“If we are
to achieve educational equity,
summer must become the learning
season for all children.”*
Each summer more than 1,500 elementary and middle-school students from low-income households around the
country participate in a unique and effective public/private partnership - the Horizons Student Enrichment
Program. For six weeks they take a bus or walk to the campus of a prominent independent school, to read,
write and develop math skills through innovative and hands-on teaching. Horizons students have the
opportunity to paint, sing, experiment with computers and experience a classroom environment where they
enjoy individual attention from professional, caring teachers and staff at a ratio of 5 to 1.
All Horizons students learn to swim, play sports, and work together as teams. Every week they are taken
on culturally relevant field trips that reinforce the classroom experience. Horizons recruits students
from a broad range of academic abilities: approximately two thirds are performing below grade level
during the school year and benefit from the low student-teacher ratio and the leadership of their
higher-achieving Horizons peers. Learn more
Mission
Horizons National
initiates, supports, and ensures the quality of Horizons programs throughout the United States.
Why Horizons
The latest research, summarized in a 2007 report commissioned by the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, concludes that the annual growth in the academic achievement gap between ... Learn more
*Beth M. Miller, Ph.D “The Learning Season: The
Untapped Power of Summer to Advance Student
Achievement.”
Christopher Babbs
Former Head of School
Colorado Academy
“One of the benefits
of Horizons is the public/private
partnership that develops as a
result of the program.
“We have become part of a
neighboring community and
enjoy a cooperative relationship
with the Denver Public Schools
in a way that could only have
been possible through the
establishment of Horizons.
“It is an example of the kind of
community connections that
independent schools can forge
with the right kind of inspiration
and support.”