Horizons Albuquerque program aims to close the academic achievement gap and boost confidence of low-income public school students by working intensively with students over the summer and year-round to boost reading and math. Students attend every year until they graduate and research shows that the program can prevent school drop out, increase high school graduation, and boot college attendance. Family programming engages parents and guardians in their child's education.
Horizons Albuquerque currently partners with APS schools serving grades Kindergarten through 6th and will add a grade level each summer and additional sites over the coming years. This summer, Horizons will open a second site at Manzano Day School and will serve a total of 112 students and their families from APS partner schools. Two thirds of the students entering the program are below grade level in reading. Fifty percent of Horizons Albuquerque students come from Spanish speaking households and a large number of parents/guardians of the students are illiterate. Once a student is admitted to Horizons Albuquerque, providing they and their families continue to meet attendance and scholastic performance, they can return each year until they find a career. Current re-enrollment rate is 91%. Horizons has a commitment to giving siblings a priority to enter Horizons once they are of elementary school age.
For six weeks each summer, Horizons Albuquerque students spend six hours a day on-site. Four of those hours are focused on reading, math and STEM related lessons. Other activities include swimming lessons three times a week, tennis instruction twice a week, and yoga and guitar lessons once a week. Further, families attend six workshops over the summer aimed at engaging parents/guardians in their student's education. During the school year, students and families meet once a month for additional educational programming and students receive free tutoring in partnership with Explora.
"Changing the life trajectory of low-income students by instilling in them the joy of learning, the skills for success, and the inspiration to realize their dreams."
The Horizons learning model is a data driven enrichment program with decades of results from affiliate sites indicating that its model of intense focus on reading, math, science, art and confidence building activities not only decreases summer learning loss, but provides students and families with support and strategies to access year-round educational success and opportunities that otherwise generally remain out of reach to its low income target population.
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