96-069 - Grant Award Agreement for the Santa Ana Community Action Network Program

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182 Research has shown that children who experience a high degree of flux and complexity in the school setting face the same level of stress related disorders as adults experiencing stressful life events or life transitions. These stressors have a negative impact on a students' academic achievement and commitment to school and pose the risk of developing a wide-range of adolescent problems. The target population for this program will be students at risk of academic failure and who show a lack of commitment to school. The students targeted for the elementary school level Tutoring and Transition Program will be those 5th grade students at Carver Elementary School who are preparing to make the transition to intermediate school, and who reside within the target boundaries. The students targeted for the intermediate school level Tutoring and Transition Program will be those 8th grade students at Willard Intermediate School, living in the target area and who will be making the transition to Santa Ana High School. A. Willard Tutoring Activities: The program will reduce the risk factor of academic failure of Willard students by providing computer and non-computer assisted tutoring with an emphasis on homework completion. Instructional Assistants with direct knowledge of classroom assignments will conduct before and after school tutoring sessions for students who show a trend toward academic failure based on report cards. These Instructional Assistants will be available on-campus and will have access to classroom texts, testing materials, and other teaching aids to assist students. The objective will be to identify 100 at-risk students to complete the minimum requirements of 4 hours of tutoring per week (1 hour per day times 4 days), for 15 weeks, either before school or after school, 2 hours of which will be computer- assisted. These students will also participate in excursions to Santa Ana High School aimed at clarifying expectations and become familiar with their future new school. The tutors will assist students to set and reach goals for academic improvement and will assist the Program Coordinator to develop and implement recognition opportunities to acknowledge those achievements. The Program Coordinator and the tutors may also follow-up with phone calls to parents of students who fail to attend scheduled sessions to ensure a high level of participation which will in turn increase the students commitment to school. The documentation for this program will include student academic behavior and attendance records kept at pre and post intervals to measure changes in academic achievement and commitment to school. Other documentation will include permission slips, sign-in sheets, goal-setting logs, and student evaluation forms. Tutoring has been shown to significantly increase the likelihood of students to experience success in school and in interpersonal relationships. The extended contact with education promoters who provide increased support, affiliation and involvement has been show to increase bonding and recognition.