We advance educational opportunities for children experiencing foster care.
Children experiencing foster care face some of the largest educational opportunity gaps of any group of students in Massachusetts — and these disparities can have lifelong effects.
Our newest program, RISE (Readiness • Inquiry • Scholarship • Education), is a first-of-its-kind approach that is specially-designed to meet the unique needs of students in grades K-3 who are experiencing foster care. Through a combination of personalized, one-on-one tutoring and caregiver support, RISE provides children with the building blocks they need to become strong readers.
For more information about our RISE program
Contact HopeWell
Johanna Even
Education Director
(508) 571-1522
info@hopewellinc.org
1,709 hours
working with children in foster care and their caregivers on early literacy skills over the last 2 years
How it Works
- Increasing Access: Too often, education programs inadvertently exclude children experiencing foster care. RISE is home-based, so it moves with students, even if they change foster care placements or schools.
- Providing High-Impact Tutoring: Students engage in tutoring sessions designed to meet their unique strengths and needs. RISE tutors use a research-backed curriculum to cover key building blocks of early literacy, including phonics, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and more.
- Taking a Holistic Approach: RISE tutors embed social-emotional supports into lessons and use activity-based learning to incorporate each child’s interests so they’re motivated to learn.
- Supporting Caregivers: We work to ensure all caregivers in a child’s life — such as foster parents, biological parents, and kinship caregivers — are equipped with the knowledge and tools necessary to advocate for their child’s educational needs and to support learning at home and at school.
- Building Bridges: Our RISE team coordinates services and promotes information-sharing among families, schools, the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF), and other service providers.
HopeWell's RISE Program
Education Support for Children Experiencing Foster Care
PODCASTS
Listen & Learn About RISE
Melissa & Lori Love Literacy
The Melissa & Lori Love Literacy podcast covers the gap between literacy research and practice. It features researchers and experts, teachers, leaders, parents, and advocates.
Deep Dives
The Shah Family Foundation’s Deep Dives podcast unpacks root causes and shares innovative solutions regarding the biggest issues impacting America’s schools.