The First Tee putting Grad Nation to work each of its chapters
3/11/2010
The First Tee, an Alliance partner and recent adopter of the Grad Nation goal, is fulfilling its commitment to end the high school dropout crisis by bolstering collaboration both nationwide and on a community level.
As an organization that provides all Five Promises at each of its chapters, The First Tee has submitted a Promise Place application for all 197 of its chapters across the country. It will focus its efforts in Houston, Nashville, and Chicago -- three Alliance Featured Communities-- to intensify education inside and outside the classroom through two unique programs.
The National School Program is an in-classroom elementary school initiative that improves student achievement and supports effective teaching during physical education classes.
The First Tee Life Skills Experience is an afterschool, weekend and summer month curriculum that will involve collaborating with the communities’ school districts, youth organizations, afterschool programs and other Alliance Partners. Life Skills Experience locations include The First Tee chapters, golf courses and driving ranges, as well as schools, parks, community and youth centers, and 120 military bases around the world.
Through its partnership with the Alliance and the Grad Nation initiative, The First Tee has identified three key goals of this partnership:
- To enhance the National School Program using the most successful aspects of the Life Skills Education Program and align efforts with the Grad Nation goal and determine whether young people participating in The First Tee National School Program and related activities have a significantly higher graduation rate than young people not exposed to The First Tee National School Program;
- To expand The First Tee National School Program into all elementary schools in the three Featured Communities, thereby reaching over 650 schools and impacting more than 335,000 elementary school students every year and introducing the program into the Boys and Girls Clubs to offer the opportunity for more children to participate; and,
- To research and measure the impact of the program on students from Kindergarten to 5th grade through a longitudinal research study, as well as snapshot summaries that will provide updates on the development of key indicators.
The First Tee, an initiative of the World Golf Foundation, has as its mission To impact the lives of young people by providing learning facilities and educational programs that promote character-development and life-enhancing values through the game of golf. The goal is to provide the golf learning facilities and the experience that will enable kids from every walk of life to partake of a game that teaches values for life and which can be played for a lifetime. To learn more, visit http://www.thefirsttee.org.