GETTING BETTER BEYOND THE BELL

Benjamin Jones EDU 5053 Community Engagement September 15th, 2015

OUR PURPOSE An afterschool program would benefit all students at Gable Middle School. In particular, we would like to target at risk

students determined by analyzing testing data. This program will bring opportunities for families and community members

to have a positive influence on our students’ lives. The afterschool program will help change the culture of the school

by showing the students that there is a safe and welcoming environment where they can come after school to improve

their own study and time management skills.

DATA-EVIDENCED STUDENT NEED

• 73.1% of Gable students received “Met” or above on the English/Language Arts (ELA) state assessment (South Carolina State Department of Education, 2014).

• 74.8% of Gable students received “Met” or above on the Mathematics state assessment (South Carolina State Department of Education, 2014).

• African American students had an ELA mean of 609.6, which was 30 points lower than the mean of Caucasian students (South Carolina State Department of Education, 2014).

• A 27.5 point difference between African American students and Caucasians in Mathematics (South Carolina State Department of Education, 2014).

• The average ELA score of disabled students is 29.3 points lower than Caucasian students (South Carolina State Department of Education, 2014).

• The average ELA score of disabled students is 51.7 points lower than Caucasian students (South Carolina State Department of Education, 2014).

VISION FOR PARTNERSHIP

• I envision this partnership as a community within the school which will be working to provide our students a place where they can grow and develop not only their study and time management skills, but also a place where we can help our students develop educational and lifetime goals.

• This community will work as a team and strive to reinforce the positive information that the students are learning in class and will also equip them with valuable habits that will prepare them for their future educational and lifetime experiences.

• This partnership will give our students the opportunity to take control of their own learning experiences.

IMPACT ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENTThis after school program is to help our students grow academically and to equip

them with skills needed to become more socially and emotionally prepared in becoming successful young adults.

• The Afterschool Alliance (as cited in Hall, Williams, & Daniel, 2010) found that “spending time in afterschool programs is related to improvements in students’ test scores, social behavior, attendance, and graduation rates” (p.12)

• After-school programs provide students with safe places, positive relationships with other students and adults, and opportunities for active learning beyond the classroom (Kugler, 2001, p. 44).

• Huang (2001) found that academic achievement and social-emotional development are the two most important student outcomes of after-school programs (p. 49).

PROPOSED ACTIVITIES/STRATEGIES

• Program will provide students with a positive learning environment where homework can be completed, students can study, and enrichment activities can take place.

• Program will operate 3 days a week

• Provide assistance in completing homework and retaking of tests.

• Provide enrichment activities in ELA and Math to help struggling students build the necessary skills needed to succeed academically. Enrichment activities will be planned and designed to meet the needs of individual learners.

PROPOSED PROCESS FOR PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION

1. Present idea to school principal and PTSO president

2. Contact potential stakeholders for initial meeting3. Secure program funds4. Secure volunteers for program 5. Meet with Gable faculty to develop enrichment

activities to be used in the program6. Identify students to be in the program

PROPOSED EVALUATION PROCESS

The main goal of our program is to help students improve their overall academic performance and life skills. We will be constantly evaluating and

examining this program to make sure that we have met our number one goal. We will use three goals to measure the success of our program.

1. Maintain a 75% student attendance rate for this program for all of the students who sign up for the after school program during the first year.

2. Have 80% of the students involved in the program improve their overall core subject grade or their end of the year standardized test scores.

3. Have at least 75% of the school’s faculty volunteer a minimum of six hours of service to this after school program.

WHAT WE WANT FROM AUDIENCE

• Support through volunteering to help with the program

• Support through financial contributions

• Support via spreading the word to other potential contributors

• Feedback and suggestions based on the presentation

REFERENCES Hall, K. W., Williams, L. M., & Daniel, L. G. (2010). An afterschool program for economically disadvantaged youth: Perceptions of parents, staff, and students. Research in the Schools, 17(1), 12-28. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/808527948?accountid=31683

Huang, D. (2001). An after-school evaluation system for middle and high school programs. National Association of Secondary School Principals. NASSP Bulletin, 85(626), 45-61.

Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/216049386?accountid=31683.

Kugler, M. R. (2001). The why and how of after-school programs. The Education Digest, 67(3), 44-50. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/218165701?

accountid=31683.

South Carolina Department of Education. (2014). Palmetto assessment of state standards test scores [PDF Document]. https://ed.sc.gov/data/report-cards/2014/middle/c/m4206056.pdf