Join the American Baseball Foundation for its 18th annual Lead Off Dinner featuring Atlanta Braves star, David Justice on Friday, January 18th, 2019.  Call 205 558 4235 for ticket information

The ABF’s annual Lead Off Dinner supports the ABF’s BASIC programming. Funds raised through the event contribute to BASIC expansion and improvement.  The ABF has begun to track students’ results over the last several years utilizing the STAR system of testing.  At the beginning of June each year students from grades one through eight take reading and a math pre-tests. The test shows where the students are as related to grade level and suggests how to attack deficiencies. Each BASIC day students who are below grade level receive extra help from our teachers and volunteers. At the end of the month, the students retake the tests to demonstrate the gains made during the program. Statistics for the 2018 summer indicate the following:

80% of all students began program below respective grade level in reading

77% of students who were below grade level improved

34% of all students reached respective grade level in reading by the end of the program

 

61% of all students began program below respective grade level

86% of students who were below grade level improved

56% overall reached their grade level

 

Reading proves more difficult than math to consistently improve.  However this summer our reading gains amounted to a David Justice Grand Slam Home Run as in our South program fifty five students averaged six months (over half a school year) in reading gains. In our East program another fifty five students averaged four months in reading gains. Our “home runs” are battle winners in a war to create life-long readers.