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The Regional YMCA of Western Connecticut was able to do this through a grant from the Grossman Family Foundation.
Low-income children are especially vulnerable to academic regression during the summer months. Children who are not kept engaged can regress up to three months in reading skills.
The children were selected from School Readiness graduates and/or identified to the Y by Danbury elementary school staff as academically at-risk. All 15 of the students had completed kindergarten in June. They joined 60 other students (K-7) in our summer programming which combines academic and recreational activities.
Danbury Public Schools just released these 15 students’ Developmental Reading Assessment scores and the tests indicated that 73 percent of them maintained or improved their DRA scores as result of participating in our program. In comparison, 85 percent of the total 60 summer students maintained or improved their DRA scores.
“Without our program, these at-risk children might have fallen behind during the course of the summer months," said Marie Miszewski, president and chief executive officer of the regional YMCA of Western Connecticut. "We kept these children academically engaged as they were able to start the new school year ready to learn. Many of their parents were happy to have this opportunity and are excited to see their children off to a good start."
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