Anne's

Many low income kids experience the academic “summer slide” when the school year is over. IT IS OFTEN A PREDICTOR OF TRUANCY, HIGH SCHOOL DROP-OUT RATES, EVENTUAL UNEMPLOYMENT--AND WORSE.

 

For the 150 kids enrolled at Horizons of Kent and Queen Anne's this summer, it is a very real enemy. “Over the summer, disadvantaged children tread water at best or even fall behind,” says Bob Parks, Horizons’ Executive Director. “They spend the summer watching TV, playing videos or wandering the streets and suffer an achievement gap that’s hard to recover from." 

 

BUT HORIZONS CHANGES ALL OF THAT. Here are some KEY IMPACTS our summer programs make:

--Horizons students achieve an average 8-12 week improvement in reading and math over each six-week summer session. 

--99% of Horizons high school students graduate and 91% go onto college. 

--Horizons programs become anchors in the community: we retain 84% of students and families year-to-year.

--Horizons students engage with their schools, teachers, and classmates throughout the regular school year.

 

Since 1995, the Horizons summer learning program has served hundreds of Kent and Queen Anne's County children at or below the poverty level as part of a growing national initiative to reduce the summer slide. The six-week-long program headquartered at Radcliffe Creek School in Chestertown and The Gunston School in Centreville is currently serving kids from kindergarten through eighth grade. The idea is that they come back year after year, building on what they’ve learned.

 

Here's a great example of how Horizons summer learning program helps students with limited economic means to realize their full potential!

Check out Jonah--when he came to Horizons, he didn't even want to get his face wet! Now's he's dunking underwater like a champ! ‪#‎buildingconfidence‬

https://www.facebook.com/RadcliffeHorizons/videos/vb.1589015858007984/1622696654639904/?type=3&theater

 

Horizons has a unique hands-on approach to learning. Instead of textbooks, the programs use activities to promote project-based, inquiry-based learning. Music, art, science, reading and swim lessons are all pillars of a curriculum that is tailor-made for each child.

 

“We work with the schools and do a pre-assessment of each child so, coming in, we understand the needs of each student. We work in small groups. It’s a five-to-one student to staff ratio,” explains Academic Director Connie Schroth. “The challenge is coming up with strategies to use in these small groups that spark questions and expose these children to new things. It’s all about doing. You can read about something but you don’t get it until you do it.”

 

There’s a lot of science behind the program. Studies have shown that low income kids start school already behind their middle class peers. Some Horizons students come from loving but financially distressed homes. Others are part of dysfunctional families full of stress, uncertainty, and unstable relationships.

 

One thing they do have in common: Each Horizons student qualifies for the federal free and reduced meals program and has been identified by teachers or guidance counselors as someone who shows potential. Their families also pay a $35 registration fee as an accountability measure.

 

At the end of each summer, Horizons re-tests students for reading and math. The most recent results indicate that some students held grade level and that most actually increased achievement by two to three months in both subjects.