A rural Missouri school district outside St. Louis reports success in implementing a four day week with longer school days, writes St. Louis Today.

According to the article, the district, Montgomery County, is saving $150,000 by moving to a shorter week. But while the district is cutting costs in janitorial services and school lunches, instruction time isn't being scrapped: students are in school 50 minutes longer per day and spend more time in school year-round.

District officials (and students and parents) have already reported a decline in student and teacher absences and improved attentiveness in students. Montgomery County is one of five districts in the state that have moved to a shorter week, after being authorized by a bill that was passed by the state legislature in 2009. While the cost savings total is small, it's been sizable for Montgomery County, which was able to save a few staff positions with the change.

The article briefly mentions the "burden of finding child care," but does not go into great detail about whether the shorter week has placed a greater hardship on parents. While the Education Commission of the States reported in 2010 that eight states opened the door for their districts to move to shorter weeks to save money, I wonder how many districts would be able to implement a shorter week without significant push back from parents, particularly in districts with high percentages of low income families or both parents working.

Posted by Nora Fleming at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Nine cities will receive a total of $7.8 million in grants to strengthen the after-school programs in their locales, the Wallace Foundation reported this week.

The cities—Baltimore, Denver, Ft. Worth, Texas, Grand Rapids, Mich., Jacksonville, Fla., Louisville, Ky., Nashville, Tenn., Philadelphia, and St. Paul, Minn.—all have half their student populations on free and reduced-price lunch plans and were selected given the probability of scaling up their existing after-school infrastructure.

These cities were also included as part of a report on 27 cities that were heavily promoting and improving after-school programming in their communities, published by the National League of Cities and supported by the Wallace Foundation.

According to the foundation's release, the efforts will focus on improving quality and gathering reliable data on student participation. Work in the cities could include developing city standards for after-school, providing professional development and program assessment tools, and building an online directory that helps parents find good after-school programs.

Intermediaries, like the City of Forth Worth Parks and Community Services Department and the Family League of Baltimore City will each receive up to $765,000 over the course of four years to facilitate the systems building efforts in the nine cities.

Posted by Nora Fleming at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Carol Tang is leading the charge for the Coalition for After School, an organization based at the University of California, Berkeley, that aims to have more out-of-school programs put science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, instruction into their curricula. The coalition's 2,300-plus members run the gamut of after-school programs nationwide, large intermediary organizations like TASC and the National Afterschool Association, museums, and science-focused organizations like the New York Academy of Sciences.

The coalition facilitates partnerships to enhance STEM in out of school, develop models for incorporation into existing programs, and mobilize stakeholders that can help expand STEM programming. For example, it's currently working with 826 National, a creative-writing program, to develop curriculum that uses science experiences to provide inspiration and engagement as the basis for writing.

"Through our work and that of others, I sense a growing recognition that science after school makes sense for young people to engage in STEM out of the classroom as a way to become scientifically literate, explore the world around them, hone critical thinking and career skills, and attain economic stability as adults," Tang said.

Tang, who serves as director, gave me her thoughts on the benefits of providing STEM after school, what some of the best STEM programs are doing and how they can help lead others, how to make these models financially feasible, and how to provide professional development to out-of-school-time staff to teach STEM in their after-school programs. In addition to her work with the coalition, she has spent a decade at San Francisco's California Academy of Sciences supervising outreach and education programming and as head of public programs.

EW: What's the benefit of providing STEM after school?
CT: From a science education perspective, STEM after school can provide learning opportunities that differ from—but complement—classroom efforts and that hopefully can counter the negative stereotypes about science in the general public (for example, that science is "too difficult" and done by "unattractive people who are unlike me"). In the after-school environment, young people could have more time and greater exposure to hands-on, open-ended investigations and opportunities to successfully pursue their own interests and hypotheses.

EW: Should out-of-school programs focus their curriculum mostly on STEM now?
CT: Youth today depend on after-school programs for so many different services and experiences that it's unrealistic to think that all OST programs should give up their current strengths to turn solely to STEM. Youth still need to have exposure to art, physical activity, and social interactions. However, I strongly believe that hands-on, inquiry-based STEM can often be meaningfully integrated to meet those needs and the core mission of many after-school programs. I think there needs to be a multipronged approach where all children should have access to STEM-focused programs, as well as to experiences where science can be the means to achieve other youth-development objectives.

EW: What are characteristics and components of the best programs that provide STEM instruction? How can these programs guide others?
CT: The best STEM experiences for youth after school are the ones that take advantage of the OST environment: giving young people time to explore their own interests through open-ended inquiry, providing them with opportunities to share their experiences, and to apply their learning to their own lives and communities. I think there are many lessons from classroom STEM, science museums, and youth-development research, but the key is identifying a suite of best practices for the unique characteristics of after-school settings. Because after-school programs are so diverse in terms of their demographics, hours, staffing, partnerships, resources, and community settings, we need to identify a range of model programs so that individual practitioners can find relevant elements and inspiration.

