The George B. Thomas Sr. Learning Academy, Inc.

Montgomery County Board of Education

April 9, 2019

History of Saturday School

• Mu Nu Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity

o 1985–1986 school year, Housing Opportunities

Commission (HOC) Center in Olney, MD

o 21 children; 19 volunteers

• 1994, Sherwood High School

• By 2005, expanded to 12 centers in impact areas

o Montgomery County Public Schools Strategic

Plan—Our Call to Action: Pursuit of Excellence

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Current locations

• 2017, Most recent opening, Clarksburg High School

• Northeast Consortium:

o 2000, Paint Branch High School; 1996, Springbrook High School

• Downcounty Consortium:

o 2004, Albert Einstein High School; 2002, Montgomery Blair High School; 2002, Wheaton High School; 2001, John F. Kennedy High School

• Upcounty:

o 2005, Col. Zadok Magruder High School; 2005, Rockville High School; 2004, Watkins Mill High School; 2002, Gaithersburg High School; 2002, Northwest High School

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Saturday School – 2,655 enrolled

Programs for students

• Aristotle Circle

• Young Scholars Program

• ACES Tutoring – Montgomery College

• Rising Star Pre-K

• SAT/ACT Prep

• Java Programming

• BRIDGE Projects/Credit Recovery

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Saturday School

Other Programs and Partnerships

• Parent Training Workshops presented by the Office of Student and Family Support and Engagement

• Adult ESOL Classes funded by Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy

•High Achieving Scholarship Awards - $12,000 each year

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Saturday School

Revenue based programs

• STEM Curiosity Academy

• CODING

• Scholarships available for both programs

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Saturday School: Racial/Ethnic Groups Served

12.4%

42.7%

8.0%

33.4%

3.2%

16.8%

42.3%

8.5%

27.9%

4.3%

15.6%

44.4%

7.7%

28.3%

3.7%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

Asian African American or Black White Hispanic/Latino Two or More Races

2017 2018 2019

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Saturday School: Service Groups Served

33.3%

54.6%

13.1%

29.4%

46.5%

13.9%

31.3%

50.4%

12.3%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

Limited English Proficient FARMS Special Ed

2017 2018 2019

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Research Study

The Office of Shared Accountability, Applied Research Unit, conducted an examination of the impact of the Saturday School program was examined for participants with high attendance compared to a matched group of non-participating. Four questions were examined:

• What are the demographic characteristics?• What percentage of participants had high attendance?• To what extent did Saturday School participants meet Evidence of Learning Outcomes in literacy and math?

• Is there a difference between Saturday School and non-Saturday School participants with comparable demographics and academic achievement?

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Research Study FindingsMAP-R MAP-M PARCC ELA PARCC Math MPA/GPA

Elementary

Grades 3-5 ♦

FARMS ♦ ♦

Underrepresented Groups

Middle

Grades 6-8 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

FARMS ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Underrepresented Groups ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

High

Grades 9-12 ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

FARMS ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

Underrepresented Groups ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

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Saturday School participants performed significantly higher than nonparticipants.

Saturday School participants performed significantly lower than nonparticipants.

♦ No significant difference between Saturday School participants and nonparticipants.

Current Impact Data

Achieve 3000 pilot

• 4 largest centers utilize assessment tooloMontgomery Blair High SchooloNorthwest High SchooloPaint Branch High SchooloWheaton High School

•Measures pre-post Lexile growth in readingo Grades K–3 showed the greatest growth

September 2018 through January 2019

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K–8 Lexile Growth (2018–2019)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

K-1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Lexile Growth

1st Semester 2nd Semester

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Grades 3–8 Lexile Growth

• Lexile changes for participating Saturday School students during the 2016–2017 and 2017–2018 school year

• Examined for students across all Saturday School Sites

• Examined for students in sites not implementing Achieve 3000

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Lexile Growth: Grades 3 through 8 (All Sites)

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8

Fall 2016 Spring 2017

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Lexile Growth: Grades 3 through 8 (All Sites)

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8

Fall 2017 Spring 2018

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MCPS In-kind Support

• .5 FTE Administrator, operational and administrative support from staff in OCIP, OSFSE, and OCTO $200,000

• IntraAgency Coordinating Board Fees $84,000

• Transportation (9 buses) $45,000

• Young Scholars Program $30,000

• Instructional Materials and services $19,500

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Sources of Revenue

• Montgomery County Government $934,832.41• Student Registration Fees $140,000• Unrestricted Contributions $46,000• Golf Tournament $40,000• STEM Curiosity Academy $37,000• Grants $15,000• CODING $12,500• Individual Giving $10,000• Charitable campaigns $5,000

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Discussion