Serving Children from Norwalk and Stamford

Results

Academic Results

Fairfield County, Connecticut, exhibits some of the starkest economic divides in the nation, where severe opportunity gaps directly drive persistent disparities in student achievement. Among admitted Horizons students:

  • 100% come from households with incomes at or below 200% of federal poverty guidelines.
  • At least 67% enter with documented academic and/or social-emotional needs.

Children from under-resourced communities often lack access to high-quality summer learning, losing two to three months of academic ground annually and falling up to three grade levels behind by fifth grade. This is particularly critical in early literacy: students who are not reading proficiently by third grade face a 60% likelihood of remaining below proficiency through middle school.

To address these compounding disparities, Horizons utilizes rigorous multi-metric evaluation tools across its summer program—assessing attendance, retention, literacy, math proficiency, social-emotional development, and water safety. We recently transitioned our primary assessment tool to mCLASS to establish a systematic, reciprocal data exchange with Norwalk and Stamford Public Schools.

Literacy & Math Outcomes

  • 81% of summer participants showed measurable literacy growth.
  • A majority of students across all 9 grade levels demonstrated gains, including 100% of 2nd graders and 86% of kindergarteners who strengthened phonemic awareness.
  • 8 out of 9 grade levels demonstrated measurable math growth from start to finish.

Student Retention & Attendance

According to the RAND Corporation, students who attend at least 20 days of a voluntary summer program over two consecutive years gain an academic advantage equal to 20–25% of typical annual growth in math and reading.

Horizons consistently exceeds this attendance threshold:

  • 95% three-year average summer program attendance rate
  • 92% three-year average student retention rate

Water Safety & Swimming Proficiency

Opportunity gaps extend directly to life-saving swimming skills. Nationally, Black youth ages 5–19 are nearly six times more likely to drown in a swimming pool than their White peers, with 64% of Black children and 45% of Hispanic/Latino children possessing little to no swimming ability.

Swimming proficiency is also deeply generational—over 30% of Black caregivers and 25% of Hispanic/Latino caregivers report never learning to swim, compared to under 10% of White caregivers.

At Horizons, water safety is a core pillar of our curriculum:

  • 94% of students are proficient swimmers by the end of their 8th-grade summer (three-year average).

High School Graduation & College Enrollment

Ultimately, our high school graduation and post-secondary enrollment metrics demonstrate the transformative power of closing the opportunity gap:

  • Connecticut Baseline: Only 80% of state students eligible for free or reduced-price meals graduate high school in four years.
  • Horizons Outcome: Based on a three-year average 100% of Horizons students graduate high school on time—with 98% enrolling in college or post-secondary program.