CFY's
Take IT Home
program works directly with schools to improve the home learning environment of their students. CFY begins the program with sixth graders and their families and then expands it to more senior middle grades in subsequent years. CFY begins with sixth grade because this is just when children’s disengagement from family and school begins.
Take IT Home uses an application and interview process to select public schools in low-income communities and then offers families:
A free computer
designed as a home learning center.
For participating families, this home learning center
becomes theirs to keep.
Engaging educational software titles
in math, English, social studies and science. These titles have been identified by software experts and tested by students and education executives from school districts across the country.
Internet access
at a reduced rate. The access we provide depends on the city in which we are working.
Bilingual web content
at www.communitycorner.org
Family Learning Workshops
that teach parents and children how to use their CFY home learning center
to strengthen core academic skills. All participating families must attend a workshop for a half-day where they learn on the home learning center
they then take home. Workshops are held on Saturdays at the school and are well attended: In schools that draw fewer than 15 families to PTA meetings, each of our Saturday workshops draws more than 100.
Robust technical support
from CFY's bilingual help desk open 11.5 hours per day, Monday through Thursday, plus eight hours on Friday. Families can also bring their home learning center
to a local CFY warehouse for free servicing or, in some cities, can choose to have a CFY-trained technician come to their home for a modest fee.
Additional training
beyond the Family Learning Workshops. These additional trainings are designed to give parents strategies for engaging in home learning activities—something that impacts student performance far more than typical school-driven parent activities (such as parent-teacher meetings). These workshops are open to families from all middle-school grades.
Both before and after the Family Learning Workshops, CFY offers
professional development to partner schools to
help teachers use technology to extend classroom learning to the home.
CFY's innovative approach supports parents as learning partners, connects classroom learning with the home, and creates educational opportunities for the entire family.
Find out how your school can become a CFY school.