Study Skills Academy

In an effort to expand its work benefiting students, the Naperville Education Foundation (NEF) granted each of the 14 elementary schools $2,000 to institute an after-school Study Skills Academy. Representing the NEF’s largest single undertaking ever, the Study Skills Academy is designed to cultivate solid study habits among elementary-level students who need extra help outside of the classroom. Bolstering the campaign to help youngsters become successful, life-long learners were business partners SBC Illinois, through funds provided by the SBC Excelerator Program (a philanthropic initiative under the wing of SBC-Illinois, now AT&T-Illinois); Lucent Technologies; Citibank/Citigroup and the Naperville Jaycees.

In February of 2006, COMCAST stepped forward to sponsor the Study Skills Academy program in all five of our junior high schools. (To read about the model Lincoln Junior High adopted, which has positively impacted student achievement, click here.)

In the fall of 2007, through the generous support of our Yuks for Youth3 fundraiser, we were able to expand the Study Skills Academy to the two high schools.

Left to right: Nina Menis, Director of Communications, District 203; Lisle Mayor Joe Broda; Sharon Douglass Kuglich, Government Affairs Manager Chicago West, Comcast; Lori Montgomery, Vice Chair, Trustee Development, NEF Board of Trustees; Naperville Mayor A. George Pradel, Maria Castro, Community Affairs Manager Chicago West, Comcast; Russ Gates, Chairman, NEF Board of Trustees.

One year from its initial gift, COMCAST renewed its commitment to the Study Skills Academy at the junior high level by presenting District 203 with another check for $10,000 on February 15, 2007, at the NEF Appreciation Breakfast.

“We are so grateful to our sponsors for helping us to make this dream [of helping students] a reality,” said District 203 Director of Community Relations Nina Menis, who joined Assistant Superintendent for Student Services and Special Education Kitty Murphy, NEF Trustee Jim Ondyak and Associate Superintendent for K-12 Instruction Lenore Johnson in reviewing each of the schools’ Study Skills Academy proposals.

Of the positive impact previously-established after-school study programs across the District have made, Ondyak noted: “We have some real success stories.” Murphy, the former principal of Maplebrook Elementary (where a “Homework Academy” has been operating successfully for the past five years), can readily attest to that: “Maplebrook presented the model for the study academy and has been an advocate all along.” Mill Street Elementary’s M&M (Mentors and Mill) Academy, in which Naperville North High School students tutor Mill Street pupils after school, also provided a prototype for the Study Skills Academy project. Mill Street Reading Specialist Deb Coulter reported encouraging results on the study academy front as well: “It’s unbelievable the difference we’ve seen in students’ grades; some of these kids are passing their tests for the first time.”

Teachers and administrators aren’t the only ones enthused about the Study Skills Academy. Ranch View Elementary Principal Karen Currier, whose school also instituted a study academy five years ago, has received feedback from parents that positively glows. Comments such as “my daughter is now more actively involved in the classroom” and “my son is not angry when he has to do his homework anymore” fill the pages of the program evaluations Currier regularly collects. “Their confidence is up, their grades are up, and they’re more motivated,” added Currier, of study academy students. “[This program] really relieves the tension at home, too.”

While each Study Skills Academy is a little different, they all typically include 10-15 students (predominantly in grades 3-5) and meet between two and four days per week. The program relies upon the help of school staff, student mentors and community volunteers, including HURRAH members and local corporate sponsor employees. One such SBC employee, active District 203 parent Jim McCarthy, worked diligently with SBC Illinois Director of External Affairs Valerie Bruggeman to obtain an SBC technology grant in support of the Study Skills Academy.

“The NEF’s choice of one focus area not only enhances its support of children and schools in a visible manner, it also sends the message that assisting students after school is very worthwhile,” said Associate Superintendent Lenore Johnson. Worthwhile, indeed, and possible because of the generous corporate and community sponsors, parents and school staff, who support this ground-breaking initiative through their donations to the Naperville Education Foundation. To find out more about the Study Skills Academy program at your child’s elementary school, contact your school’s principal or the District 203 Office of Community Relations at 420-6475.