Results
Across 60 affiliated sites nationwide, Horizons National results are consistent and measurable, year over year. Instead of experiencing summer learning loss, students overall gain 2-3 months’ improvement in math and reading and return to school in the fall with greater enthusiasm for learning. Horizons at Saint David’s sees similar results. Our attendance rate is 92% and retention rate from the previous summer averages over 90%.
Long-Term Effects of the Horizons National Program on Student Academic Outcomes
Horizons programs that focus on long-term engagement with children from low-income families produce strong academic outcomes, according to a new study funded by The New York Life Foundation and the Scripps Family Fund for Education and the Arts and conducted by Concentric Research & Evaluation (CRE).
Horizons National engaged CRE to determine whether students who participate in the program for at least four summers achieve better academic outcomes than similar students who do not participate. CRE’s study found that, compared to peers, long-term Horizons students had:
- Higher attendance rates and lower rates of chronic absenteeism
- Higher scores on standardized assessments of elementary math and science
- Higher GPAs in 9th grade, a critical transition year
- Fewer incidents of repeating a grade
- Fewer disciplinary referrals
The study looked at fifteen Horizons program sites in seven states. Each Horizons student in the study was paired with a student who did not participate in Horizons but attended the same school or a school with similar demographics and achievement scores. Researchers used a variety of characteristics to match students, including gender, race, and ethnicity.
These promising results are consistent with effects found with other high-quality, intensive, multi-year interventions and begin to fill an important gap in the research looking at the long-term impacts of summer learning programs.