EW: What will be some of the biggest challenges of putting STEM curriculum into OST programs? What resources are out there to help programs?
CT: I think the most difficult challenge is tracking down the various pieces of the puzzle and figuring out which ones fit together well. What I mean is that there are currently different sources of activities, curricula, professional training models, volunteer networks, vendors, and potential partners focusing on STEM after school. But their quality varies, the resources needed range greatly, and they are scattered; this makes them difficult to find, compare, and assess their quality and potential impact on youth. I think that through national, regional, state, and local entities, efforts are under way to give people the skills to self-assess program needs, identify quality elements which fit those needs, and then build capacity to do more. When existing resources are being coordinated and used effectively, it makes it easier to secure funding to strategically address gaps.

EW: Is it possible for instructors who have no STEM background to teach this?
CT: Since the best after-school STEM programs allow children to explore open-ended questions and design their own experiments, instructors who are comfortable eliciting questions, guiding inquiry, accepting uncertainty and mistakes, and becoming co-learners can excel at providing high-quality STEM after school. So in fact, the youth-development skills that OST educators are already practicing can "pre-adapt" them to leading the best kinds of STEM experiences; conversely, just being proficient in scientific content and vocabulary isn't enough.

EW: How can programs make STEM professional development financially feasible?
CT: The challenge for the field is to consider which elements of training are essential, and which things can be scaffolded through time or customized. Given the lower levels of funding OST receives and the more transitory nature of the after-school workforce, the training needs to be as concise and cost-efficient as possible. And, given the part-time and seasonal staffing found in after school, the training probably needs to be delivered through different platforms. There is also a great potential in community partnerships where science-rich organizations can provide the needed technical knowledge, real-world examples, and role models to after-school programs. Conversely, the science-rich organizations get a chance to work with youth-development professionals and together, they can make an impact on new audiences.

Photo 1: Carol Tang
Photo 2: Girls participate in science in an out-of-school program.
Photo 3: Conference of coalition members. Photo courtesy of Project Exploration
Photos 1 and 2 courtesy of Lawrence Hall of Science

Posted by Nora Fleming at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

The National Summer Learning Association has just released results of its "Smarter Summers" initiative. The three-year project is supported by a $11.5 grant from the Walmart Foundation, which is used to expand and enhance summer programs in 10 cities, serving around 20,000 middle school students.

(The Baltimore-based association advocates and supports summer learning programs nationwide.)

The programs receiving funding are: THINK Together (California), BELL (Detroit, Boston, New York, Baltimore), Summer Advantage USA (Chicago, Indianapolis), and Higher Achievement (Washington, Baltimore).

Profiles of the programs are provided in the report, and how their strategies are having a positive impact on students. While the programs all have academic, healthy lifestyle, and enrichment components, they vary in terms of structure and self-evaluation.

A few of the highlights:
> Summer Advantage USA's students gained an average of 2.1 months of grade-level equivalency in literacy and math skills over the summer. The program also enhanced parent involvement; more than 90 percent of the students' parents had at least one contact with a teacher to discuss his or her child's performance.
> At THINK Together, close to 90 percent of sites demonstrated student growth from pre-test to post-test in math vocabulary.
>At Higher Achievement, 65 percent of students have increased their math grades or maintained A or B averages in school from last year. Around 70 percent had fewer school absences.

"The Walmart Foundation's investment in four high-quality summer learning programs is having a ripple effect across 10 cities," the report says. "Instead of falling off track during the critical transitions to middle school and high school, these young people are gaining academic ground and invaluable exposure to colleges, careers, and a network of supportive adults. ... With school district and city budgets strapped, Smarter Summers is providing an essential lifeline in many communities."

Other summer programs take notice: The association is also now accepting applications for its annual Excellence in Summer Learning Awards now through Feb. 10.

The awards are given to summer programs that reduce summer learning loss through promoting academic success and improved youth outcomes. You may remember a few of the 2011 winners I blogged about in August, such as New York's Fiver Children's Foundation or Chicago's Project Exploration. These programs were recognized at the organization's annual conference, held in mid November in San Francisco.

Applications submitted to NSLA and interviews are required to be in the running for the 2012 awards, and both the association and peer organizations review and provide feedback to all applicants on their strengths/ weaknesses.

Posted by Nora Fleming at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

A friend of mine was teaching in a classroom last year in Los Angeles. After noticing some of her students were coming to school hungry (and not eating throughout the day), she started bringing snacks from home to make sure her kids had something in their stomachs, and could pay attention in class. The "granola bar drawer" she kept was a lifesaver to get a few of the most unruly (and hungriest) to pay attention, she said.

