Assessment and Results
Horizons is committed to rigorous evaluation. Horizons partners with two education data assessment firms, Wireless Generation and Renaissance Learning to generate useful and acccurate pre and post reading and math assessments. Wireless Generation's mClass DIBELS is used for Kindergarten through second grade reading assessment, and Renaissance Learning's STAR Reading and Math are used for grades three through eight.
Results over multiple years show that:
- Horizons students show positive and significant improvements, on average 2-3 months of growth during the six week summer session
- The greatest effect is on lower performing students, but Horizons also helps higher performing students thrive
- Students that have been in the program for at least three years demonstrate even greater results
"The summer slide in academic performance among low-income children is the single clearest contributor to the acheivement gap that increases over elementary years. My knowledge of the Horizons program and the research I conducted on the efficacy of the summer intervention indicates that Horizons is a very promising invention for reducing the achivement gap. I know of no better intervention to offset the summer decrement."
-Dr. Edward Zigler, Professor Emeritus, Yale University, and one of the founders of Head Start