Middle School Program

Classes are designed to build academic confidence and complement what children learn in school. Students have the choice of daily enrichment activities that focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), with arts and character development elements woven into all curriculum. Staff plan classes based on student interest and connect their lessons to the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. All youth also receive homework help.

Students work together to create clubs for the second half of program. The students are in charge of planning the club, making a list of needed materials, budgeting, and planning. Past and current clubs include, Arts and Crafts Club, Cooking Club, Slime Club, DinoLearn, Gaming Club, Knitting Club, Basketball Club, Dodgeball Club, and Student Directors Committee. The Student Directors Committee provides feedback to the group leaders and program management team and helps interview group leader candidates.

The Youth Opportunities (YO!) Summer Program held its inaugural session in 2010. East End House staff design games, art activities, science challenges, and special events for students entering the middle grades at the Kennedy-Longfellow School. Students spend 10 hours a day at the program, which utilizes a fun, hands-on, and evidence-based curriculum to prevent summer learning loss, particularly in science and literacy. A more relaxed atmosphere than the school year, YO! Summer incorporates overnight camping adventures, field trips, and team building activities to enrich the summer months for middle schoolers. Youth build their leadership skills, expand their worldview, and enhance skills learned during the school year.

A priority of the Middle School Program is to ensure students are keeping up with their school homework and classwork. The first part of program is dedicated to homework help. Group leaders check in with teachers on a regular basis to ensure that the students are up to date on their work and can receive specialized support in challenging subjects.

East End House’s Health and Wellness Initiative is a part of everything we do in the community. In the Middle School Program, youth are given a healthy snack every day. During full days and vacation weeks, students are provided with breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack. The program also integrates wellness in creative ways through gardening and health-related service learning projects.

Physical activity is also a vital part of our Health and Wellness Initiative. The Middle School Program offers sports, yoga and dance classes, as well as a Running Club and seasonal Basketball Tournaments with local Cambridge Youth Centers. In nice weather, we make use of the many neighborhood parks for play and as outdoor classrooms. We give youth the skills and knowledge to continue to make healthy choices even after they move on from East End House.

The Middle School Program has a variety of systems in place to ensure we are doing all we can to help youth progress socially, emotionally and academically. Surveys are distributed to school teachers, children and families several times throughout the year to gauge satisfaction levels and identify unmet needs. Children participate in focus groups as well. Information from surveys and focus groups is used during staff meetings and in planning for new program sessions. All data is entered into Efforts to Outcomes (ETO), a sophisticated consumer database that allows us to track progress towards goals and continuously incorporate feedback from the consumers and evidence-based program evaluation tools to enhance program quality and user satisfaction. Outside researchers also assist with program development, documentation and evaluation efforts.