UpSpring
P.O. Box 23300
Cincinnati, OH 45223
UpSpring Summer 360°
Grant Application:
UpSpring Summer 360° is an academic and enrichment summer day camp that provides local children experiencing homelessness with holistic programming to support math and literacy skills, critical thinking, nutrition, fitness, and social-emotional learning. Through trauma-informed care, our program team integrates a variety of experiences, educational lessons, and exploratory opportunities to ensure that students have a well-rounded summer and prevent the "summer slide". UpSpring Summer 360° was delivered virtually in 2020 and in a hybrid model in 2021. We are hopeful to return to a fully in-person camp this summer.
The summer program was UpSpring’s primary initiative when founded in 1998; this program has continued to grow each year and we are looking forward to our 25th year of camp for homeless youth. We expect to serve over 120 local children during the upcoming summer. All the students we work with are currently experiencing homelessness or living in transition. We anticipate seeing improvements in math and literacy skills, feelings of well-being, and increased enrichment opportunities. This camp empowers children to better their lives, therefore bettering our entire region.
Goals of the program include:
#1: Improve math and literacy skills: Have 70% of campers retain or increase their skill level in literacy and/or math.
#2: Improve well-being: Have campers improve overall in at least three well-being measures, such as health, hope, self-esteem, stability, belonging, and comfort.
#3: Expand enrichment opportunities: Introduce each camper to one or more new life experience(s) throughout the summer.
Grant Evaluation Report:
Our 25th year of camp was very successful. Per our research lead, Dr. Heidi Kloos, "We found numerous ways in which UpSpring Summer 360° contributed positively to children’s lives. Beyond providing goods and a safe surrounding, this included a large assortment of activities to target students’ academic and emotional-readiness skills. In fact, Upspring Summer 360° was all around a success, whether in strengthening children’s academic skills or in improving their perceived well-being. Staff created a climate of care and support that is likely to leave a lasting impact, beyond preparing children for the school year."
Improvements made for this upcoming year include increasing the number of certified teachers on staff, working with teachers to create a more cohesive curriculum, and working with our research team to ensure accurate measurements are reported.
Results:
#1: Children completed a package of reading assessments at the beginning and the end of the summer camp. Findings showed that children differed greatly in their reading skills, even children at the same grade level. This information made it possible to offer an individualized reading enrichment and accommodate children’s unique reading skills. Comparisons of children’s reading skills before and after the summer camp revealed that over half of the children either retained their reading skills or saw them improve (59%). This trend was seen at both camp locations, and it was most pronounced for children who scored below their grade level at the beginning of the camp.
Children completed a package of math assessments at the beginning and the end of the summer camp. The assessments were geared towards estimating children’s computational skills and math fluency – two skills that are central to math proficiency. Incidentally, these skills are difficult to acquire for many children, especially those who experience poverty. Many children scored below grade level (64% in computational skills; 65% in math fluency). Findings also showed that children differed greatly in math skills, some performing several grades below their grade level (23%), and some performing above their grade level (15%). The camp’s math enrichment was designed to accommodate such individual difference. As was found with reading skills, comparison of children’s math skills before and after the summer camp revealed positive results: A majority of children either retained their math skills or saw them improve (70%). This trend applied, whether the math skill pertained to computational skills or to fluency, and it applied in both camp locations. National trends show a pronounced decrease in math skills over the summer for children who live in poverty (known as summer learning loss). Thus, it is noteworthy that many Upspring Summer 360° children could retain their math skills.
#2: Children completed a survey on various aspects about their wellbeing, administered at the beginning and the end of the summer camp. The survey covered children’s perceived ability to control negative feelings, their willingness to engage in pro-social behavior, and their willingness to stay focused and learn. Results paint a complex picture of children’s strengths and challenges. For example, many children reported to struggle with staying focused in school (71%), and some children reported to lack the confidence to succeed (35%). Some children also expressed difficulty with getting past negative feelings (66%), and many worried about something bad happening to them (81%). Comparisons of children’s emotional well-being before and after the summer camp revealed some promising trends, notably in their attitudes towards learning. For example, there were improvements in children’s math anxiety (32%), and more children came to believe that they could learn from mistakes (16%). There were also improvements in children’s willingness to engage in pro-social behavior, for example in their willingness to do the right thing when asked to do so (20%) or in their willingness to keep promises made to others (14%).
#3: All campers reported one or more new life experiences.
Website:
http://www.upspring.org Amount: $25,000
Date: March 2022
