Academic Enrichment

Academic Support
& Enrichment

Here's the Quick Stats on Literacy:

1 in 3 children in 4th grade are below the basic reading level in the United States.
80% of low-income 4th-graders never reach reading proficiency.
Each year 1.3 million 4th-graders in the U.S. read below basic levels, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
Students who don’t meet proficient reading standards by the end of 3rd grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school without graduating than students who pass the standards.
High school graduation can be reasonably predicted by knowing someone’s reading skill at the end of 3rd grade.
130 million adults in the United States struggle to read basic sentences.

GSGBC's Academic Support:

AFTERSCHOOL: GSGBC follows the Blueprint for Reading Success Program
- Universal benchmark assessments administered by our Missouri Certified Teacher learning specialists
- 100% of members in attendance complete a daily hour of Homework Help or participate in Academic Enrichment Monday – Thursday, facilitated primarily by Youth Development Specialists
- In 2025, Learning Specialists facilitated 230 additional Homework Help sessions
SUMMER: GSGBC partners with Turn the Page STL to offer programming designed to prevent the Summer Slide
- The High Impact Tutoring Program was fully funded by Turn the Page STL
- Instructional methods were based on the University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI)'s phonics-based program
- Members are assessed using University of Oregon’s easyCBM Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) assessment
- 100% of members attending summer camp participate the Daily Hour of Literacy, which included 15 minutes each of: Read-Aloud, Independent Reading, Independent Writing, Literacy Games & Activities

GSGBC's Academic Enrichment

PROJECT MAKE IT: Members work with Project Make It staff in teams to design and build a mini-golf hole, featuring a hazard controlled by a microcontroller, out of cardboard & other recycled materials
NBA MATH HOOPS (Presented by Gateway YMCA): Builds fundamental math and social-emotional skills through a physical and digital basketball-themed board game, a curriculum, and a community program experience.
SPARK LAB & TECHBRIDGE GIRLS (Gateway YMCA): Spark Lab engages members in hands-on STEAM investigations to ignite their creativity and build their own electrifying projects while mastering the fundamentals of electrical engineering. Techbridge Girls is a program designed to introduce girls to STEM and engineering fields of study

Learning Specialists facilitated 456 tutoring sessions in Spring and 204 in the Fall.
92% of members in the Spring and 90% in the fall, participating in tutoring maintained or improved reading level.
44 members attended 30-minute tutoring sessions 3-4 times weekly based on Winter Benchmark data in the Fall and Spring.
In the Summer Program, 68% of members participating in the Daily Hour of Literacy maintained or improved their reading level and 72% of members who participated in High Impact Tutoring increased or maintained their ability to decode.
21 members (rising 1st through 4th graders) were selected to participate in High Impact Tutoring during the summer based on discrepancy between reading level and grade level.
45 members participated in Spark Lab
17 members participated in NBA Math Hoops
22 Members participated in soldering clinics with Project Make it and 28 Members participated in the Annual Mini Golf Competition

Help kids thrive today, watch them achieve success tomorrow!