Horizons at Brooklyn Friends School is a summer and after school academic enrichment program serving low-income, public school students in K-8. With a dynamic curriculum of Reading, Math, Science, and the Arts, Horizons at B.F.S. provides students with the critical support they need to stay on grade level and have experiences that encourage social and emotional growth, enhance self-esteem, and foster a life-long interest in learning.
Horizons is focused on preventing academic losses, closing the achievement gap and improving life outcomes. Summer and after-school programs provide under-serviced children access to high quality academics and enrichment. On average, Horizons students gain 2 to 3 months in reading and math skills over the six-week summer session. Horizons serves 135 low-income students per summer at the Brooklyn Friends school.
Average summer drop-off after 1st grade for African-American students in New York is 22% worse than for African-American students nationally.
Low-income students typically slide back academically 2-4 months every summer. The cumulative affect can be an achievement gap of 3 years by fifth grade.
Students caught in the achievement gap are six times more likely to drop out of high school, and have a 51% chance of being unemployed.
of graduates enter four-year colleges and universities.
At the end of Kindergarten, my son could not read and was completely disinterested in trying. By the end of Horizons, he could read simple word books and loves it now.
- Parent of a Kindergartner