Mission: Alearn is a non-profit educational organization committed to preparing under-represented students for success in college. Our programs provide academic support and create a college-going culture for students who will be the first in their families to go to college.
Programs: Map program-alearn's math acceleration program (map) is a summer intervention program for middle school students to raise their proficiency in math and to raise their aspirations and goals to go to college. Alearn's map plus program is a before and after school program during the school year in math and college readiness offered in selected school districts.
catalyst program-alearn's catalyst to high school program is a summer bridge program that helps rising 9th graders transition to high school's rigorous college prep coursework. The program helps students with math and prepares them for advancement to college.
zoomz program - zoomz. Net is an online community for underrepresented students who will be the first in their families to attend college where they relate, interact, and learn about college readiness and college success.
girls exploring math programgem is an after-school program designed to get girls interested in science, technology, engineering and math careers. The gem program brings together lessons in pre-algebra, leadership, empowerment and collegereadiness. Hands-on math and science avtivities designed to specifically engage girls are featured in the program. Gem includes online math lessons using klan academy. Successful silicon valley women share stories about math and their careers to the girls throug gem's guest speaker series.
I attended a classroom as a Board member of the SCCR Foundation for observation with the Summer Program at James Lick High School in San Jose. I was very impressed with the work that was taking place. This Realtors Foundation gives Grants to local nonprofit organizations where the funds would impact contributions to the community. Our Board believes in the work being done by ALearn and will be making another Grant for an after-school program.
Emily W.
Professional with expertise in this field
06/03/2011
Rating: 5
06/03/2011
I started volunteering at ALearn last year in order to help out a friend, Kathryn Hanson. Kathryn founded ALearn 4 years ago because she saw the achievement gap between the "haves" and the "have - nots" in Silicon Valley. She saw this at the public school where her son attended in Los Altos California. Kathryn has a background in high technology and consulting as well as a lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
She discerned that the "gatekeeper" for success in high school was algebra. If a student did not succeed in math, they were not going to succeed in high school. Without doing well in high school, a college education was not very likely.
Hence she founded ALearn which provides free summer school classes in pre-algebra for middle school students. These classes are held for 5 weeks, 4 hours a day at public schools throughout Silicon Valley. The class follows a professional curriculum and is taught by professional teachers and college teaching assistants.
The results have been very impressive and ALearn has grown to serve 1200 students in 14 locations with a budget of $600,000.
