Boys and Girls Club Reports on Intervention Program

The Boys and Girls Club of San Leandro is reporting this week, via its website and Facebook page, the outcomes of a program implemented at school sites in San Leandro and San Lorenzo which provided academic help to students this past school year.  Below is their report:

From the Boys and Girls Club of San Leandro -

"A $75,000 grant from The Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation funded a Math and Reading Intervention Program at our twelve school sites in the San Leandro and San Lorenzo Unified School Districts during the 2011/2012 school year.

Funding was used to hire intervention specialists to work with students who have been identified by classroom and/or Title 1 teachers as performing at basic, below basic and far below basic on the CST, the California Standards Test.

It should be noted that reading at basic is misleading since grade level equivalency on these tests is listed as proficient. If a student is reading at the basic level, they are reading below grade level. Our goal with this program is to help these students improve their performance to score at the proficient level. Further, these students are not students served by Title 1 instructors; they are students who do not qualify for Title 1 instruction, but are still low performers. Unless these students receive intervention in the Boys & Girls Clubs’ program, they would not receive any intervention. Most of our families are low to very low income and, therefore, do not have the money to pay for private tutors nor the ability to transport their children to off-site tutoring programs because of their work schedules. Our on-site after school program provides intervention directly where the children attend school.

Why is this intervention critical? More than 80 percent of students from low-income families do not read proficiently by the end of third grade, putting them at greater risk of dropping out of high school. Providing opportunities for our kids to achieve academic success is one of the Club’s top three priority outcomes along with healthy lifestyles, good character and citizenship.

Outcomes for the 2011-2012 School Year Intervention Program

• The Intervention Program served 360 youth (30 at each of 10 elementary school sites and 60 at 2 middle school sites) for the 2011-2012 school year
  
  
• The 2011-2012 school year post-test results are more significant than last year since BGCSL used pre-and post-test questions taken directly from the California Standards Test. The average improvement in math of the 153 students who took the post tests is 133.75% and the average improvement in language arts of the 199 students who took the post tests is 124.10%
  
  
• Staff implemented a goal of 100% homework completion and have reported that on average, 90% of students completed their homework regularly
  
  
• Staff implemented visible reading programs (reading trees, baseballs around the room, and more) at five of our twelve elementary schools this year
  
  
• 2011-2012 Year End Surveys also provided important information from Parents, Teachers and Student participants that indicate an overall satisfaction with the program and also recommendations for improvements that helps to inform our planning for next year. Following is a brief summation of parent, teacher and student responses:

Parent Survey Reponses:

• 97% of parents agree that the program provides a safe place for their children to learn, work and have fun
• 92% of parents agree that the program has helped their children develop good social skills
• 92% of parents agree that the program has helped their children do better in school
• 100% of parents would recommend the program to other parents

Teacher Survey Reponses:

• 95% of teachers say the ASES After School Program is effective in increasing a fun, safe and healthy community
• 75% of teachers state that students enrolled in the ASES program are completing their homework more often than students that are not in ASES

Student Survey Reponses:

• 71% of students state that they feel safe in the program and are having fun
• 60% feel that they are doing better in school
• 70% feel respected by adults
• 60% feel they are more physically active

• Intervention staff worked closely with classroom teachers to ensure that the individualized instruction met the needs of each student and supports classroom learning.
  
  
• In addition, The San Lorenzo Unified School District participated in the recent statewide California Afterschool Outcomes Measures Project and four San Lorenzo elementary school BGCSL ASES after school sites participated in this. The measures were focused on skill development and behavior change based on responses to online surveys. Some score highlights follow:
  
  
  • 77-80% of BGCSL students reported good or excellent efficacy in reading
  • 64-66% of the students reported good or excellent social competencies
  • 70% had good or excellent work habits
  • 98-100% of the students were identified as having medium to high scores in pro-social behavior

The Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation’s support of reading and math intervention strategies for low performing students is continuing to make a real, tangible difference for these students. Scores are continuing to improve for our students who, without these interventions, statistically are doomed to be future high school dropouts. These interventions also help students do better in other subjects since reading is the gateway subject to all other subjects and math forms the basis for many science courses in middle school and high school.

The Club has submitted another grant application to the Valley Foundation for the 2012/2013 school year and hopes to continue our partnership with the Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation in impacting the academic success of our kids."