Highlights of this school year, which ended June 2020, include:
Agency:
Total students and parents served: approximately 3,000
Agency Volunteers: 600
Earned a 2020 Platinum Seal of Transparency on GuideStar
College/Career Readiness Programming
Mentoring
960 students supported throughout 17 schools, with support from 415 mentors; Celebrating our 10th consecutive year with Traditional Middle School Mentoring
o Leadership Mentoring for High School Students: Third year of this program, supporting 26 students.
o Early College Studies for Stamford High School Students: Mentored 86 9th, 10th and 11th grade students at the workplaces of corporate partners Deloitte, NatWest Markets, and Henkel.
o Traditional Mentoring for Middle School Students: 71 students needing additional academic and/or social support were mentored, one-on-one, in six schools.
o Service Learning for Elementary School Students: 777 students in grades 4 and 5, in 8 schools, engaged in this unique classroom program that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.
Math Tutoring
Stamford High School Math Lab: 80 9th grade students who were below basic in Algebra 1 were tutored. 66% of 9th grade Stamford High students participated in SPEF’s Math Tutoring Lab passed Algebra 1.
Dolan Math Lab: 31 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students who were on the cusp of mastery in their math classes the previous year participated in SPEF’s pilot middle school tutoring program. 100% of students enrolled in SPEF’s Math Tutoring Lab passed their core math course for the year.
Student-Athlete Program: 70 required and 38 voluntary fall sports athletes and 39 required and 58 voluntary winter sports athletes received support from this academic support program, which meets after school at Westhill High School and Stamford High Schools to foster positive student-athlete development and growth academically, athletically and social emotionally.
Family Engagement Programming
Books Across Stamford: Distributed 2,919 new books throughout Stamford to help children, pre-k through 5th grade, build home libraries. In addition, Books Across Stamford activated during the COVID-19 public health crisis to distribute an additional 2,293 books to students at Grab and Go Meals sites throughout Stamford. Books across Stamford will continue distributing free books throughout summer 2020.
Parent Leadership Training: Provided in-depth training to promote strong leadership and advocacy skills for parents. Despite the need for social distancing, the spring 2020 cohort of our Parent Leadership Training Institute continued to meet via zoom and held a virtual 2020 graduation ceremony for 23 parent graduates.
Enrichment Programming
Summer Voyager 2019 served 120 rising 4th, 5th and 6th graders with a summer enrichment experience in academics, athletics, science and art. (An increase of 24 students from 2018 Summer Voyager). Due to COVID-19 state mandated health and safety protocols, SPEF is delivering Summer Voyager 2020 in collaboration with several community partners, coordinating summer camp enrichment and academic experiences for 76 campers.
Odyssey of the Mind: 16 Stamford teams comprised of 105 students participated in a March Showcase. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 public health crisis, the Connecticut State Odyssey of the Mind Tournament and World Finals were canceled.
Kindergarten Readiness Programming
Summer Start 2019: 61 students participated in this kindergarten readiness program. Summer Start 2020 was suspended due to COVID-19 state mandated health and safety protocols. SPEF is partnering with Stamford Public Schools in cohosting Kindergarten Readiness Fairs throughout Stamford during summer 2020, to help increase kindergarten registrations and promote awareness of steps families need to complete to prepare children to be kindergarten ready when school resumes in the fall.
PELI (Preschool Early Learning Indicator) administered to 1,002 SPS students entering Kindergarten for the 2019—2020 school year.
