More Learning Time Is Good If It's Truly Quality Learning Time

By Sam Piha

Even though it seems like it took forever, there is a growing consensus that out-of-school learning is a vital component in improving young people’s academic outcomes. This is in part due to the growing body of research on out-of-school learning, which includes summer learning and STEM learning in informal settings, as well as the findings of school reform efforts that show schools can’t do it alone.

This is reflected in the growing interest in community schools (see OUSD’s strategic plan to incorporate the community schools model) expanded learning (led by TASC, Citizen Schools and The National Center on Time & Learning,) and year-round learning (see HRFP's brief on year-round learning.) It is important that afterschool professionals understand and participate in the discussions of these concepts.

While the issues of increased access and structural supports are important, we believe that the discussion of the approaches that promote quality learning is still absent. The Learning in Afterschool Project is working to focus the field on how children learn and what the most effective approaches are.

Learning in Afterschool Youth Ambassadors Meet With State Legislators

By Learning in Afterschool Youth Ambassadors Naylia Sanchez and Sianna Smith, Manual Arts High School/Woodcraft Rangers

Monday, May 23, 2011

Sunrise approaches us and we prepare ourselves for the next 48 impacting hours, as the students and staff of Woodcraft Rangers at Manual Arts High School made our way to Sacramento to join our fellow Learning in Afterschool (LIA) Youth Ambassadors at California School- Age Consortium’s 7th Annual California Afterschool Challenge (CalSAC).

After lunch, we learned about the budget cuts made in afterschool and education. The speaker that had everyone moved was Director of CDE’s Learning Support & Partnerships, Gordon Jackson. Mr. Jackson made a speech that referred to his childhood, a time when he would pretend to be a super hero, wearing a cape and “fighting evil villains”. He then reminded the audience that that is what we all are, super heroes, super heroes working together for a cause and for a brighter future for generations to come. His moving speech was encouraging.

We then participated in a youth-led role-play exercise where we acted out what a successful meeting with the legislators looked like, compared to one that would be “out of control and chaotic”. To conclude our lunch plenary everyone was separated into their teams for an ice breaker activity, which shortly spread to a game that included everyone in the room to help familiarize ourselves with the processes of a bill becoming a law and a budget being passed.

After being dismissed, the Learning in Afterschool Ambassadors met upstairs where everyone was catching up. Shortly after, Michael Funk reminded us that as Youth Ambassadors we were going to be able to lead some of the policy and advocacy training. Suddenly everyone else began entering the Tofanelli Room to get started with the advocacy training. After a PowerPoint presentation reminding us of how bills and budgets are passed, the LIA Youth Ambassadors set-up for the training.

They introduced themselves and began the second portion with an ice-breaker. We laid on the floor and traced our hands. On each finger we wrote four things we were proud to have accomplished in our lives. Next we had to look at all the other surrounding hands and we had to find something that was similar and link them together. Afterwards we moved on to preparing our stories for the legislators making them friendly and most important making sure they were OUR stories.

As we brain-stormed and thought deeply about what our story was going to be, the LIA Youth Ambassadors leading the advocacy training gave us different ideas. Brain-storming along with us, they mentioned aloud some of the issues that they believed impacted all of us being in an afterschool program. Then the youth from the Champions Program led us in a quick role-play with our stories.

After the training, it was time to relax. The LIA Youth Ambassadors Core Group from Long Beach YMCA led this portion of our trip. Everyone felt the serene vibe and felt unperturbed. We ate a few snacks then we all played games together, some that required us to refrain ourselves from bursting into laughter while all the others made humorous gestures. Following the youth social we were dismissed, and we ended our day by going to dinner and resting for our big day the following morning.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Six in the morning and the alarms ring for us to wake up, but as most people, the snooze button became our friend. It wasn’t until seven that we awoke from our deep sleep to get ready for our day. By 9 a.m. we had reached the North Steps of the Capitol Building just in time for some group photos and a small breakfast. For approximately half an hour our team, met together and started discussing which legislator, assemblymen, and staff members we would be meeting with.

Our team leader, Eliza, helped us with the basics. We were going to be meeting only with the friendly staff of Assembly Member Linda Halderman, Assembly Member Tim Donnelly, Senate Member Rod Wright, and Assembly Member Anthony Portantino. The last visit that we had was just a drop-in visit with Assembly Member Betsy Butler. After being briefed, we followed our team leader inside the State Capitol to get a brief tour inside the building so that we would know where to go when it was time for our visits.

