The Camino Scholars program, quite literally, meets kids where they’re at.
People’s Self-Help Housing (PSHH), the biggest affordable housing organization on the Central Coast, offers a variety of free, site-based services to its residents. One of those services is Camino Scholars, an after-school education program offered on-site at PSHH properties.
“We have 11 learning centers throughout the Central Coast, all the way from Carpinteria to Paso Robles,” PSHH Director of Education Joanna Dominguez said. “We offer after-school programming and then we also offer college readiness programming for our students once they get into high school.”
These programs can look like tutoring, group-based homework help, and other educational support to boost students’ school success.
When the pandemic hit last year, Dominguez said the demand for the Camino Scholars program shot up.
“We were getting referrals left and right,” she said. “So just during that first month, we increased our enrollment by 100 students.”
Now more than a year later, it’s evident that the Camino Scholars program works: PSHH recently released end-of-year data that shows vast improvements over the past school year, even with kids learning mostly at a distance.
According to the data, at the start of last school year, only 35 percent of students enrolled in the program were reading at grade level, with 32 percent being two or more grade levels behind. At the end of the year, 61 percent of students were reading at grade level or higher, and just 13 percent still needed greater assistance. Overall, the data shows that students’ scores improved by 74 percent over the course of the school year.
Dominguez said the program uses a web-based math and literacy platform called iReady to assess its students.
“Why we utilize that platform is because it’s very predictive of their school success,” she said. “It’s totally in line with the SBAC [Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium] testing that the school districts use. We’re able to see where our students will progress academically with the school district. … Even during COVID times, we kept working with them for the whole entire time.”
And while at school, students typically get a new teacher every year, the Camino Scholar program has kids working with the same instructors as they get older.
“The reason why we were able to fill that gap [during the pandemic] is because we have such a strong relationship established with our parents and our students,” Dominguez said. “They’re coming to us year after year after year, and it’s the same teachers in the after-school programs on-site. … Normally they just walk over from their apartment to our classroom right in the middle of the [housing] complex.”
Amid the pandemic, of course, things looked a little different: Camino Scholars went virtual during the lockdown. But as things open up, the program is now back in person.
Dominguez added that while PSHH residents get priority in the program, other kids can join, too, if there’s additional space.
“We do very frequently enroll additional students in the community,” she said. “A lot of times that looks like other family members of our students who are enrolled with us. Other times it’s the local school that’s in our area, they’ll refer students that don’t live on-site, because they know of us through other students that they have that do live on-site.”
The service is completely free to anyone who enrolls. Right now, Camino Scholars has about 350 students enrolled, and the program typically serves 600 students over the course of a school year.
“As a result of the pandemic we’ve actually expanded our partnerships,” Dominguez said. “For example, Templeton Unified [School District] is the first to ask us to open up a Camino Scholars program on campus. So last semester, we did the first ever Camino Scholars program on campus at Templeton Middle School, and this upcoming school year we’re planning to open up an additional two sites at Templeton Elementary School and Vineyard Elementary School.”
To find out more about Camino Scholars, visit pshhc.org/education.
Highlight
• The city of Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department and the Mayor’s Task Force on Youth Safety are joining forces to throw a teen pool party on Aug. 7. The free event for youth in grades seven through 12 will feature a DJ, snacks, and some summer pool fun. “The mission of the Mayor’s Task Force on Youth Safety is to prevent violence through safe and healthy opportunities,” according to the Recreation and Parks Department. “In partnership with the Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department, resources and programs are offered to youth to prevent their involvement in criminal activity, drug use, and gangs.” The teen pool party doesn’t require registration, and it will go from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Paul Nelson Aquatic Center, located at 600 South McClelland St.
Staff Writer Malea Martin wrote this week’s Spotlight. Send business and nonprofit tips to spotlight@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 5-12, 2021.