FacebookEducational Program
The Sacramento Children's Home is focused on the educational and school success for every child. The Sacramento Children's Home offers a wide variety of educational programs to meet the individual needs of every child and family we serve. We know that success in school is dependent on the support children receive when they are out of the school setting, and have developed innovative programs to make learning fun and enjoyable.
- Our goal is to bridge the gap between the classroom and home
- Education
- Literacy
- Life Skills
- Technology Training
- Enrichment Activities
P.A.S.S. - Plan. Achieve. Succeed. Soar
P.A.S.S is the Sacramento Children's Home afterschool program for children in our Residential Treatment Program. Staffed by qualified tutors, the goal of the P.A.S.S. Program is to create an afterschool academic environment where residents can achieve and succeed by bridging the gap between "The Home" and school.
- Homework help
- Tutoring support
- Reading Program
- Life skills training
- Technology training / computer literacy
- Incentive Program
Christopher arrived at the Sacramento Children's Home in September. Because he had bounced from foster home to foster home, in the span of 2 years Christopher had attended at least 5 different schools. This left him frustrated, angry, and disconnected. Although Christopher was in 8thgrade when he came to the Home, he was barely reading at a 6th grade level, and his math comprehension was at a 5th grade level.
Christopher was very resistant to doing his classroom/homework assignments and needed constant reminders to stay focused. He was easily irritated by his peers and often isolated himself when he got frustrated.
In just a few short months Christopher made remarkable progress. With the support and guidance from his education liaison, he settled into his non-public school placement quite well. The educational program staff noticed that Christopher needed additional individual attention to stay focused, and together they came up with a plan to provide one-on-one tutoring and homework assistance separate from his peers and the study groups. This small change resulted in 100% attendance at school and in his after school programs. With the extra care and concern that staff showed, Christopher began to develop a respect for learning, and was able to eliminate conflict and frustration with his peers. Best of all, Christopher was completing over 85% of his assignments!
By January, he had moved up one grade level in language arts, and was getting several A's and B's on his report car. Christopher is not only very proud of his performance in school and loves to brag about earning good grades, but he is looking forward to graduation and earning accolades for his academic performance. He has a big smile on his face when talking about his good grades and positive school experiences, and is beginning to realize that learning feels good and is FUN.
Nearly 70% of children participating in the P.A.S.S Program are turning their homework assignments and projects in on time.
Ansell Casey Life Skills
Incorporated into the afterschool program is an innovative program developed for junior high and high school aged youth. There are 9 domains of the Ansell Casey Life Skills program:
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Friday Enrichment
- Reading to Dogs is a unique program that allows children to enjoy reading, while eliminating feelings of nervousness and self-consciousness. The program's goal is to enhance children's love of reading through the use of therapy animals.
- NBC Cooking Club involves weekly meal planning, nutritional guidelines research, budget-friendly grocery shopping, coupon hunting, cooking skills and table presentation. The NBC cooking club is a hands-on approach to the Home Living life skills training.
- Great Stories Book Club is a weekly discussion group for pre-teens and teens, where books that are relevant to their lives are read and discussed. The ultimate goal is to inspire youth who face difficult situations to take control of their lives by embracing the power of reading
Youth Literacy Programs
A Book For Every Child - This program was developed, in conjunction with our Family Resource Centers, as a way to make sure that every child in our community has an age-appropriate book at home.
- After participating in the Family Resource Center's reading programs, children can take their books home
- In-home visitors work with parents to set up home libraries, stocked with books for their children
Program made possible by a grant from the Walmart Foundation
In low-income neighborhoods there is only one age-appropriate book for every 300 children
Foster Youth Tutoring & After-School Literacy - Providing afterschool tutoring and literacy for foster youth in grades 1 - 3 that are below grade level in reading. The goal is to help foster children reach grade level reading proficiency through one-on-one or small group tutoring sessions
- Three hours per week
- Follows the 100 Book Challenge curriculum
- Credentialed tutors work with each student to find their "just right" reading level and then advance the students through the program as their reading skills develop.
- Foster parents are engaged in supporting the development of their children's reading and are coached on how to encourage reading in their home.
- Each family is provided with an in-home library that consists of high interest books targeted to the reading levels of the children in their home.
The Foster Youth Tutoring & After-School Literacy Program is supported by Mayor Johnson's recent 3rd Grade Reading initiative. According to Mayor Johnson only 39% of Sacramento's third graders are proficient in reading. His goal for the campaign is that all students will be reading at grade level by the end of third grade.
To learn more about the Mayor's 3rd Grade Reading initiative, visit: www.standup.org.
Program made possible by a grant from United Way
83% of children in the foster care system are held back in school before they reach the 4th grade. 54% of children that have been in the foster care system do not even graduate from high school.
