Scholars Program Overview

In 2007, the Foundation created and launched the Scholars Program, our first initiative to encourage David Gordon’s love of learning in all children. Most appropriately, the program began at David’s school, Spring Hill Elementary, with 18 students in grades 3 to 6. The primary goal of the program is to engender a life-long hunger for and passion for learning that will lead to extraordinary achievement and success for the individual and society. The Scholars Program will achieve that goal by identifying talented, promising future leaders and providing them with individualized or small group instruction and mentoring to develop their ingenuity, creativity, skills and love of learning. In particular, the program has designed highly gratifying experiences of discovery and achievement that the students will attempt to replicate over the course of their lifetimes. The initial three subject strands of the Scholars Program are creative writing, music and science.

Candidate Selection Process: Nominations are solicited from teachers and parents. A panel of teachers and DGLD reviewers participate in the selection process. Children who are disadvantaged financially or would other wise be unlikely to obtain private tutoring will be favored. The selection criteria are open-ended and tailored to the child's particular area of interest. They may include writing or music samples, school performance, standardized testing performance, special achievements, recommendations and motivation. The program primarily targets elementary school children in grades 3 - 6. However, exceptions will be considered on a case by case basis.

Metrics for Continuation: Individuals will be assessed initially at 3 months and 6 months and subsequently at no less than semiannual intervals for continuation in the program based on evidence of benefit from the program with respect to growth beyond what would be provided by their school, continued signs of exceptional promise and on motivational factors.

For more information

To find out more about the Scholars Programs, click the following links: creative writing, music, science.

Application

Download the application here. (Right-click the link, and choose 'Save Target As...')

Please e-mail the completed application to info@dgldfoundation.org or Fax to (703) 757-6463

Because of the success of the Scholars Program effort, the Foundation is now seeking to bring fun and engaging learning to a much larger number of underserved children throughout the country. The Magic of Learning will give children in low-income communities the opportunity to experience David’s joy of learning.

We are focusing initially on a ScienceExplorers program because science is an intrinsically exploratory endeavor that allows educators to target the natural curiosity of young people about the world around them. Science also has multi-disciplinary applications across other core subjects such as math, reading and writing and therefore can impact a student’s self-confidence as a learner and academic success.

The Foundation’s strategy for expanding the reach and impact of the ScienceExplorers nationally is through collaboration with organizations that share our goal of enriching children’s lives and learning opportunities and have assets and expertise that complement our own. It is our belief that this kind of collaboration will make it possible to bring the magic of learning and exploring to many more underserved children than by going it alone.

Partnership with I Have a Dream (IHDF) Affiliates
Among the many organizations dedicated to helping underserved children achieve academic success, the I Have a Dream Foundation (IHDF) stands out as truly unique and effective. IHDF empowers children in low-income communities to achieve higher education by providing them with the resources, the skills, knowledge, and habits they need to succeed in college and beyond.

IHDF is built on a network of quasi-independent affiliates that have strong ties to their communities and adapt the IHDF program to reflect local needs. Affiliates generally sponsor entire grade levels of 50-100 students in under-resourced public schools or housing developments, and work with these "Dreamers" from early elementary school all the way through high school. Upon high school graduation, each Dreamer receives guaranteed tuition assistance for higher education. The IHDF program is long-term, comprehensive, and inclusive: it follows students from elementary school to college; it addresses both academic and life skills; and it welcomes all of the children in the class .

The David Gordon Louis Daniel Foundation believes that these attributes make affiliates of IHDF excellent candidates for model collaborations. The Foundation will conduct pilot collaborations with three IHDF affiliates beginning in fall 2008. Two additional affiliates may be added in early 2009. The program will enable the Foundation to test program content, conduct student research and fine-tune the organizational logistics of collaborating with multiple affiliates. Our preliminary national roll-out plan calls for five new affiliates to be added each subsequent school year until all interested affiliates have had the opportunity to participate.

Learn more about the program

Visit the Science Explorers website.