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Q: How do I know this is the right place for my child?
A: Our commitment to you and your child is to provide a safe, fun, challenging environment so that you can relax and know that your child is spending time after school being productive. We have defined a unique and balanced after school program that provides one on one academic help from professional teachers, time in our “Den” which contains a multitude of activities and games, and enriching after school electives that your child needs and will enjoy. We employ only the best teachers and have extraordinarily low teacher-to- student ratios, so that our support to your child is intense and individualized. You don’t have to worry about those hours after school, when your child is most at risk, because our certified teachers and elective instructors will keep your child safe and excited about learning.
Q: How do you develop and teach your academic help curriculum?
A: Experienced educators and child psychologists developed curricula at Springboard after many years working with children and consulting both research and practitioners. Our study skills curriculum is designed to assess the academic strengths and weaknesses of your child and then build lesson plans that will rebuild areas your child struggles in. Springboard teaches each student the foundation for learning- a critical set of skills that includes organization, project and homework planning, note taking, outlining, and test taking proficiency. In all, the curricula is designed to support sustainable changes in skills and knowledge, so that students can realize our core values of Individual Responsibility and Achievement, meaning they can produce high quality work accurately, effectively, and independently. Springboard also has a more focused program named Springboard Intensive. It is Grade-level tutoring that covers the entire range of grades K-12 and is customized to meet the specific needs of individual students. Taught on an individual basis, it is designed to provide very focused help for students that are either behind academically or for those students that want to accelerate beyond their current grade level. For example, Springboard’s reading comprehension curriculum for students in grades 4-8 breaks each aspect of reading comprehension into its core components, allowing students to develop mastery in the variety of sub-skills necessary for overall reading comprehension. Once students have developed mastery in the core reading components, more complex reading curricula are used that require students to draw upon these sub-skills and “put it all together.”
Q: What makes your after school programs different from private tutoring companies or other after school programs?
A: Several things…
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Springboard identified the shortcomings in traditional after school programs and created a remarkable learning environment that supports your child’s growing academic needs. Most after school programs are babysitting with kids running around gyms. They have high student-to-‘whomever’ ratios and provide neither safety nor genuine challenge. The absence of professional teachers and instructors who know both the developmental needs of children and the content to challenge your child results in boring, busy work being assigned in after school programs. At pick-up time, when parents and kids are tired, they still battle over grades, homework and school.
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Cost. Tutoring companies can charge $75 – $150.00 per hour. Many parents cannot afford this, particularly when you realize it can take months working with a child to help bring them to grade proficiency. A parent could spend tens of thousands of dollars trying to accomplish this. With the help of the Springboard Foundation, Springboard costs are much more affordable.
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Transportation. Springboard operates in most instances right in the school. Your child does not have to travel anywhere. And you do not have to worry about bringing your child to some expensive tutoring company at 6:00 or 7:00 at night and wait.
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Springboard works with your child’s teacher to better understand where they need help. This is such an important thing. Springboards teachers meet with your child’s teachers and receive crucial first hand information about the needs of your child. This input provides important information as to how best to help your child.
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Springboard “Smart Summer Fun Camps”. Unlike most camps, Springboard adds an academic component to its fun summer camp. There are lots of fun sports, games, swimming and field trips, but kids at Springboard camps also have a two hour academic segment, where they receive academic help in areas they struggled with during the school year or they have some time to get in some important summer reading. This important segment helps prevent ‘summer brain drain’.
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In many cases a student in the 6th or 7th grade comes to Springboard with average or worse grades. Using our Springboard Intensive Program, Springboard uses sophisticated academic assessment software to examine all the way back to 1st grade if necessary to find those concepts and subjects that your child missed or misunderstood. Springboard then develops lesson plans to rebuild those areas to bring your child to grade proficiency. Tutoring agencies do not or cannot do this. It would be extremely expensive, take a great deal of time and tutoring by itself does not solve this crucial problem children face.
At the end of the day, parents can be assured that their children are spending productive time after school to complete homework, make critical progress academically, and have fun with their friends. Most importantly, we achieve our success because kids want to be at Springboard.
Q: How long have your after school programs been operating?
A: Springboard originated in 1987. We are financially strong and committed to providing children in public school the same after school benefits that children in private school receive every day. We are constantly developing new program options to challenge and support your children.
Q: Is Springboard expensive?
A: No. Springboard After School is priced to extremely low to make access to Springboard academic help and enriching electives available to most families.
Q: My son has baseball practice at 5 pm two days a week. Can he come before practice?
A: ABSOLUTELY! Your son can focus on the areas of Springboard you feel he will benefit the most from. For instance he might attend academics immediately to get his homework complete then join in one of the after school clubs until he has to leave.
Q: We have a hectic schedule. How flexible is your schedule?
A: We provide many options for our programs. Using our online scheduling program you can select the programs and times that fit your schedule. Our intention is to work with parents to accommodate their schedules and to meet the needs of their child.
Q: Are your teachers certified and qualified?
A: All our teachers are either certified or professionally trained to provide instruction in the course they are assigned, including creative arts, physical and academic tutors. Our teachers are required to continue their education through workshops and seminars sponsored by Springboard.
Q: My child does really well in school, but does not feel challenged in math. Can you help him?
