After School Program
Completing our seventh year of operation in 2004 with students
from a nearby elementary school, the After School Tutoring Program
has grown in stature in the community. Fifty-four students have
been recommended to our program by teachers throughout the past
seven years. There is currently a waiting list of students eligible
for our program. Students who are recommended need help in reading
or mathematics. Children arrive at UU Montclair on Mondays and Wednesdays
at 3:45 PM and remain until 6:00 PM when parents or guardians arrive
for them.
Funds for the program are provided by UU Montclair. We have several
thousand books available for reading instruction, materials and
manipulatives for math instruction and nine computers. Special instruction
on computers is provided for ten weeks. Throughout this time and
still true currently, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at
Montclair has not paid for administrative efforts or for salaries
for our volunteer tutors. UU Montclair provides for space, heat,
light and custodial costs for the program.
The goal of the program is to provide a safe, nurturing environment
which fosters learning and a love for reading and math under the
tutelage of caring adults. Results from standardized tests given
by the Montclair Public Schools system for all our students have
shown rewarding numbers. Over 90% of our students from grade three
to our graduates currently in eighth grade scored from the 50th
to the 85th percentile in reading. This is only one criteria of
the children's growth. They are more self-assured and confident
by the time they graduate from fifth grade.
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