The HOSTS Program at Cornerstone

HOSTS Learning Corporation – headquartered in Vancouver Washington – is a leading provider of proven, research-based learning systems for school districts throughout the U.S., targeted to the Kindergarten-through-12th grade level. The 35-year-old Company is currently operating in over 1,600 schools… in 40 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and El Salvador.

The “HOSTS” name is an acronym, based on “Help One Student To Succeed.” Since 1971, HOSTS Learning Corporation has delivered structured mentoring programs to more than one million students who have benefited from personalized instruction to improve their reading, writing, vocabulary, math, critical thinking, and study skills.

HOSTS currently trains over 100,000 mentors annually – from supporting corporations, local churches, retiree groups, and civic-minded organizations – as a foundational element in its overall approach to boosting achievement for kids at below-grade levels.

Beyond structured mentoring programs, however, HOSTS Learning Corporation has developed a broad spectrum of proprietary products, services and methods – a blend of both high tech and “high touch” – that that accelerate student achievement… in reading, writing, language development, and math skills.

With a 30+ years track record, these learning systems have proven to increase student academic gains in reading and math an average of two years or more in a single school year!

And Cornerstone is the only private Christian school in the entire U.S. to offer the HOSTS Learning System in its entirety. Through special arrangement with HOSTS Learning Corporation, Cornerstone is serving as a “beta test site” for implementing the System in a private school setting.

  • If your child is functioning at below-grade level in some specific area – say in reading, writing or math – you can be assured that this situation will be promptly identified and remedied (through the HOSTS diagnostic Assessment Program) – before the child falls behind in classroom and develops problems with self-image… or a bad attitude towards “School” in general.

  • If your child is identified for additional assistance through the Cornerstone HOSTS Learning Center, you can be assured that such assistance will be based on the solid research, experience, and tools of HOSTS Learning Corporation… and delivered to your child through at-home lesson plans… the child’s regular teacher… a HOSTS supplemental Teacher/Coordinator… and weekly one-on-one tutoring sessions at the School with a trained, volunteer mentor – all at no additional expense to you whatever.

  • You can be assured that your child’s learning progress will be in line with standards specified by the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. While no institution can guarantee that your child will meet or exceed those standards, Cornerstone Christian School will make every effort to help make that happen, based on regular HOSTS assessment results.

The HOSTS Program at Cornerstone is not a “Special Needs Program,” in the strict meaning of that term, since the Program is not specifically geared to students with severe mental or physical disabilities who may require special accommodations. Yet the HOSTS Program functions in part like a Special Needs program… and over the years has produced a large body of impressive, validated results for severely-disadvantaged youth that many traditional Special Needs Programs would be proud to own.

One final note: As the HOSTS Learning Corporation emphasizes, HOSTS is not a curriculum, but rather a proven set of strategies, methods, and tools for delivering and managing learning in the classroom… in a manner compliant with applicable local, State or Federal standards.

In that sense, the HOSTS Program at Cornerstone offers the best of both worlds – a rigorous and accelerated learning program geared to individual achievement levels and guided by Washington State standards… plus the best of a Christian school, with its emphasis on Christian faith, practice, and character development.