Her experiences don't seem to be unique, according a new report from the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based public policy think tank, and the Coalition for Community Schools, a Washington-based nonprofit that supports and advocates for community school partnerships. The two organizations have released two reports today that look at how "community schools" can benefit teachers and how to build the successful partnerships needed to sustain community schools.

"A recent national survey found that 61 percent of teachers purchase food for their classrooms and spend an average of $24 out of pocket each month. Seventy-four percent of teachers say they have helped families sign their students up for free or reduced-price lunches, and 49 percent say they have referred students and their families to other services and resources," the report, "Lightening the Load: A Look at Four Ways that Community Schools Can Support Effective Teaching," finds.

For this report, interviews with teachers and school staff at community schools around the country were analyzed, and conclusions on how community schools have and could meet their needs and responsibilities were drawn. Teachers were found to focus significant attention on the "unmet needs" of students, like hunger and health, which could come at the loss of classroom instruction, particularly in low-income schools, the report says. Community schools can alleviate these concerns by providing wraparound health services, offering parent engagement and empowerment programs, and providing other services that free teachers to focus on student academic needs.

In "Achieving Results through Community School Partnerships," the ways to secure and maintain the very partnerships that enable community schools to be effective are discussed. Strategies like sharing a common vision with stakeholders built on collaboration, improving school district central office management, and using data to assess impact and results are a few mentioned.

For those unfamiliar, a community school (or a community school district) is one where community organizations and leaders partner with schools to supply social services and other resources to improve the quality of education for students. Meeting "nonacademic needs" of students can help improve academics, or at least that is the goal.

The U.S. Department of Education's Promise Neighborhoods program is one such example, but in recent years more schools and districts like Cincinnati, Oakland, Calif., and Tulsa, Okla., have become community focused, especially since many have faced significant budget cuts and need to find a cost-effective means to fill in the holes.

As you may remember, in Cincinnati community partnerships enabled the district to offer a "Fifth Quarter" program, and in Oakland, students were supplied vision testing and glasses. According to the report, only about one quarter of the resources provided in community schools are from the district; the others come from blended public and private funding, organizations, and other public agencies.

"Community schools establish 'cradle to career' conditions for learning that make it possible for every child to succeed," the report says. "This strategy works by creating a collaborative leadership structure, embedding a culture of partnership, and aligning resources. Partners set and achieve high standards of accountability across multiple platforms."

The two reports released today are in conjunction with an event at the Center for American Progress where the findings were discussed. Here's a link to the video.

Posted by Nora Fleming at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Not only are Chicago schools being rewarded for a longer day; the district is now shelling out $3 million to schools that use the added time in innovative ways.

As I wrote on Tuesday, 40 additional schools in Chicago just joined the original 11 that accepted incentives from the district to add 90 minutes to the school day at the beginning of this year. Next year, all schools in the district will shift to the longer schedule. So far, the incentive plan is costing the district $7 million.

But now, more money is up for grabs. In order to be eligible for the $100,000 grants, schools need to apply by Feb. 24 (awards in late March) and show the district they have restructured their school day to use time effectively to meet student and staff needs. Up to 30 schools will receive awards for next school year, the district reports. (Private foundations may be supplying additional funds.)

According to a release from the district, "The grants are part of an ongoing effort for schools to re-examine the needs of their student body and to creatively and effectively utilize the additional time to support each and every student. The schools will serve as models of excellence and will help lead their networks and the district in adopting creative approaches to school redesign."

The grants are supposed to inspire schools to think "creatively" about how they use time to boost academic achievement. This means being innovative with programming and scheduling, while still providing a rigorous academic curriculum. Differentiated and individualized learning opportunities for students and time for teacher collaboration will also be valued.

The new efforts in Chicago touch on the continuing debate in the expanded-learning realm about how most effectively to use time to enhance student achievement and long-term outcomes. A few of these are mentioned in Valerie Strauss' blog for the Washington Post.

Posted by Nora Fleming at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

The Ohio Afterschool Network and the Ohio health department have teamed up on a guide on how best to incorporate physical activity into after-school programs to curb childhood-obesity rates.

These activities should not look like your typical dodgeball game, the report says.

Instead, the guide includes a list of 11 main recommendations for programs along with tips and strategies for implementing them. A section on resources that after-school programs can access for further advice is also included. Children should be active at least 60 minutes a day, it says, with a decent percentage of the activity being strenuous.

According to the network, more than a third of all Ohio 3rd graders are overweight and/or obese. Children are also becoming less active, it reports, due to time spent in front of computers and televisions and reductions in physically active classes/periods in school. An article in The New York Times last month also reported that a number of schools are using their recess periods for extra class time. Others have reported reductions to recess or physical-fitness blocks due to school budget cuts.

