Our Impact
Helping Students Become Lifelong Learners
Bringing Learning to Life
SHARP programming serves 8,600 students in 36 urban schools in Milwaukee, Waukesha and Racine counties. We partner with schools, teachers and youth-serving agencies to build students’ skills in the areas that best set them up for success now and in the future, from learning the fundamentals of coding to boosting their confidence in reading, math and science. We prepare SHARP students for a path to lifelong learning.
IMPACT: SHARP’s Core Program
Serves disadvantaged students
• 85% of SHARP students qualify as economically disadvantaged
• 88% of those served by SHARP are students of color
Instills a love for STEAM
Students showed statistically significant gains in demonstrating an affinity for STEAM learning through beliefs like…
• Ideas come from wondering
• It’s good to ask questions
• Good ideas can come from my questions
Provides memorable and transformative experiences that spark curiosity and motivate students to learn and explore
• Confidence predicts if students will persist in learning science, technology, engineering, art and math into the future
• Students showed statistically significant gains in confidence in their ability to read, do math and science after participating in SHARP workshops
Serve as a valuable partner to schools, teachers & community organizations
• Teachers view SHARP as providing increased opportunities for students and valuable professional development opportunities that enhance their teaching skills
• Net promoter score: 44 (up from 17 in 2018-19) Overall NPS calculation is based on teacher recommendation ratings of promotors (respondents rating SHARP 9 or 10) and detractors (respondents rating SHARP 0-6)
IMPACT: SHARP’s Design Through Code (DTC) Program
Upper elementary students learn about the fundamentals of coding through both “unplugged’ (offline) and “plugged” (online) activities with Code.org.
89% of students were engaged on Code.org, completing at least two levels in a workshop
89% of students demonstrated persistence, attempting at least 70% of the assigned levels on Code.org
74% of students achieved proficiency on Code.org vs. 15% of students without SHARP instruction
88% of students reported increased confidence in communication skills vs. 78% before SHARP instruction
75% of students gained proficiency in financial literacy through the Design Challenge
