Just recently, Palm Beach County Public Schools released an alarming report that two-thirds of our local 3rd-grade students are failing in reading, according to the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST) results from the Florida Department of Education.

These students are unlikely to advance to 4th grade – a critical marker in academic success. Worse yet, they are four times more likely to drop out of high school, lowering their earning power as adults and possibly costing society in welfare.

Milagro Center is immediately responding to this academic crisis by establishing the “CODE READ” Emergency Reading Initiative, which is focused on intensive one-on-one daily reading intervention sessions with professional reading specialists for its most at-risk students.

Milagro Center engages professional reading specialists to:

• provide individualized assessments
• work on-on-one with Milagro’s k-5th grade students to enforce and increase reading comprehension, fluency, sight word recognition, and writing skills
• bring these underperforming students up to grade-level reading, working individually with them year round during Milagro Center’s afterschool program, school breaks, and full-day 10-week summer camp program.

The results of the first year’s program have been nothing short of extraordinary. Every student in Milagro Center’s “Code Read” program successfully increased his or her reading ability.

With more and more underserved students facing severe reading losses at our local Delray Beach public schools, it is critical to maintain the “Code Read” intervention program to make sure they all have a fighting chance to reach grade level toward a future of academic success.

Total funding needed for the 12-month program: $25,000 (part-time Reading Specialist, curriculum, teaching materials, and academic supplies.)

The consequences of these math competency losses are devastating. If children don’t learn math well, they are less likely to catch up, less likely to graduate from high school, and, particularly among minority children, are less likely to engage in STEM programs, and less likely to forge a productive future with a good job.

Milagro Center’s “Rise to the Equation” initiative is a transformative and high-impact math remediation program designed to close learning gaps for underserved K-5th grade students. Through targeted, one-on-one instruction and engaging out-of-school activities, the program will equip underserved at-risk students with the foundational math skills needed for academic success. The outcome will be measurable improvements in math proficiency, increased student engagement, and enhanced family involvement, ensuring long-term educational growth.

To battle these devastating learning losses among underserved students in the Delray Beach public schools, the “Rise to the Equation” emergency math initiative, will teach and empower K-5th grade underserved at-risk children enrolled at Milagro Center how to succeed in math by providing them with the tools, strategies and support, in individualized one-one-one sessions that will:

1. Build problem-solving and critical-thinking abilities,

2. Increase confidence and engagement with math,

3. Provide targeted intervention for struggling students, and

4. Employ enrichment activities for widening mathematical knowledge and skills.

“Rise to the Equation” will have a direct impact on the academic and social emotional wellness of the children we serve. Milagro Center will ensure the elementary school age children who participate in our year-round afterschool, our-of-school-time, and summer camp program will have the opportunity to strengthen their math abilities and gain skills that not only build knowledge but can ensure future success.

Total funding needed for the 12-month program: $25,000 (Part-time Math Specialist, math curriculum, teaching materials, academic supplies.)