How it Began:
Four years ago, Alejandro Gac-Artigas was a first-grade teacher with Teach for America at the North Philadelphia’s Pan American Academy Charter School. At Pan American, Gac-Artigas began to see the “Summer Slide” phenomenon in effect, noticing the length of time it took his students to get back to reading level they had achieved at the end of their last school year. It took until Thanksgiving for many of his students to get back on track. One of the biggest reasons for this phenomenon was the fact that low-income students often lack continued access to learning over the summer. According to the U.S. Department of Education, these summer reading losses add up to a two-year differential between low and high income students by the end of eighth grade, and the summer slide is the “major reason the achievement gap grows through the elementary years”. Gac-Artigas decided to take an internship at management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. to consult with the best of the best in organizational problem solving, and develop a new approach to the problem by starting a company called Springboard Collaborative.
How it Works:
Springboard Collaborative’s vision is to close the literacy gap by transforming the summer from a barrier into a springboard for financially disadvantaged students and families. It encompasses two unique concepts in its program: first, a parental training program and second, an incentive based system for both students and teachers. Parents attend a workshop with their children weekly to practice home reading skills at the school. Teachers make visits to the students’ homes with and earn extra bonuses based on how many visits they make. If students meet their daily and weekly goals, they earn school supplies and books. If they exceed these goals, they earn laptops.
The Impact:
In 2012, Springboard’s 340 students replaced a typical 3 month reading loss with a 2.8 month reading gain. Such a trajectory closes the reading gap for many of these students by fourth grade. Before Springboard’s program implementation, many parents had never been inside their child’s school. Today, the weekly family workshops have yield a 91% attendance rate by parents. These parents are now empowered to guide their children in their educational journey and have learned the importance of being on the same page as their child’s teachers.
How to Get Involved:
Many local schools will match what you invest and some schools will even add more. For instance, if you donate $25 towards books for a student’s reading goal, the school will match $30. There are many ways to help, including investment in a parent empowerment workshop for $50, a day of learning for a classroom for $100 and even the ability to sponsor a whole classroom for $5,300. To date, Springboard Collaborative has raised enough money to help 162 students achieve their reading goals and touched 11 classrooms. For those interested in joining the movement in a more hands-on way, contact Springboard today. There are still three exciting opportunities available to you for the Summer 2013 session.
This article is written by Megan Tranfaglia, Legal Blogger for Empowerment Legal, a Strategy and Resource Firm for Entrepreneurs and Artists. Megan is a Junior at Suffolk University’s Sawyer School of Business, Majoring in Entrepreneurship & Marketing. Megan is the Director of Marketing Street Teams for The Suffolk Entrepreneurs.
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