CHILDREN’S DEFENSE FUND FREEDOM SCHOOL
Research suggests that during summer break,
Research suggests that during Summer Break, students from low-income communities can lose as much as 1/3 of the academic progress gained during the school year compared with their peers from higher-income communities. Since 2006, Metanoia’s Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) Freedom School has helped hundreds of North Charleston students from K-8th grades continue their learning while avoiding this learning slip that many of our students would otherwise experience during Summer Break. 98% of CDF Freedom School Scholars either gain or maintain their reading levels during the summer months base don pre and post testing of student reading levels.
The CDF Freedom School is a six-week long, high-energy summer camp-type environment that teaches students the love of reading and how they can make a difference in themselves, their families, their communities, their country, and their world. It is free, giving hard-working parents a safe and enriching child care option during the majority of the summer. Rather than being a remedial reading program, we provide an environment that focuses on a child’s strengths and imagination through reading and reading-related activities.
The goal of Freedom School is to get students and their families excited to read and learn through the rich characters, ideas, values, and settings in the curriculum books. Every week, 100 students get to take home a new book to build their own libraries. All of the books chosen are age-appropriate and reflect our students’ heritage, culture, and perspective. Students also take part in daily enrichment activities like cooking classes or karate, participate in social action projects (marches against violence and to successful efforts to reduce neighborhood speed limits are prior years’ projects), and get to go on fun educational field trips.