A: Yes, we can help any child grow beyond where they would otherwise. We begin by offering skills to become more self-directed, so that students may learn to identify their own challenges and pursue them. Our professional, enthusiastic teaching staff can work with any level student and the unique variety of challenges ensures something for everyone. For example, perhaps your son would rather get extended math and engineering challenges by spending time building a robot or solving interesting problems in Destination Imagination
Q: I want my daughter to be ready for the SATs; do you do that?
A: Yes, Springboard offers Springboard Intensive, a program designed to work with students in scholastic areas they struggle in and will provide unique and critical study skills curriculum in conjunction with SAT tutoring. Your child will learn test-taking strategies specific to the SATs, practice past SAT exams, study content that Springboard researchers have identified as likely to appear on the next SAT exam, but she will also become more proficient in the skills essential to sustaining her academic growth, such as developing personal study guides, creating homework and study plans, note taking and outlining.
Q: Can you tell me about the Electives you offer?
A: Our Springboard After School Electives are designed to offer your child a fun and enriching course. These courses meet once per week and focus on anything from robotics, to hip hop, to chess, comic book creations, music and more! These innovative Electives offer mind-expanding activities in an exciting and creative environment. Right at your child’s school, the programs provide a safe and educational setting for exploration, team work and fun!
Springboard offers varied Electives in many schools (please check yours) that are designed to challenge and engage children. These clubs include;
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Art – History of artist, styles of art, intro to drawing, etc.
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Band & Orchestra – weekly music ensembles and music lessons
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Drama – Theater, basics of acting
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Dance – Introduction to styles of dance
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Chess – Learn the intricacies of playing
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Comic Book Creations – Creative writing
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Science & Robotics – Introductory elements and kits to build robots
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Spanish – learn the language through conversation and games
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And More! Please see our Electives Catalog on the Home Page.
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How do I enroll? To enroll simply go to www.springboardafterschool.com or www.springboardschool.com (select Springboard) and click on enroll now in the upper right hand corner. You will create a username and password and then provide essential emergency and health information. Keep your username and password so that you can sign your child up online throughout the school year.
How does payment work? You may pay by credit card or by checking account through our secure online system. This is the last step in the registration process.
Can I cancel or change my schedule? Yes, we want you to have the ultimate in flexibility. In order to receive a credit for any given day, you must notify us of cancellation 24 hours in advance by emailing or calling our registration specialist Jill Ashley at jashley@springboardschool.com or 800-341-3177 ext. 1.
Do I have to sign up for a set schedule for the year, month or week? No, you can sign up for one day a week, 5 days a week and anything in between. Our online system is built to conform to your schedule. If you know your schedule, we ask that you sign up and schedule a month at a time. If you do not know your child’s schedule and need to use us as a drop-in service, simply log on and register your child as a drop in student and then sign up on an as-needed basis.
Can my child drop in on the same day? Yes, we are happy to take your child on the same day without prior sign up, just as long as they are already in our online system. We also ask that you call us at 800-341-3177, ext 1, to verify that your child will be in so that we may staff accordingly. There is an additional $3.00 fee to the daily rate for same-day drop-ins.
Can my child drop in if they are not registered in the online system? No. Registration is a vital role to our Springboard program as the information that you submit upon registration also provides the Site Coordinator with health, emergency and contact information.
What electives are offered throughout the year? Electives run on an 8 week rotation. These one hour a week courses offer your children the chance to explore something new. Typically throughout the year, you’ll see some of the following: Karate, Hip Hop, Engineering Challenges, Physical Education, Chess, Spanish, Egyptian History, Sports Tai-Chi and more. For a specific list of what’s offered in your child’s school, please visit www.springboardafterschool.com and look for your school.
If my child just wants to attend an elective and then go home, is this possible? Yes, our electives run first so your child has the choice of going to the Springboard Core Program afterwards or to get picked up.
How do I communicate with my child’s Springboard teacher? When you are on Springboards on-line system and in your account, you will be able to input information into the Springboard Field Report (see Add Communication). This field report is printed off daily for our Site Coordinators and teachers at your Springboards after school program. You, the parent, are able to fill in any information you want the teacher to know, for example, ”My son has a big math test on Tuesday, please make sure he studies math first”, My daughter has been struggling with Language Arts, please have her do 30 minutes extra of silent reading during the academic block etc.
What qualifications do the after school teachers have? Springboard is headed by Dr. Brett Prilik, PhD-ED. Springboard teachers are made up of certified teachers and education professionals.
Are you open on snow days, school closings etc? Springboard is only open if the facilities are open. For days where the school is closed for holidays or snow days, Springboard will also be closed. If after school activities are cancelled due to inclement weather, Springboard will be closed. Please Note: For the Randolph Public School students, the Donovan Elementary School will be open on snow days as long as weather permits a safe opening for all teachers and families. Parents will receive a notice early in the morning and additionally it will be posted on our website.
If my child is absent, will Springboard be notified through the school? Springboard will connect with the main office on absences, however, if your child’s plans change and they are headed elsewhere after school, please notify the Site Coordinator beforehand. Otherwise, upon attendance, the Site Coordinator will call all contact numbers until they reach a person.
If my child is absent, do I get reimbursed for that day of care? Springboard must stay within ratio, so we cannot reimburse for day that we have planned unless we are given 24 hours advanced notice.
My child has an allergy or my child has a medication, how does Springboard handle this? When you enroll using Springboards on line system you will fill out important health forms that are needed by our Site Coordinators. If your child requires emergency or daily medication please be sure to provide the prescription to the Site Coordinator and fill out the medication consent form on line before your child attends the program.
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