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Friends
of Children's Upward Success in Education
(FOCUSED)
FOCUSED
is a targeted, instructional, after-school
program for at-risk elementary school students
living in subsidized-housing communities.
FOCUSED classes are held within these communities
and administered by Urban Vision. All participants
of the FOCUSED program are residents of these
communities. Classroom teachers from the participants'
schools are employed to teach, support, and
encourage at-risk students both academically
and socially. The goal of FOCUSED is to raise
the level of academic achievement of participating
children to be equal to or higher than that
of the general school population. FOCUSED
programming works to achieve these goals in
three ways:
| 1. |
Increased and targeted instructional
time to students. One teacher and
two instructional aides from the participants'
schools are hired to ensure coordination
with current school-based after-school
programs and classroom teachers. FOCUSED,
therefore, extends the classroom day
and provides remedial and standardized
test instruction. |
| 2. |
Increased parental involvement.
By operating within the participants'
communities, the FOCUSED program encourages
parental involvement. Principals from
the schools attend monthly "Breakfast
with the Principal" meetings. These
events are held within the student participants'
communities and hosted by Urban Vision. |
| 3. |
Teacher/Staff
development. As administrator of
FOCUSED, Urban Vision works with the
FOCUSED teachers to more effectively
handle the discipline and social and
emotional needs of the children. Urban
Vision is also available to facilitate
parent/teacher, parent/child, and parent/parent
intervention and conflict resolution. |
With the help of the Public Education Fund
of Charlottesville-Albemarle, Urban Vision
was able to sustain the FOCUSED program at
Mallside Forest in November, 2005. The program
coordinated with Woodbrook Elementary School
where the students of the program attend school.
There were 17 students involved in the program
for the 2005-2006 year. |
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