The Californer - Avoiding the Summer Slide: Oakland-Based Children Rising To Provide Summer Enrichment Programming

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OAKLAND, Calif. - Californer -- Summer enrichment programming is critical for Oakland children struggling to recover from several years of lost learning time. Oakland-based nonprofit Children Rising, which already has more than 20 years under its belt in recruiting, training, and supporting an array of highly skilled and experienced tutors and mentors, will provide crucial summer enrichment programming to enable children and families in Oakland Unified School District to avoid the annual "summer slide."

In the schools serving Oakland's lowest-income neighborhoods, 70% of children are two or more grade levels behind in reading and math. Already reeling from COVID-related learning disruption, children lost nine days of instruction while missing scheduled one-on-one tutoring sessions due to the recent Oakland Education Association strike. The looming "summer slide"—the tendency for students, especially those from low-income families, to lose some of the achievement gains they made during the previous school year—will further exacerbate the problem.

Children Rising will provide academic enrichment, parental support, and learning resources to children most in need of summer learning at no cost to their families. Children will receive take-home packets incorporating Science of Reading learning techniques and books geared toward their individual reading levels. One-on-one tutoring sessions in math will enable children to continue the progress they made throughout the school year. Reading check-ins with families will support at-home instruction, including support for Spanish-speaking families.

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"The children in our one-on-one reading and math tutoring programs have worked hard this year to overcome lost learning, but that progress was interrupted when tutoring ended due to the labor stoppage. Critical summer enrichment programming will enable children to continue progressing in reading and math and empower families to accelerate their child's learning at home," said Jim Wambach, executive director of Children Rising.

Founded in 2001, Children Rising's one-on-one tutoring programs deliver high-dosage tutoring and social-emotional learning to children in Oakland's most underserved communities. Through FamilyBridge, parents become more effective at supporting and advocating for their children's education.

"One-on-one tutoring and at-home academic support are the best ways to overcome learning loss so the children can more rapidly catch up. Unfortunately, tutoring is typically reserved for more affluent families, especially over the summer. We are going to invite as many families as possible into our summer enrichment program so that the kids will come back to school better prepared," Wambach said.

To learn more about Children Rising's summer enrichment programs, visit www.children-rising.org.

About Children Rising

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Children Rising is an Oakland-based 501C(3) non-profit organization founded in 2001. The agency empowers children attending public schools most affected by poverty, violence, and educational inequity by raising awareness and rallying community support for their needs; and by galvanizing and guiding volunteers to teach, mentor, and nourish the children so they may develop academic and life skills to realize their God-given potential. Children Rising offers an array of services to under-resourced public schools in three program areas - Succeeding by Reading, Path2Math, and FamilyBridge. More information can be found at www.Children-Rising.org.