Organization: Roots and Wings Inc
Mission: Roots and Wings provides afterschool education programs for 2nd & 3rd grade public school students struggling with reading skills, & hosts an award program for public school teachers & staff who provide a superior learning environment.
Activities: The Above and Beyond Teacher and Staff Recognition program began in 2016 as a fun, celebratory way to honor the hard work of public school teachers who often go unrecognized. The principals of each of the schools pick the winners, many times with the help of faculty and staff. Members of the Board of Roots and Wings, along with donors, Community leaders and interested members of our Community attend these award presentations. By the end of 2019-20 school year we will have awarded over 1000 teachers and staff with an Above and Beyond Award.
Roots and Wings initiated a Pilot Program during 2017-18 at Pine Grove Elementary to help children in third grade with their reading and reading comprehension. As many of you know, third graders need to pass the state mandated reading test to move on to the fourth grade. Our first year program was aimed at selected 3rd graders who had been identified by teachers as needing extra help to pass that test at the end of the year. Also participating were repeating 3rd grade students who had not been able to move on to the 4th grade the previous year because of their poor performance on the test. This after school program that lasts an hour and a half and meets three times a week is focused on reading and reading comprehension. Students are encouraged to apply based on their needs, and are accepted into the program based on their parent's willingness to support their child's efforts to improve their reading and reading comprehension skills. Since the program is voluntary, we are able to help those who are highly motivated to succeed. The participating teachers are familiar with the particular needs of the students, and able to provide individualized support. We are able to quantitatively measure improvement in the reading and comprehension of the participating students through testing, and use the results to strengthen program components so that we can have an even more dramatic effect on outcomes as we move forward. This program was highly successful in improving the iReady test scores of its first year participants. Students were enthusiastic about participation, and 94% of the students showed growth at the end of the school year. After consultations with participating teachers and the Administration at Pine Grove, we decided to include the 2nd grade in the 2018-19 program so that we can achieve a broader impact on the students who needed most. The expansion of the program is possible because of the extra ordinary generosity of our local community and friends from far and wide. A couple of matching gift challenges have allowed us to expand the program to a second Delray Beach School, and we chose Orchard View Elementary.For the 2019-20 school year, because of a "Great Ideas" grant from the Children's Services Council, we expanded the program to add Banyan Creek and Plumosa School of the Arts.
NTEE category: Education
Secondary category: Youth Development