Gloria Duran says she still can’t believe her eyes when her children come home from the Scholars Unlimited after-school programs at Crawford Elementary in Aurora.
“The first thing they want to do is read,” Duran said of her seven kids enrolled with Scholars Unlimited. “They’d rather be grabbing their books instead of games, instead of videos, instead of TV. They’re always teaching me new things.”
And the results are showing up on their report cards as well, Duran said.
“Their grades have really improved and the teachers are really seeing it,” she said.
The program, once known as Summer Scholars, has been around for more than 25 years and expanded in 2000 to year-round programming touching more than 2,100 elementary students.
Once limited to Denver, Scholars Unlimited is now in 13 public schools, including three in Aurora and two in Westminster, according to president Diana Romero Campbell, and it continues to grow, with children from more different schools participating. In addition to the after-school tutoring and activities that it’s best known for, Scholars Unlimited has added a “ready scholars” program that focuses on the younger siblings of children already enrolled.
“It is three classrooms for kindergarten transition, readying them for the school experience,” Romero Campbell said.
Currently, programs are focused on students who attend low-performing schools in under-resourced neighborhoods, with a push to move them to grade-level proficiency in fundamental literacy skills, reading fluency and comprehension.
“What’s embedded into the program is a lot of professional development with the adults working with the kids, social and emotional learning and youth-development programs, where they feel valued, known and respected,” she said. “They vote with their feet. If it’s positive, they come back. It’s self-perpetuating.”
The results also show in tests, such as one that measures a child’s ability to form different sounds essential to learning to read. In 2017, about 41% of the children tested were able to accomplish the task before taking the Scholars Unlimited program. After completing the six-week program, it vaulted to 75%.
Duran said she’s seen the improvement first-hand, especially with one of her oldest children who graduated last year at 14 years old.
“She volunteered to help in any way she could, she liked it so much, and wanted to help others,” Duran said.
