Chess in the Schools Program Impact:

We continue to see the incredibly positive impact our programs have in the lives of our students and are proud to share the following updates from our School Program, College Bound Program, Teacher Training Institute and Scholastic Tournaments.

School Program:

To evaluate the impact of the School Program, we survey classroom teachers at the end of each academic semester. See what teachers had to say for the 2016-2017 year of programming:

• 96% of teachers reported that chess had a meaningful positive impact on their students.
• 89% of teachers reported that practicing chess increased students’ self-esteem.
• 91% of teachers reported that practicing chess enhanced students’ cooperation skills.
• 89% of teachers reported that chess enriched their students’ social skills.
• 93% of teachers reported that chess developed their students’ problem solving skills.
• 92% of teachers reported that learning chess improved students’ analytic and logical reasoning skills.

College Bound:

We were thrilled to once again achieve a 100% high school graduation rate, with a 95% college acceptance rate. So far this current program year, College Bound has produced its first college fair, where 80 of our students learned more about several colleges and universities, including: Baruch College, CUNY, University of Rochester, SUNY, Columbia University, Clark University and Boston University. We also continue to encourage our students to be active members of the community and a force for positive change. With this in mind, several of our College Bound participants completed a community service day at Bay Ridge Cares Community Center, where they helped with painting projects at the senior center. College Bound looks forward to the new year, with more college fairs, college visits and job readiness skills development through our Assistant Tournament Director opportunities.

Teacher Training Institute (TTI):

The Teacher Training Institute has gotten off to an exciting start, with four workshops having been completed so far. So far this year, md:ore than 100 teachers from nearly 50 different NYC schools have now been equipped by Chess in the Schools to establish their very own chess program, extending our reach as the leading chess education organization.

Scholastic Tournaments:

Hundreds of students have participated in various tournaments each Saturday so far this year, in addition to a special Columbus Day tournament. As we enter the end of year/holiday season, we were happy to hold the 12^th and final Council Member Dan Garodnick Chess Challenge in mid-November.