FAQsProject Learn- An Update on BGCA's Education Strategy
November 2007
Presented by: Boys & Girls Clubs of America
1275 Peachtree St. NE • Atlanta, GA 30309
www.bgca.org
CRY America has been a loyal supporter of America’s youth by investing $70,000 since 2004 to Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Through the support of friends like CRY America, we’ve been able to provide a “home away from home” for millions of young people, with safe facilities, positive and caring adult guidance, and life-changing programs.
Research indicates that the way young people use their time (both in and out of school) is an important predictor of academic performance. Low-achieving students spend most of their non-school hours involved in activities that have little benefit to them in the classroom, whereas high-achieving students engage in after-school activities that reinforce the skills they learn in school. Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), in partnership with CRY America, places a high priority on providing programs that can improve educational outcomes for school-age youth.
PROJECT LEARN
The Project Learn strategy is the foundation for programs in the organizations’ five core areas: leadership and character; education and career; health and life skills; the arts; and sports, fitness and recreation. Project Learn tenets impact all activities in a Boys & Girls Club–from the learning center to the gym and the computer center to the arts area. It makes learning fun, helps to develop strong relationships between youth and staff and among peers, allows staff to set high expectations and provides opportunities for recognition of Club members. In short, Project Learn ensures that Clubs have maximum impact on the lives of the young people that participate in their activities.
Project Learn aims to improve proficiency in math, language and science through five major components:
1. Homework help and tutoring;
2. High-yield learning and leisure activities;
3. Parent and adult involvement;
4. Collaboration with schools; and
5. Incentives for academic achievement.
At the core of Project Learn are high yield learning activities. Club staff members are trained to organize their daily and weekly program schedules to ensure that every member is participating in 25 to 35 hours of these activities per week. This strategy extends a child’s learning period from the school day into the after-school hours. Moreover, the entire Club becomes a “learning center,” and every moment of the child’s after school time is a “learning experience.” These high yield learning activities include such programs as:
• Goals for Graduation
Goals for Graduation introduces academic goal-setting to Club members ages 6-15 by linking their future aspirations with concrete actions today. In goal-setting sessions with Club youth development professionals, members set achievable “Know-I-Can” goals, more challenging “Think-I-Can” goals, and yearly “Believe-I-Can” goals. Members create an action plan with daily and weekly goals leading to short- and long-term gains. A comprehensive guidance strategy helps members connect their smallest results to their highest dreams. Goals for Graduation provides an encouraging recognition strategy that buoys members as their successes are recognized and supported at every step of their journey.
Goals for Graduation features five major components:
1. Focus attention on setting goals;
2. Set goals for academic success;
3. Support and encourage achievement;
4. Help relate goal setting success to other areas of their lives; and,
5. Assist in developing a personal commitment to learning.
By helping youth develop, set and achieve appropriate academic goals, Goals for Graduation helps them become lifelong learners.
• Power Hour: Making Minutes Count
Power Hour is an interactive afterschool homework assistance program for Boys & Girls Clubs members ages 6 – 18. Power Hour helps young people view homework as an opportunity to learn how to work independently, successfully complete a project on time, and feel good about their accomplishments. Power Hour promotes strategies, activities, resources and information to create a homework help and tutoring program that engages Club members. It is the Clubs daily after-school reading and study time when older Club youth, adult volunteers and staff assist with homework and mentor a child’s skills.
Beyond the academic benefit of Power Hour, Clubs encourage youth to make positive and productive choices about how they spend leisure time at the Club and at home. Participants develop critical life skills of responsibility in a setting that strikes a balance between autonomy and cooperation. Members will emerge from the program better prepared for classes, and therefore more likely to master the skills being taught in the classroom and to ultimately have educational success.
2006 PROJECT LEARN UPDATE
- 2,095 Clubs, serving 432,633 young people implemented the Project Learn strategy at their sites.
- 773 Clubs offered Goals for Graduation with 38,657 youth participating.
- 3,506 Club sites conducted the homework assistance program, Power Hour, for 615,635 Club participants.
Boys & Girls Clubs of America ensures that Boys & Girls Clubs effectively serve our nation’s youth by not only developing programs like Project Learn, but also by training Clubs’ professional staff to implement programs with proven results.
- In 2006, BGCA conducted 20 workshops on Project Learn, including Goals for Graduation, for 311 attendees.
- In addition, two workshops were held for Power Hour for 29 attendees
Sometimes an intervention in the lives of these young people is necessary to help them achieve academic success. Activities such as tutoring and help with homework can be the difference between success and failure. BGCA developed Power Hour to send a clear message—to Club members, parents and teachers—that the Clubs value and honor academic success, and we can make a difference.
