Precollege Program Description


New Jersey Commission on Higher Education

PRECOLLEGE PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Saturday Academy

(Rutgers University)

Program began: 1989 - Students enrolled: 100 - Sponsored by: Rutgers University Newark

Contact Information:

Jean E. Giaimis, Project Director/Academic Support Specialist

175 University Ave.

Newark, NJ 07102

Phone: (973) 353-1675

Fax: (973) 353-5700

Email: jean_giaimis@yahoo.com

Program Description:

The Saturday Academy was established in 1983 for the purpose of preparing high school juniors for the Scholastic

Aptitude Test (SAT). The program has served a total of approximately 1000 students between 1989 and 2000.

The goals of the Academy are the following:

1. To improve students' test-taking strategies

2. To improve students' intellectual approach to learning

The Saturday Academy is a review program that serves the Newark and Irvington School districts. The program,

which is 4 semesters long, runs for a total of 18 weeks during the academic year:

* 11 weeks in the spring

* 7 weeks in the fall

The Saturday Academy is unique in that it educates the "whole student." While substantive instruction is given in

mathematics and in language arts, the program also engenders within its students a sense of being part of a learning

community. To this end, the program is noncompetitive and insures that instructors manifest a caring attitude towards

students. Academic advising is provided in the fall semester both to the students as a group and to individual

students. This component of the Academy entails a discussion of financial aid planning, college choices and essay

writing for admission to colleges. Because the Academy realizes the importance of including parents as advocates

for their child's future, seminars are also provided for the parents.

Sophomores from the Newark and Irvington high schools were enrolled in the Institute for Critical Thinking. The

purpose of the Institute is to engage students in higher order thinking. The Institute seeks to assist sophomores in

lessening test anxiety so that they are more academically comfortable when they enter Saturday Academy in the

second semester of their junior year. The curriculum of this program is shaped toward familiarizing students with

analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of verbal exercises and mathematical and scientific functions.

Location of Program Services:

College campus

Sources of students served by the program:

Typical Grade Level(s) on Entry: 10th grade

School(s) Served: Newark and Irvington high schools

School District: Newark/Irvington

County or City Served: Essex County

Region served: Northern NJ

Program Services (Academic):

Remedial

Study

Reading/Writing

Math/Science

Critical Thinking

Program Services (Other):

Visits/Tours

Career Counseling

Mentoring

Personal Counseling

Program Operation:

Program Cycle (Summer or Academic): Academic Year

On Weekends

Special populations targeted by the program:

Low income

Academic Performance - Mid - High

High School Students

ESL

Minorities

First Generation

� New Jersey Commission on Higher Education, 1994-2004
20 West State Street, PO Box 542, Trenton, NJ 08625-0542
Telephone: 609-292-4310 Fax: 609-292-7225
Last Updated: September 10, 2004