Practice Makes Perfect
Practice Makes Perfect Holdings (PMP) is a for-profit corporation that partners with communities to create summer enrichment programs for inner-city youth from elementary school to college matriculation using a near-peer model. The organization pairs skills development for younger students with leadership development, career training and college prep for older students. PMP matches academically struggling elementary and middle school students with older, higher achieving mentor peers from the same inner-city neighborhoods. Trained college interns and certified teachers supervise the near-peer relationship for a five-week program. In 2013, PMP was recognized at the Clinton Global Initiative University Conference. Goal For over a century, scholars have recognized that summer vacation is a period when students’ rate of academic development declines relative to the school year. The gap in the learning cycle which occurs during summer vacation is more prominent for children that are disadvantaged. Some studies indicate that this may have long term effects on a students school career and eventual job prospects. Research has shown that approximately two-thirds of the ninth-grade achievement gap between lower and higher income youth can be partly explained by earlier summer learning loss. Students from low-income areas lose between 2.5 and 3.5 months of academic learning each