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DECEMBER 2004

Using Out-of-School Time for Homeless Children?
By Richard Sinatra, Ph.D.

New York City Assemblyman Scott Stringer, in a recent article, painted a black picture for the education of children living in New York City Shelters. In his 22 page report, he noted that coordinating bus transportation for a highly mobile student population and absenteeism were the major factors contributing to a poor education for homeless children. With increased absenteeism, homeless children often repeat grades more often than their stable-residenced peers and are more often to be placed in low performing schools because of their poor school track records.

Rather than just a catch-up procedure of plugging in homeless children into diverse programs at diverse schools, what if out-of-school-time programs could offer a sound educational supplement in a sustained way to support the mission and long-term goals of the schools?

What if the Department of Homeless Services could bus their facility children to after-school programs during the critical hours of 3:00 to 6:00 PM, during weekends, and during the summer? Better yet, what if program providers could bring their programs to facility centers during out-of-school time?

A strong program coupled with motivation to succeed and attend have been the hallmarks of the CampUs program offered by the After-School All-Stars (ASAS) of  N.Y.C. Inc., a chapter of the Arnold Schwartzenegger Youth Foundation, and St. John's University.

During the past three summers, the Campus Program has served children in shelters living in five to six Department of Homeless Services (DHS) facilities of the Bronx and Manhattan. The program features academics including a reading, writing, and graphic design project in a college computer lab; and swimming. All readings, writings, and computer projects are thematically based in small groups and in the computer lab.  

One might think that a half-day of intensive reading, writing, and focused computer work would be a “turn off” for the children during the tradition vacation-time of summer. Not so! Each year, DHS children made significant writing gains as measured by the New York State English Language Arts scoring rubrics.

Other indicators told us, as well, that DHS children were motivated to succeed. In 2004 use of a Reader Self-Perception Scale (RSPC, as designed by William Henk and Stephen Melnick) revealed that children's perceptions of themselves as competent readers improved significantly. The Recreation Coordinator of the Jackson Avenue Family Residence, Bronx, acknowledged the children's desire when she wrote, “Our young people are not always easy to please but they were ecstatic about getting up early to get to camp.” In addition, 45 children responded that their writing got better  and 41 children responded that their reading got better.

CampUs shows that the right program ingredients offered in a sustained, coordinated way can influence this highly mobile but eager population to succeed.#

Richard Sinatra is the Chair of the Department of Human Services at St. John's School of Education.
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