After completing our tour, we went back outside just in time for the rally that was being held. Joining us for the rally was the marching band from John Reith Middle School and a few of the state representatives that supported what we were doing. Immediately after the rally our legislative visits began and we were off. Once we completed our visits, we ended our day with another rally where we received certificates for participating and took group pictures.

From this experience we have acquired knowledge on how our state is being run. This has opened our eyes to many more innovative ideas and it has helped us boost our confidence and self-esteem. We thank the Learning in Afterschool Project and CalSAC for allowing us to be a part of this magnificent experience.

Policy Recommendations for ESEA Reauthorization

By Guest Bloggers, Jessica Donner, Director, Collaborative for Building After-School Systems , and Jennifer Peck, Executive Director, Partnership for Children and Youth.

As you know, the federal reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) will influence the funding of the 21st Century Learning Centers (21st CCLC). The Partnership for Children and Youth and the Collaborative for Building After School Systems (CBASS) recently finalized ESEA policy recommendations and shared ideas to strengthen the 21st CCLC program with lead staffers from HELP (U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions) and appropriations committees in late March. Some of the key themes in our recommendations include:

• Ensuring that local communities can choose from a variety of quality options that meet their needs for expanding learning opportunities
• Ensuring all 21st CCLC funded programs are joint endeavors between schools and community partners 
• Providing distinct and appropriate guidance for high-school level programs, recognizing the unique challenges and opportunities for this age group 
• Structuring an accountability system that is clear and appropriate, based on research about what expanded learning opportunities can effectively impact, and include multiple measures
• Recognizing and promoting the critical role of intermediaries in the success of programs and systems

In partnership with the American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF), CBASS and The After-School Corporation (TASC) co-sponsored a Congressional study tour of TASC expanded learning time schools in May, thanks to generous support from the Mott Foundation. During the two-day visit, two dozen Washington-based Congressional staff members and U.S. Department of Education policy leaders focused on the school-community model for expanding the time and ways students learn. We continued the discussion on June 27th, at an AYPF forum on effective school-community partnerships in Washington DC with more than 50 congressional staffers.

We’ll be sure to keep you updated as more activity unfolds. Likewise, we’d love to hear from you, and very much would like to hear your reaction to our policy recommendations. In addition, if your organization has developed your own recommendations, please send them along to jdonner@tascorp.org so we can help promote shared priorities.
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Jessica Donner serves as the Director of the Collaborative for Building After-School Systems (CBASS), a partnership of after-school intermediary organizations in eight cities dedicated to increasing the availability of quality afterschool programming.

Jennifer Peck was a founding staff member of the Partnership For Children and Youth in 2001 and became its Executive Director in 2003. Jennifer leads a coalition of California organizations advocating for new federal policies to improve the effectiveness of after-school and summer-learning programs.

Opportunities, Not Achievement: An Interview With Richard Milner

By Sam Piha

Richard Milner is the author of "Start Where You Are But Don't Stay There" and an Associate Professor of Education at Vanderbilt University. His recent Commentary in EdWeek (May 6, 2011) "Let's Focus on Gaps in Opportunity, Not Achievement" inspired us to ask him more about overcoming the opportunity gap.

Q: In your EdWeek commentary, you differentiate between the opportunity gap and the achievement gap. Can you briefly explain what you mean by this?
A: I mean that we sometimes place so much emphasis on the outcome (mainly a test score) that we do not necessarily spend enough time thinking about why disparities exist. What opportunities do students have in different social contexts to succeed? Do they have qualified teachers? How many years of teaching experience do their teachers have? What resources are available to students and teachers? How supportive are administrators to teachers and students? In short, what is the opportunity structure that shape student performance on these examinations? I believe we need to focus more on the opportunities, the processes and structures, that shape students’ success and failures.  

Q: Do you consider out-of-school programs a viable way to close the opportunity gap? Can you explain why or why not? 
A: We know that students can lose important learning and growth over the summer months for instance. Out-of-school programs can make a huge difference in terms of helping students build knowledge in their courses and also their social and communication skills. 


I would urge programs to continue developing evidence of their usefulness, not only related to academics but other important skills necessary for students to succeed in society such as social skills, study skills, communication skills, conflict resolution skills, and perhaps most importantly social justice orientations and skills. It is critical that students feel empowered to change and challenge negative and inequitable situations that show up in their communities.  

Q: If afterschool programs want to be serious about closing the opportunity gap, what should they be thinking about or doing? 
A: The reality is that teachers and administrators are socialized (and almost forced) to think about achievement in a somewhat myopic manner: results on tests. It is important to note that I am not suggesting that teachers, administrators or afterschool personnel not focus on achievement scores. They must be concerned about achievement scores due to the bureaucracy and expectations placed upon them. However, I also believe that afterschool programs should be looking at the opportunities and resources that students have or not in order to address students’ needs. For instance, if students do not have “the same” or an equitable share of resources as their classmates with more resources, how can out-of-school organizations bridge the gap and provide those resources, such as with computers or even the internet. In other words, how can afterschool programs “level the playing field?” 

Q: In the Learning in Afterschool Project, we promote learning that is “active, collaborative, meaningful, supports mastery, and expands horizons.” (you may review our position here) In what ways do you believe these principles align with your notion of necessary learning opportunities? 
A: I believe your vision is aligned well with what we know about good teaching and meaningful learning. While there is some high quality teaching (building on some of what you have outlined above) that takes place in some classrooms, there is also some very poor instruction that takes place in other classrooms. Teacher learning does not end once he or she graduates from a teacher training program. Ongoing professional development focused explicitly on high quality instruction and coupled with some of the ideas you outline above are critical for success. In a similar way, afterschool and out-of-school instruction needs to be constructed in a way that is consistent and sustained with high quality instruction as well. In other words, how are teachers, mentors, and facilitators trained to ensure “active, collaborative, meaningful, supports mastery, and expands horizons” are actualized in afterschool programs? 

Q: In your commentary, you discuss the absence of opportunities for low-income youth of color. Can you say more about this? 
A: In a general sense, I believe those of us in U.S. society as well as in education struggle to have the tough conversations regarding issues of socio-economic status (SES), gender, geography, and race. These are the very difficult conversations that we need to engage because when we disaggregate data on standardized tests, we realize there is something happening. Students from higher SES typically outperform students from lower SES. The same point is true for race and ethnicity. African American and Latino students typically do not perform as well as White students. The question is why. No group of students is intellectually superior to another from a biological or genetic perspective. Yet, we see these disparities. One of the reasons is because of what we are and are not doing and talking about in schools and classrooms (both among adults and students). Until we engage the hard topics and the difficult conversations, we will continue to see, I believe, huge disparities between and among certain groups of students. Still, having the conversation is only part of the challenge. Doing something about what is learned is another. 

Q: Who’s getting it right? What states or cities or organizations are making headway in addressing the opportunity gap? 
A: I am reluctant to name particular schools, organizations, or states that are “getting it right” because I realize there are so many factors that go into understanding and addressing opportunity gaps. I showcase teachers in my new book who, I believe, are getting it right or at least close to it. However, I understand that the reasons are numerous, nuanced, and complex. What I will say is that we should perhaps start by looking in on what particular teachers and administrators are doing and then we need to work at changing entire systems, schools, districts, and states. We need to understand that all students can learn, should be empowered to reach their full capacity to live and learn, and have the right to be taught by teachers who care about them and refuse to let them fail.
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H. Richard Milner IV

H. Richard Milner IV is an associate professor of education at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tenn. He is the author of Start Where You Are, But Don’t Stay There: Understanding Diversity, Opportunity Gaps, and Teaching in Today’s Classrooms (Harvard Education Press, 2010). He can be reached at rich.milner@vanderbilt.edu.

Celebrate Summer Learning!

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By Sam Piha

June 21st is National Summer Learning Day. Summer time programs offer an excellent opportunity to put in place the Learning in Afterschool Learning Principles. Summer programs often have longer hours and greater flexibility than traditional afterschool programs that operate during the school year. For the latest research on the benefits of summer learning, read this Wallace Foundation report published by the RAND corporation.

California is marking Summer Learning Day with a flagship event in Sacramento. To learn more about this event, see the blog entry by Jennifer Peck of Partnership for Children and Youth. For information regarding Bay Area activities, check out this interactive map.

Policy Recommendations to Promote Afterschool Learning in Continuation High School Settings

By Sam Piha

In our previous posting, we discussed the importance of afterschool learning in continuation high school settings. Nowhere is the opportunity for afterschool learning more important. Many of these youth face a number of challenges in their lives and are often highly disengaged, having failed in and been failed by the traditional school system. These youth clearly need more – more caring adults who know them, more ways to complete the requirements for graduation, and more preparation for life after high school. Afterschool programs that model the Learning in Afterschool learning principles are well positioned to help this population of youth as well as the continuation schools that work to serve them.

Below are policy recommendations that will ensure the support of these programs. 

1. The expectations regarding program attendance, adult-to-student ratio, and cost per student should be amended for programs operating in continuation high schools. This is because they serve a higher concentration of high-risk youth, there are fewer resources afforded by the school, and the school structure and schedule is very different than a comprehensive high school. 
2. There should be a focused attempt to coordinate other relevant funding streams that target high-risk youth and which could bring supplemental services to the youth and the program. This includes funding that promotes healthy choices, the prevention of high-risk behavior, mental and physical health, career preparation, college access, etc. 
3. Because of the “last chance” nature that these settings represent, it is important that these afterschool programs work very closely, almost merging with the continuation school. This “extended day” way of working could be easily misinterpreted as using the afterschool resources to supplant the responsibilities of the regular school day. It is recommended that policies are in place that do not penalize stakeholders in developing a closely aligned, extended day model. 
4. Finally, there should be efforts to build bridges between the programs that serve continuation high school youth and those that serve young adults who are 19 years and older. Often, young people beyond the age of 18 are no longer supported by local programs. As a result, the only systems that exist for these youth are ones that come into play after they’ve gotten in trouble. A good example of a positive program supporting young adults is the Special Foundation Course and separate learning communities that exist at Las Positas Community College in Livermore, CA. This course and subsequent learning community provides extra support to high risk, disengaged youth who entered the college, many from continuation high schools.

Local TED Conference: Bringing Compassion into Education

Teaching compassion is embedded in the Learning in Afterschool principles.  Caring about others allows us to be collaborative in our learning, brings greater meaning to us when we act in service of others, and expands our horizons as we learn about common issues across cultural divides.

We have an excellent opportunity to explore the issue of compassion in education at the upcoming TEDxGoldenGateED conference on Saturday, June 11, at the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond, CA. 

"Why teach compassion? Are we entering into an era of compassion? In today’s schools, the ability to imagine the needs of others, to think compassionately, and to design, innovate, and act in ways that benefit others are true 21st century skills. Compassion is a new science of the brain, of human health, and of sustainability. It is the greatest privilege we are granted, to teach compassion."

For more information, visit the TEDx website 

A Study of Program Quality and Youth Outcomes

By Cathie Mostovoy, guest blogger  

In May 2011, Woodcraft Rangers, the Los Angeles based afterschool program, published the results of an in-depth study of its Nvision afterschool programs, covering 43 elementary and 14 middle school sites.

The study, entitled Assessment of Program Quality and Youth Outcomes: A Study of the Woodcraft Rangers’ Nvision Afterschool Program is one of the few ever conducted to directly measure program quality and its impact on student academic and behavioral outcomes.  While past studies conducted by the afterschool community have shown that regular attendance in high quality afterschool programs is associated with positive development outcomes for school-age youth, rarely have they directly tested the relationships between afterschool program quality and student outcomes.  Using quality and outcome data from the Nvision 2008/2009 program year, the Woodcraft study primarily sought to explore the implementation of the Nvision afterschool program model at various sites, and to examine whether and how quality is associated with student outcomes. Areas used for assessing quality fell into five general categories: Activities, Collaboration, Staffing, School partnership, and Youth involvement.

Using a unique and sophisticated algorithm, study findings were able to define the meaning of “quality” while producing measureable results and program improvement information that can be implemented by management.  Significantly, the study confirmed that afterschool program quality impacts youth outcomes even beyond demographics and participation level, especially at the middle-school level. The findings further show that youth leadership in the program is critical to changing outcomes at the middle-school level, while additional adult involvement in club activities is more important at elementary sites.  

The importance of this study is the confirmation that afterschool program quality needs to be understood and defined in terms of outcomes. Results show that quality is not a one-size fits all proposition, and that expectations differ between elementary and middle school outcomes.  This study has given Woodcraft a foundation for assessing quality in a way that will help maximize the effectiveness of the Nvision program, making each site truly responsive to the needs of its students and helping them to explore pathways to purposeful lives.  It also provides a roadmap for other organizations to follow in evaluating their programs, using the results to guide their quality measures (and related action steps) and improve their own outcomes.

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Woodcraft Rangers’ Chief Executive Officer Cathie Mostovoy has more than 20 years of experience delivering, administering and advocating for after school and educational services for young people in need. Cathie received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Child Development from California State University, Los Angeles, and earned her Masters of Education in Counseling from Loyola Marymount University.

Woodcraft Rangers serves more than 18,000 students from 70 locations in high-need neighborhoods of Los Angeles County.


Engaging Youth as Workers

By Sam Piha

Today, we know that extended learning opportunities offered through afterschool programs for older youth are important to their success. As a result, high school afterschool programs are growing in number across the country. Many of these programs are striving to engage older youth as workers and helpers within the program. We believe that these strategies are well-aligned to the Learning in Afterschool principles in that they offer learning that is active, collaborative, meaningful, geared for mastery and expand horizons.

In Engaging Youth as Workers Within High School Afterschool Programs, we offer guidelines regarding the employment and compensation of youth who are engaged as workers within the program, and share strategies that are currently being used by ASSETs programs to engage high school age youth in this way.

The "Third Place" for Afterschool Programs

By Sam Piha

A growing number of families with school age children reside in affordable housing settings. Many of these intentional communities have access to afterschool programs provided by resident service organizations. Housing-based afterschool programs for children and youth represent the third place for afterschool programs, following those that are operated within public schools and the community.

It is essential that we shine a light on the importance of youth programming within these settings, which have previously been overshadowed by school and community-based programs. Afterschool programs in affordable housing settings often have superior knowledge of and access to the families of the young participants and have the advantage of being open during school holidays and during the summer. You can learn more about this critical setting by clicking on the articles below.

In Afterschool Programs in Affordable Housing Communities, we provide a brief overview of affordable housing communities and explain why in many cases these settings are the best places to offer afterschool programs to low-income families. We offer a number of comments based on our interviews with several leaders of resident service organizations who support afterschool programming.

In a second article, After School and Beyond: A Profile of Hope Through Housing Foundation's Youth Development Program, we focus on one resident service organization and take a close look at their efforts to provide quality afterschool programs at 37 locations. To review Hope's evaluation of their programs, click here. 

Afterschool Programs Matter for Rural Youth

By Logan Robertson, guest blogger

The term “urban” is often conflated with “youth,” a practice that tends to diminish or even make invisible the distinct experiences of youth who do not live in “the inner-city.” The urban context is understood as standard, while the rural context is usually conceptualized in terms of myths of the idealized countryside and the idyllic childhood.

While the issues faced by urban youth often take center stage in academic research and popular media, rural youth must meet similar and unique challenges, though in decidedly different environments. Afterschool programs are crucial for older youth in rural communities – for many young people, the afterschool program may be the only safe place during non-school hours, the only chance to try new activities and skills, and the one chance outside of school to develop positive relationships with peers and role models. Afterschool programs create resources that help rural youth negotiate the transition to successful adulthood.

As such, youth practitioners and advocates must persist in their efforts to develop afterschool programs for high school students in rural communities, to make rural youth programs more visible to the afterschool field, and emphasize the important role that such programs can have, not only for rural youth, but for the communities in which they live.

To view a profile of one rural school-based afterschool program serving high school age youth, see an article that I recently wrote with Temescal Associates entitled “I Feel Like I’m Somebody: Older Youth and High School Afterschool Programs in a Rural California Town.” To view a recent publication from the Harvard Family Research Project entitled “Out of School Time Programs in Rural Areas” click here. To join a committee on afterschool programs serving rural communities sponsored by the California Afterschool Network, click here.

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Logan Robertson, PhD, is Assistant Director of Community Services for Cutler-Orosi Joint Unified School District. She is also a member of the California School-Age Consortium’s Trainer Network, the Tulare County Youth Commission, and the California Afterschool Network’s Rural Programs Committee.