The guide says that after-school programs could be a solution to alleviating some of these issues, by providing a good venue for more physical activity. Community partnerships with providers and joint use of space with locales could be helpful in this process, they say.

The main recommendations for after-school programs are:
1. Ensure all children can participate in the physical activities and feel successful doing so.
2. Provide moderate to vigorous activities that contribute to the 60 minutes a day kids need.
3. Plan physical activities as part of the after-school programs and use these activities to enhance learning (teach algebra with basketball statistics, etc.).
4. Make sure the activities are designed with the child in mind and are relevant and age appropriate.
5. Train staff accordingly so they are well equipped to lead activities.
6. Have small student-to-staff ratios for activities; a 15-1 ratio is suggested.
7. Have a supportive administrative staff that promotes incorporation of physical activities into the program.
8. Continue to regularly assess these activities and their impact on students.
9. Ensure the space used is safe and age appropriate.
10. Ensure the equipment is safe and age appropriate.
11. Build strong connections with parents, communities, and schools.

Posted by Nora Fleming at 2:55 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Update in Chicago: Forty additional schools just joined an original cadre of 11 schools that have lengthened the school year. Thirty-eight of these schools are charters, the Chicago Tribune reports.

All schools are part of the Longer School Day Pioneer Pilot that lengthens the day to 7.5 hours. The extra time is used for instruction in core subjects, teacher planning, and in some cases, arts, enrichment, and recess. Prior to the initiative, Chicago public schools had some of the shortest days in the country. By next year, all schools will have the longer schedule. See background here.

The second batch of schools will cost $75,000 per school, $800 per teacher. That brings total spending on the longer-day initiative to $7 million. At the beginning of the school year, the district dealt with flack from the teachers' union about the initiative, arguing that it was coercing teachers to get buy-in for the longer days.

So far, the district says it has received support for the extended-day plan, according to the article. However, one parent group, Raise Your Hand, says it's polled parents who, while wanting a longer day, think 7.5 hours is too long.

As quoted in the Chicago Sun-Times, "We continue to hear the message that people wanted a longer day; they just didn't want the longest day in the nation. We're not picking an exact time, but we think 7.5 hours is too long," said Wendy Katten, co-founder of the group.

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I have a story up today that takes a look at the momentum to put STEM curricula into out-of-school programs through the lens of Techbridge, a Bay Area-based program I visited recently.

I was able to observe two sites of the Techbridge program—one high school, one elementary school—which is run by a nonprofit that supports a number of initiatives focused on promoting girls' interest in STEM. It's even reached the Girl Scouts: the organization's STEM "curriculum in a box" is now being used by Girl Scout Troops all over the country, reaching an estimated 4,000 girls.

A few other related, larger efforts elsewhere are mentioned in the article, including a teaching project that has teachers-in-training and undergraduate students teach STEM in after-school programs and a statewide network that is using after-school programs as a medium to improve STEM instruction and encourage more students to pursue careers in STEM (particularly those from underserved backgrounds).

Also take a look at the Baltimore Sun story about the Baltimore school district's implementation of ExpandED, an expanded learning initiative of TASC, The After School Corporation, which I wrote about last month. The Wallace and Open Society Foundation are helping with the project. The efforts in Baltimore are being piloted this year at three schools at a cost of $6.3 million, 15 percent of which the district is paying for.

According to the Sun, "the three city schools were chosen based on an application process that required them to outline their vision for a significantly longer school day, and the ability to secure a partner to meet financial and staffing demands."

Posted by Nora Fleming at 3:39 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Students in Detroit aren't spending their break shoveling snow and hitting the after-holiday sales this year: they're spending time learning.

Their parents are, too.

This year, Detroit Public Schools has kept 18 schools open over the winter break to provide extended learning opportunities for students, free meals and food baskets for families, and workshops for parents on budgeting and fiscal know-how.

The district's first-ever "Holiday Learning Fest" was offered three days this week and will take place three days next week, from 10 am to 2 pm. Parents can also take home "academic toolkits" to use with their kids over the break.

All sites are also staffed with two teachers (one English Language Arts and one mathematics) as well as a large number of volunteers (more than 150) who are helping lead enrichment sessions with students.

According to a press release from the district, "During the break, we know that many of our children could benefit from a continuation of academic opportunities that serve as supplemental or remedial. We also know that in these difficult financial times, many of our children will not receive the adequate nutrition they normally receive through the DPS Office of Food Service," said Karen Ridgeway, Superintendent for Academics.

Detroit may not be the only place setting up a winter session. A district near Columbus, Ohio is also offering a winter session over the holiday break, and a teacher at another Columbus area school has opened up his classroom to provide his high school students the opportunity to work on projects due when they return from break.

Posted by Nora Fleming at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend