Afterschool in California and "Expanded Learning": An Interview with Jodi Grant, Part 2

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

At the end of last year, the Afterschool Alliance released an important study entitled America After 3PM. This study included a report on the state of afterschool for every state including California. There were also reports on afterschool with African-American and Hispanic communities and a special report on summer learning.

California was declared the number one state in providing afterschool learning opportunities. Below, we cite some key findings from the California study, which can serve as a pocket guide for every afterschool program leader and advocate. We also share part 2 of an interview with Jodi Grant, Executive Director of the Afterschool Alliance.

Key Findings from Afterschool in California

Participation and Costs

• 1 out of 4 children in California participate in afterschool programs, up 5% in 2009
• 31% of children in grades K-5, 29% grades 6-8 and 15% in grades 9-12 participate in afterschool programs
• Most families piece together a variety of afterschool solutions such as 66% of California’s K-12 children spend some hours in the care of a parent or guardian, 33% with non-parental adult care, 19% sibling care, and 12% in traditional child care centers
• The average weekly cost of after school programs was $126, up from the national average of $113
• The top 5 factors in a parents’ selection of an afterschool program is their child’s enjoyment, safety, knowledgeable and trained staff, convenient location, and quality of care 
• 47% of California children in an afterschool program qualify for Federal Free and Reduced Price Lunch Program

Benefits

• 73% of parents agree that afterschool programs help children gain workforce skills
• 4 out of 5 parents agree that afterschool programs reduce the likelihood of youth engaging in risky behavior
• 72% of parents agree that afterschool programs excite children and learning
• 80% of California parents agree that afterschool programs help give working parents peace of mind about their children when they are at work; 82% agree it helps parents keep their job

Program Characteristics and Quality

• Top 5 activities/services offered include: homework assistance (81%), physical activity (80%), reading or writing (75%), STEM learning opportunities (74%), and academic programs (74%)
• 90% of parents are satisfied with their child’s afterschool program, down 9% in 2009
• 92% of parents are satisfied with the quality of care; 90% are satisfied with the safe environment

Demand and Barriers

• If an afterschool program was available, 49% of children would participate
  
• 19% of California’s children are alone and unsupervised between 3 and 6PM; 3% of children in grades K-5, 9% grades 6-8, and 44% of students in grades 9 – 12 
• The average time children spend alone and unsupervised is 6 hours a week
• Parents noted preference for alternative activities and high costs as reasons their child does not participate in California’s afterschool programs
• 86% of California parents support public funding for afterschool programs

Part 2 of an Interview with Jodi Grant, Executive Director, Afterschool Alliance

Q: California received a number one ranking in afterschool. What was this ranking based on?

Jodi Grant
Executive Director
Afterschool Alliance

A: California’s top ranking is driven primarily by the state’s strong afterschool program participation rate and the high percentage of parents satisfied with their child’s afterschool program. The state has one of the highest percentages of children in an afterschool program in the country—25 percent. That’s 7 percentage points higher than the national average of 18 percent, and 6 percentage points higher than its afterschool program participation rate in 2009.  America After 3PM also found that more than 9 in 10 California parents are satisfied with their afterschool program’s quality of care, 86 percent are satisfied with the variety of activities and 4 in 5 are satisfied with the cost of their afterschool program.  
California has made significant investments in afterschool programs over the years—funding both the After School Education and Safety (ASES) program and reserving half of the state’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers federal funding for the High School After School Education and Safety for Teens (ASSETs) program—as well as placing an emphasis on the quality of afterschool programs, creating the California Department of Education After School Division.  

We have seen California make great progress creating afterschool opportunities for its children, but, as in the case across the country, there are still a significant number of children in the state whose parents would enroll them in an afterschool program if one were available to them.  

Q: The term “expanded learning” is used differently by different people in different parts of the country. Can you give your definition of “expanded learning time and programs”?
A: Nearly three years ago, the Afterschool Alliance published “Principles of Effective Expanded Learning Programs”, a document that is incredibly relevant to the field and policy makers. In this document, we offer a vision of expanded learning opportunities that encompasses afterschool, summer, and expanded learning time programs. Afterschool and summer programs are well known and highly in demand across the country – half of all school age children are either in an afterschool program or would be if more programs were available.  

Expanded learning time —adding time to the school day, week or year—is a relatively new approach to expanding learning opportunities. Yet, across all the approaches to expanding learning there are essential principles of that increase the likelihood of success. At a minimum, all types of expanded learning programs should go beyond simply providing more time and incorporate successful afterschool practices: engaging students in their own education by providing hands-on, experiential learning opportunities through community partnerships that build on—but do not replicate—learning that happens during the school day. 

In our “Principles” document, we define and outline the eight principles of afterschool best practices that are key to developing successful expanded learning programs.  These principles build off more than a decade of research telling us what works in afterschool and include school-community partnerships, engaged learning, family engagement, intentional programming, diverse prepared staff, participation and access, safety, health and wellness and ongoing assessment and improvement.

Likewise, the Expanded Learning and Afterschool Project, a 50-state initiative designed to harness the power of networks and leaders to help schools and communities leverage the time beyond school to accelerate student achievement also has a set of principles that closely mirror ours.  They include: school-community partnerships, engaged learning, affordability and scalability, learning time after school and during the summer, family engagement, and health and wellness. 


Q: In your mind, what is the difference between the terms “expanded learning” and “extended learning”?
A: When I hear extended learning, my attention is immediately focused on the notion of merely extending the learning that happens during the regular school day by providing more time. Advocates for expanded learning opportunities are unanimous in their agreement that more time is not enough. For example, The Ford Foundation has organized its grant making in this area around the two pillars of more and better learning time. In our “Principles” document, we reinforce how important it is not to just provide more learning time, but to significantly expand on the learning that happens during the regular school day by providing learning opportunities that too often are not available to students during the regular day. We know from our recent America After 3PM report that the idea of providing opportunities that go beyond the regular school day has appeal with parents.  Six in ten parents with children in an afterschool program report that “providing learning opportunities that are not available during the regular school day” is an important reason for selecting their afterschool program.


Q: Are you hoping that the field begins using “expanded learning programs” to replace “afterschool and summer programs”?
A: We know from years of public polling that afterschool is a term that resonates with American parents and voters.  The term expanded learning opportunities provides an organizing umbrella term to allow us to talk about the components of any effective approach to expanding learning. So, whether you call your program afterschool, summer learning, expanded time, expanded learning or any other term used in our field is a matter of preference, but how you design that program should be based on research and what works. That’s why we and others talk about principles of effective expanded learning opportunities – it’s a way to embrace all approaches and help ensure that no matter what you call your program, you are working to provide the best possible program to children, youth and families. 

Senate Bill 923: Apprenticeships for Youth

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

For years, we have been promoting the idea of afterschool programs offering apprenticeships - real-life experience in a work-based setting. Thus, we were pleased to hear that one of the bills sitting on the governor's desk for signing is Senate Bill 923 authored by Senator Fran Pavley, which would create a grant program called the Educational Apprenticeship Innovation Prize or EdPrize. 

Photo Credit: www.rcdsb.on.ca 

This bill would significantly increase the opportunities for youth to have paid work in their chosen field "while simultaneously going to school to learn the craft – are common in the construction trades, yet few other industries have embraced the model."1 

Photo Credit: http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/

Letters of support for SB 923 can be mailed to Governor Jerry Brown's office here. 

1 Maitre, Michelle; "Bill to expand apprenticeships awaits governor"; EdSource Article; [http://edsource.org/2014/bill-to-expand-apprenticeships-awaits-governor/67100#.VBd1-2RdWyw]; September 2, 2014

How Kids Learn III: Play, Creativity, Tinkering, and the Arts

By Sam Piha

Two weeks ago we hosted our third How Kids Learn conference, which drew nearly 300 participants from the California Department of Education (CDE), local funders, and a bevy of afterschool and school day leaders. This conference focused on play, creativity, tinkering, and the arts. It was led by emcee, Lynn Johnson from Glitter & Razz Productions and featured opening remarks by Michael Funk, Director of the After School Division at CDE.  

All were inspired by the words from Dale Dougherty, Founder of the Maker Movement, who encouraged OST providers to offer activities that allow children to learn through taking things apart and build things from their imaginations. Elizabeth Rieke from the Center for Childhood Creativity cited the importance of activities that foster young people's creativity. Nikki Shechtman of SRI International shared the findings of a DOE study on grit and perseverance and talked about how programs can promote these traits. Shirin Vossoughi from the Exploratorium and Stanford  shared examples that highlight the ways educators can leverage the developmental potential of play, integrate students’ cultural and intellectual histories, and expand the meaning and purposes of STEM learning. 

There were other excellent speakers whose presentations will be available on the How Kids Learn YouTube channel in the near future. There were also six hands-on workshops that participants could choose from. Thanks to all of those that contributed to a very successful event and we look forward to our next How Kids Learn conference. 

Provide Input on California's New Afterschool Quality Standards

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha,
Quality Standards
Work Group Member

The California Work Group on Quality Standards is drafting recommendations for statewide program quality standards to submit to the CDE After School Division in June.  We have drafted all 11 standards which are awaiting your input here. The Learning in Afterschool & Summer learning principles were very influential and are well-represented in the standards.

The draft standards are shown below. I hope you will take a few minutes to add your ideas and perspectives to this next step of our work.  Your input is critically important to setting the vision and expectations for after school and summer programs across the state.  Thanks!  

Here are the 11 standards – provide your input here 

Clear vision, mission and purpose: The program has clearly defined vision, mission, goals, and measurable outcomes that are shared and supported by stakeholders, and are understood and used by the program at all levels to drive program design, implementation and improvement.

Safe and supportive climate:  The program provides a safe and nurturing environment that supports the developmental, emotional and mental health needs of all students.

Active and engaged learning:  Program design and youth activities reflect active, meaningful, and engaging learning methods that expand student horizons.

Skill building:  The program maintains high expectations for all students, intentionally links program goals and curricula with development of 21st-century skills and designs activities to help students achieve mastery.

Youth voice and leadership: The program provides and supports intentional opportunities for youth to play a meaningful role in program design and implementation, and sustains youth access to authentic leadership roles.

Healthy choices and behaviors:  The program provides all students with the opportunity to learn about and practice healthy eating, and physical activity in an environment that supports a healthy life style.

Quality Staff:  The program recruits and retains high quality staff and volunteers who are focused on creating a positive learning environment, and provides on going performance feedback and continuous professional learning experiences.

Diversity, Access and Equity: The program policies, procedures and services create an environment that values and embraces diversity and equity regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age , income level, national origin, physical ability, sexual orientation and/or gender identity and expression.

Collaborative relationships:  The program intentionally builds and leverages collaborative relationships among internal and external stakeholders to achieve program goals.

Continuous quality improvement:  The program continuously utilizes a variety of information to improve its outcomes and the quality of its design, activities, and management.

Program management and sustainability: Program has sound fiscal and administrative practices supported by well-defined and documented policies and procedures that meet grant requirements and support sustainability.

For more information, go to the California Afterschool Network's website by clicking here.

Lessons Learned: A New Study on California's Proposition 49

By Guest Blogger, Nikki Yamashiro (Ms. Yamashiro first reviewed this paper in the Afterschool Snack blog, sponsored by the Afterschool Alliance)

An insightful study on Proposition 49—California’s landmark piece of legislation that helped to bring school-based afterschool programs to more than 400,000 children across the state—was released at the end of last month. 

“Examining California’s Afterschool Movement Post Proposition 49,” a new research paper by Temescal Associates, discusses the implementation challenges and successes of Proposition 49, reviews the current afterschool landscape in California and offers recommendations to afterschool stakeholders as they move forward in an increasingly challenging economic environment. 

In addition to the valuable background on Proposition 49, I found that the study was able to capture the importance of research and evaluation in promoting afterschool.  As a self-proclaimed data junkie, I appreciate the call for more research to better understand the role afterschool programs play in enriching the lives of children and helping working families; balanced with the recognition that to make this possible, clear and apt evaluative criterion must be established and it is essential that appropriate measurement tools and resources are available.

Key takeaways from the report include:

• The ability to maintain adequate funding is of significant concern among afterschool programs that are currently facing a state budget deficit, increased competition for state funds and reduced funding from foundations and philanthropic organizations.

• A number of evaluations have found that participation in afterschool programs have a positive impact on academic outcomes for students—such as improving student attendance, graduation rates and test scores—as well as positively influencing student behaviors—such as children in afterschool programs developed important life skills and social skills and were less likely to be suspended than youth who didn’t participate in programs.

• More resources need to be dedicated to research in the afterschool field and additional conversations need to take place to develop clear and sound criteria by which to measure the effectiveness of afterschool programs.   

• A few recommendations from afterschool stakeholders to meet the challenges facing the afterschool field include: 
• Enhancing advocacy around afterschool to draw attention to funding cuts afterschool programs are facing;
• Growing research efforts to develop a more robust base of knowledge on what works in afterschool;
• A stronger focus on integrating STEM activities, summer learning opportunities, 21^st century learning skills and academic enrichment into afterschool programs; and
• Dedicating additional resources to provide assistance with program capacity building, program quality assessment tools and program improvement processes.

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Nikki joined the Afterschool Alliance in June 2012, where she works with the Vice President of Policy and Research to coordinate and implement annual research activities, design surveys on pressing issues in the afterschool field and analyze research findings, communicating the need for and great successes of afterschool programs to policy makers, afterschool providers and advocates, and the public. Prior to joining the Afterschool Alliance, Nikki served in a variety of research capacities, including as Policy Advisor at Third Way, where she handled a wide range of domestic policy issues such as juvenile justice, and as legislative assistant to former Rep. Hilda L. Solis, where she handled education and youth issues. She holds a B.A. in Political Science and Sociology from the University of California, San Diego, and a Masters in Public Policy from University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy.