Community Update

The Clarke County School District has always benefited from its proximity and partnerships with the University of Georgia. Undergraduate students visit local schools for hands-on experience with kids and there are countless community events planned by the College of Education as well as other various departments at UGA. Many people cite the locale of UGA as a primary reason for having moved to Athens and are appreciative of the opportunities for continuing education and also, the just-plain-fun things that take place on the UGA Campus.

One particular example of how UGA works with our community can be seen at Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School, a centrally-located and sizable elementary school with a high population of Latino students. The CLASE program, an offshoot of the College of Education, is an educational and developmental research center that provides tutoring and mentorship for students at OAES. Some Latino students are considered to be “at-risk” due to poverty, language barriers or both. Volunteer tutors and mentors from UGA work with these kids, helping them with homework and at the same time building their confidence, motivation and ability to achieve academically. Tutors come twice a week to work with 3rd-5th grade students individually or in groups. The undergraduate volunteers are acting as role models while simultaneously gaining their own valuable, real-world experience working with children, as well as knowledge and understanding of Athens’ Latino community.

The overall mission of CLASE, as stated on the program's website, is to provide development and resources for K-12 educators working with Latino students, tutoring and support for at-risk Latino students, support in developing a pipeline to post-secondary education for Latino students, and research to show ways of improving the achievement gap for Latino children nationwide and especially in Georgia. Julie Hinkle, a teacher at OAES responsible for organizing the tutoring program, says , “I like our program because our students work with current college students. Many of them don't have a person in their family yet who has had that experience, and I think it's really valuable for them to make connections with people in post-secondary ed and to start thinking of themselves as college material.”

To help bridge the gap and further develop the pipeline to post-secondary education, CLASE has a program specifically designed to help rising 9th and 10th graders, known as SALSA (Summer Academy for Language, Science, Aspirations). This four-week summer enrichment program focuses on science, academic language and college awareness and aspirations. Over 85% of the SALSA students have graduated from high school, compared to the average of less than 55% of students from comparable demographics, and over 60% of the students who graduated from the first cohort are currently attending college.