Horizons at SFFS is the first West Coast affiliate of Horizons National. 

Horizons National started in 1964  with a site in New Canaan, CT. Horizons National is on a mission to advance educational equity by building long-term partnerships with students, families, communities, and schools to create experiences outside of school that inspire the joy of learning. Today there are 71 affiliates of Horizons National in 20 states serving more than 5,000 young people.

While Horizons National has successfully led and expanded a powerful network of programs for more than 25 years, the need to support more students and families has never been more urgent as a result of learning loss due to the pandemic.

Horizons at SFFS hopes to serve as a model for the opening of new Horizons sites across the Bay Area. If you are a private school interested in becoming a Horizons host site, we encourage you to find out more on the Horizons national website or reach out to us.

Program model 

Horizons students across the country attend a six-week summer program on the campus of an independent school, college, or university, and receive additional support throughout the year. The project-based educational model is designed to fuel a life-long passion for learning, using a blend of high-quality academics with cultural enrichment and confidence-building activities like swimming, arts, and sports. In small classes led by professional teachers, students dive into a rich curriculum with a focus on literacy and STEM. Horizons serves students with a broad range of academic skills, providing them with the opportunity to experience success in a setting that, over time, becomes an inspirational and stable learning environment for students, families, and the greater community

Results

Since the organization’s 1964 founding, Horizons sites nation-wide have been found to have positive impact on participants’ academic skills, self-confidence, and engagement. A 2018 Concentric Research & Evaluation (CRE) study of 15 Horizons sites in seven states, funded by the New York Life Foundation and the Scripps Family Fund for Education, found that compared to their peers, Horizons students had:

• 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 grade 

• Fewer incidents of repeating a grade 

• Fewer disciplinary referrals 

Read the report to learn more about Horizons’ impact nationwide.