The Accredited After School Program (AASP) uses sailing as a learning medium to make math more interesting and accessible to public high school students in New York City.

Breaking News: Hudson River Community Sailing (HRCS) and the National Sailing Hall of Fame (NSHOF) have partnered to bring the highly successful Accredited After School Program to students across the country.  More information here.

Goals of Program

• Increase students’ interest in math
• Increase students’ aptitude in math
• Develop students’ leadership, teamwork, and communication skills
• Teach students’ a new skill – how to sail a boat
• Expand students’ horizons about the possibilities in their lives
• Provide fun, safe, structured after school environment

Structure of Program

• Offered twice a year – Fall (September-November) and Spring (April-June)
• Lasts approximately 10 weeks
• Minimum 54 hours of instruction (2/3 on the water, 1/3 in the classroom)
• Occurs twice a week, afterschool, from 3:30pm-6:30pm

Participating Schools

• The James Baldwin School: A School for Expeditionary Learning (M313)
• Humanities Preparatory Academy (M605)
• Landmark High School (M419)

Program Statistics

• Program Graduation Rate – 90%

• Improvement in Math Skills (as measured by HRCS
Diagnostic) – 75%

• Attendance – 94%

Participants

• Participants
(2008, 2009): 100
• Ethnicity: 50% Hispanic, 31% African American, 13% Caucasian, 6% Asian
• % Receiving Title I Assistance: 72%
• Male: Female (%) – 45:55
• Grades: Freshmen –14%, Sophomore – 56%, Junior- 22%, Senior – 8% • Ages: 15-19 years old

Teaching/Learning Methods

• Experiential education
• Peer-to-peer instruction
• Hands-on learning

Assessments/Measurements of Success

• AASP Diagnostic Test administered before and after program measuring improvement in math skills
• Performance-based assessments in math and sailing skills
• Take-Home Mid Term exam to establish mid-program benchmark
• Weekly quizzes to track progress
• Weekly homework assignments

Click Here for the Youth Medical and Waiver Forms

Math

Topics Covered

Unit 1 – Sail Area and Perimeter

• Pythagorean Theorem
• Formula for Perimeter and Area of a right triangle
• Concept of Similar Triangles
• Percent Change Formula
• Number Squared vs. Square Root

Unit 2 – Sailing in Current
• Conversion of mph-knots, ft/s-knots
• D=RT formula
• Vector Addition and Subtraction
• Right Triangle Trigonometry (SOHCAHTOA)
• Reading a table
• Calculating an Average
• Length of a mile and a nautical mile

Unit 3 – Apparent Wind

• Resultant Vectors
• Law of Cosines
• Supplementary Angles
• Concept of Degrees within a circle
• Value of Interior Angles of a Triangle

Hands-On/Sailing Skills

Unit 1

• Rigging the Sailboat
• Basic Sailboat Maneuvering
• Basic Sail Trim
• Measurement of Sails
• Reefing Sails

Unit 2

• Tacking and Gybing
• Measuring current speed
• Reading tide tables and charts
• Measuring boat speed using a chip log

Unit 3

• Measuring wind speed
• Measuring wind direction
• Sailboat Racing