Horse Powered Reading® Literacy Intervention Program for Maui Youth

The project entails implementing the Horse Powered Reading® (HPR) curricula through Equine-Assisted Learning & Literary Intervention sessions over a six-month period. The approach chosen leverages the HPR program, integrating equine-assisted learning with traditional academics. The timeline includes preparatory phases, HPR sessions tailored to individual needs, and continuous assessments to gauge each student's progress and overall program efficacy. Past results from HPR sessions at HBC have shown promising outcomes in enhancing reading skills and social-emotional development for school-aged youth facing learning and reading challenges and adults with Dyslexia. This expansion of the previous pilot program builds on extensive research, ensuring sustainability beyond the grant period.

Horse Powered Reading® aims to tackle the pressing issue of literacy struggles among Maui youth, offering a unique solution grounded in equine-assisted experiential learning. According to research by Dr. Pickel (2019), foundational reading skills, such as phonemic awareness, decoding, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension, are crucial for academic success. The target population comprises struggling and emerging readers, encompassing a substantial number of Maui youth facing challenges in these fundamental reading skills. Following the Maui Wildfire Disaster, these youth are at higher risk of experiencing anxiety and depression at rates detrimental to learning and healthy lifestyles.

“Compared to other states, Hawaii ranks in the bottom third in the education domain. Policymakers have recently made investments to expand access to early learning and to address the impact of the pandemic on learning loss, but there is still room for improvement, and these investments must continue in the years ahead so that we can provide this generation what they need to lead the state.”
—University of Hawaiʻi Center on the Family (2022)

Since literacy also impacts societal health, the program boasts benefits like increased community involvement, improved health, self-esteem, and confidence. This program will be provided at no cost to all individual participants, and the majority
of group participants, to reduce barriers to educational support for low-income families on Maui.

ENROLLMENT:
- Youth aged 4-18
- Struggling and emerging readers
- Open to youth with disabilities
- Public school, private school, homeschool, and other groups
- Private sessions and groups

CLIENT OUTCOMES:
The expected results include improved reading skills, enhanced social-emotional well-being, and increased participant motivation and self-efficacy. We will measure these outcomes through pre- and post-assessments, participant feedback, teaching and parent feedback, and academic progress reports through research-based HPR program assessment tools. The curriculum's broader impact will extend to educators and practitioners, fostering a lasting positive influence on literacy education. The program also has the option to include a math curriculum to meet the needs of participants’ English and math skills in youth aged 4-18 (grades K-5 and 6-12). Facilitators utilize the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts and Mathematics and will work with teachers, parents, and other educational support staff to identify and meet individual needs.

STRATEGIES:
Private sessions will be available to provide instruction for struggling children requiring 1:1 instruction and mentorship, and group sessions from 5-25 children to accommodate public school groups, homeschool groups, and other groups of school-aged children who may benefit from peer interaction in a learning environment. Fully funded, this program can accommodate 180-220 school-aged children during the 6-month period, with continuous assessment of the maximum number of participants per session. Flexibility is key to promoting optimal learning outcomes for each participant.
Each participant will receive a personalized take-home book bag, including a book of their choice, Scholastic activities, and various student incentives designed to encourage independent reading and develop excitement around learning.

TRACKING:
We will measure these outcomes through pre and post-assessments, participant feedback, teaching and parent feedback, and academic progress reports through research-based assessment tools from the Horse Powered Reading facilitator program.

EVALUATION & REPORTING:
Mentors and mentees will meet weekly for one hour, preferably at the same time of day. They will follow a three-part plan to address the plan of care goals, utilizing color-coded life skill activities. Mentors will complete activity logs to document progress toward the plan of care goals. At the midpoint (5 months) and end of the program (10 months), the program director will develop progress summaries, summarize activity logs, and highlight overall progress in the program, as well as recommendations for future program engagement. A post-test will be collected at the last session. This data will be compared to pre-test data to determine growth in the six different life skill category areas.

COMMUNITY:
This program goes beyond literacy intervention; it cultivates a community that values its youngest members' well-being and academic success. We invite the individual foundations to be key partners in this endeavor, contributing to the educational enrichment of Maui's youth and leaving an enduring legacy of support for literacy and social-emotional development.