A recent national study confirms that students who participate in Horizons programs have better school attendance, higher academic outcomes, fewer disciplinary referrals and fewer grade retentions.

The new study, conducted by Concentric Research & Evaluation (CRE) and funded by The New York Life Foundation and the Scripps Family Fund for Education and the Arts, validates that Horizons programs that focus on long-term engagement with children from low-income families produce strong academic outcomes.

“We know the impact this program has on Savannah’s youth. We see it each summer, as we watch our kids progress year after year,” said Christy Edwards, executive director of Horizons Savannah. “To have a national study confirm that this program makes tangible differences in the lives of our program’s children is awe inspiring. Over the long term, Horizons is having a positive impact in our city and I praise the vision and leadership of our host schools, board of directors and donors that have always believed in our mission.”

When compared to their peers, students who have participated in the Horizons program for at least four summers had the following in common:

Higher attendance rates and lower rates of chronic absenteeism

Higher scores on standardized assessments of elementary math and science

Higher GPAs in 9th grade, a critical transition year

More course credit earned in 9th and 10th grades

Fewer times repeating a grade

Fewer disciplinary referrals

Most research on summer learning has found that students from low-income families fall behind their wealthier peers over the course of the summer, either because they are losing knowledge and skills or gaining them at a slower pace.

“These summer learning student outcomes reflect Horizons’ long-standing commitment to quality data collection and offer a significant contribution to the growing body of evidence on the long-term effects of summer learning," said Matthew Boulay, founder and CEO of the National Summer Learning Association. "Horizons’ exemplary standards in programming not only inspire a joy of learning during the critical summer months but, most importantly, set students up to thrive in the school year ahead.”

The study looked at fifteen Horizons program sites in seven states, and, because it focused on long-term participants in the program, included only sites in operation for at least four years. Horizons Savannah has been in operation since 2002. Each Horizons student in the study was paired with a student who did not participate in Horizons but attended the same school or a school with similar demographics and achievement scores. Researchers used a variety of characteristics to match students, including gender, race and ethnicity.