At Women In Charge, we give women the tools they need to succeed in all walks of life. Women In Charge offers classroom instruction in small groups and with one-on-one tutoring. Most of the classes are individualized, allowing each woman to progress at her own speed. Women In Charge is a HiSet site affiliated with the University City School District. HiSET stands for High School Equivalency Test” and shows that the recipient has the same academic achievement as a typical high school graduate. The HiSet exam consists of five tests in Science, Mathematics, Social Studies, Language Arts Writing, and Language Arts Reading. To pass the HiSet test, a score of a minimum of 8 on each test, and a total score of 45 is needed. A total score of 45 is required to pass the test.
Our Math Program is designed to help each individual progress at her own pace. After taking the initial math test, each woman sits down with the Math teacher and evaluates her strengths and weaknesses. Many women have a ‘math phobia’ and are frightened or embarrassed to discuss challenges they may have in mathematics. Our program works one on one with each woman to help build confidence and apply math skills to their everyday lives. We work on improvement by building skills in communication, reasoning, and problem-solving.
Our reading program helps women build skills in comprehension, sequence, cause and effect, interpretation, predicting, and summarizing. The women are divided into small groups by comparable reading levels so they get the individual attention to improve reading techniques. The authentic stories, articles, poems, and books that are read relate to the women’s everyday life. We focus strongly on vocabulary and encourage women to engage in outside reading whenever possible.
Language Arts-Writing Part I (Grammar)
This section of our Language Arts program is devoted to improving every woman’s basic knowledge of the English language. We start everyone at the basic level defining parts of speech. Fundamentals such as nouns and verbs are mastered before moving onto more complex grammar. We work individually and in groups developing skills in sentence structure and mechanics. This class strongly encourages the women to learn from one another by using standard grammar through everyday conversation.
Language Arts-Writing Part II (Essay)
We have two Writing Specialists, Sandy Marsh and Sigrid Renner, who volunteer to help the women learn the skills needed to produce a five paragraph essay. From topic sentence to organization to details, the women increase their understanding of the necessary steps involved in writing a structured essay. They also focus strongly on brainstorming and categorizing ideas by writing about their own thoughts and interests.
Social Studies
Our Social Studies program discusses current events every week which encourages women to become more aware of the world they live in. We have lively discussions on politics and important issues and focus on how they can become more active and involved citizens. In addition to reading short essays, we also have hands-on activities such as games and videos which teach fundamentals in history, geography, and economics.
Science
Our Science program focuses on the study of the world around us and everything in it. Every time we try to figure out how something works or why something happens, the women are thinking scientifically. During this class, the women develop reading and thinking skills, apply different learning strategies, and ‘self-discover’ or inquire. We have open group discussions, lively experiments, interactive computer lessons, and debates over scientific theories to have a better understanding of scientific topics such as plant and human biology, physics, chemistry, and earth science.
