About Us – GirlSMART

About Our Program

Our Mission at GirlSMART

Our mission at GirlSMART is to prepare girls for lifelong success by accelerating their literacy development while fostering a love for reading. We achieve this by building our girl’s self-esteem in a supportive, small-group setting and by providing them with engaging and research-based literacy instruction. Our intentional and compensatory model embraces books with inspiring female role models.

Overview of the GirlSMART Program

GirlSMART is a daily after school literacy program serving kindergarten through third grade girls. Many of the girls are identified as reading below grade-level or otherwise needing extra literacy support. GirlSMART is intentionally designed to build girls’ literacy skills and confidence in the classroom. GirlSMART participants benefit greatly from supplemental educational programming that motivates them towards higher academic achievement, provides them with additional literacy support, and encourages them to build strong, positive peer and adult relationships as they begin their academic careers.

How GirlSMART is meeting girls’ needs:

GirlSMART participants have many barriers to overcome as they work towards reading proficiency:

More than 63% of the girls come from low socio-economic status families.
Most students are identified as reading below grade level or needing intensive literacy support.
Sixty-five percent of the girls are English language learners.

GirlSMART literacy programs can be found in schools in four metropolitan areas:

Oakland, California
Richmond, California
Hayward, California
Jacksonville, Florida

Our Beliefs

There are three major goals for the GirlSMART program:

To improve our GirlSMART girls’ reading ability, with a majority reading at grade-level or higher
To improve GirlSMART girls’ attitude toward reading and learning
To improve our girls’ confidence and self-esteem

These goals stem from belief that girls learn best when:

1

They are in a safe, supportive environment that encourages risk-taking

2

They are actively engaged in the learning process

3

Their learning is meaningful and relevant

4

They are engaged in research-based literacy activities, including many opportunities for them to practice reading.

5

They are allowed and encouraged to learn at their own pace

6

The staff and volunteers demonstrate a love of learning, and the positive qualities that good self-esteem are built upon

FAQs

1. What ages are served by GirlSMART?

The program serves students from kindergarten through third grade.

2. How do I sign my child up?

Please contact the school where you wish your daughter to attend the program and ask them for the contact information for the GirlSMART program coordinator to learn how to sign up your child. Please see the locations page for more information on where GirlSMART is located.

3. Is it just for girls?

At this time, the program is designed for, and works with only girls.

4. What do the girls do at GirlSMART?

The girls are taught foundational literacy skills using research-based strategies and activities. These include phonemic awareness activities, phonics activities, sight word identification, vocabulary, read alouds, guided reading, reader’s theater, and writing.