July 2011 Archives

Thousands of people, along with me, spent the past two days at the annual 21st Century Community Learning Center's Summer Institute held in Oxon Hill, Md., and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and J.C. Penny.

The 21st CCLC federal grant program has been one of the fastest-growing in history, currently budgeted at more than $1 billion—funding that supports programs that provide academically enriching experiences for children during out-of-school time. Formula grants are allocated to states, which then redistribute them via competitive awards to organizations, local education agencies, and schools to run their OST programs. As discussed in one session, there may be changes to this grant program in the future, because of recently proposed federal legislation.

This summer's attendees could select from more than 100 breakout sessions highlighting the role of 21st CCLC in high school and middle school reform, increased learning time, community schools, STEM learning, and school turnaround. Other broad topics included improving program quality, school alignment, and professional development. This year's theme addressed the importance of building community partnerships.

Patrick Duhon, director of expanded learning at the Providence After-School Alliance discussed in one breakout session how groups need to "stop working in silos" and come to the table with plans for how they will work together to meet shared goals for kids. The PASA model has been facilitated through strong support and partnerships in the city of Providence, R.I.

I also heard about how federal child-care grant funding and 21st CCLC funding can be combined to deliver services to some of the same populations. Beth Unverzagt, director of OregonASK, discussed how Oregon has built a statewide system for after-school after blending funding sources and partnerships with local organizations.

In another session, representatives from the National Center on Time & Learning and Citizen Schools focused on the importance of community organizations in implementing expanded learning time models in schools. Emily Bryan, a 6th grade teacher who works in an ELT school, Edwards Middle School in Massachusetts and the school's director of ELT, Stephanie Edmeade talked about their experiences—both the good and the bad—shifting from a traditional school model to an expanded learning time school by adding more than 300 hours to their yearlong schedule.

Lunchtime panels on both days included speakers from the federal Department of Education, national foundations, nonprofit organizations, and several intermediary organizations that work with out-of-school-time programs. They discussed the hurdles they face in tough budget times and how partnerships with outside organizations and funders are key to making programs run smoothly, particularly when they align over shared goals.

Look for upcoming related features here.

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Detroit public school students are getting an early start on next year's curriculum through a virtual summer program, developed by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

The virtual program will run in conjunction with the district's free Summer School Academy, which is serving over 35,000 students this year in a variety of specialized initiatives for underperforming students, bilingual students, special education students, and students at transition points in their school careers, among other programs.

The new virtual "camp" is part of an effort by the district to both build students' 21st century skills and better prepare them for the upcoming year by placing an emphasis on retaining material from the year before and building foundational skills they will need in the next grade.

All K-8 students are enrolled in the virtual program and can use any Internet connection (at home or elsewhere) to access 10 educational activities each week. Their performance will be measured and used to help tailor the program to their skill sets. The district is planning to have teachers use the data from students' performance to help design their lessons this fall.

Detroit's virtual program seems to be part of a rising trend to incorporate technology into summer programming. Other articles out recently highlight some other digital summer learning and enrichment programs. Brown University is hosting a summer program that incorporates virtual game play with learning, and several opportunities are being offered in the Bay Area for children to work with their parents on summer learning through digital means.

My Education Week colleague Ian Quillen reported on the trend and a few other of these programs last month.

"Regardless of the format, some educators find that technology gives them the opportunity to make instruction more flexible and personalized than it is during a school year bound by curricula and state testing requirements—and they're zestfully embracing it," he wrote.

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"Why does vacation have to mean vacuum?" Matthew Boulay, interim CEO of the National Summer Learning Association, asks today in an article featured in a series on summer slide on NBC News' Education Nation site.

Boulay's piece, which discusses how traditional summer "school" can expand to become enriching summer programming to combat summer learning loss, is part of a weeklong focus on Education Nation's The Learning Curve blog. The Learning Curve has already featured a question-and-answer session with Karl Alexander, who produced some of the most recognized research on summer slide to date. Upcoming pieces include a profile of Horizons National, a summer enrichment program that serves thousands of children in branches around the country, and an article from Earl Phalen, the founder of Summer Advantage, an Indianapolis-based summer enrichment program.

Alexander discusses the highlights of his longitudinal research that tracked 800 Baltimore 1st graders in the 1980's through their late 20's. Alexander's research found that not only did the summer months contribute substantially to the achievement gap between underprivileged and more privileged students, but it also grew substantially for students with each consecutive summer.

By the time students entered high school, Alexander found, the "summer slide" accounted for two-thirds of the achievement gap in reading, gaps that were influential in high school dropout rates, and general underperformance for students who lacked access to educationally enriching experiences in their time away from school. Unprivileged students actually "pretty well kept pace" during the school year, he concluded, it was the summer that was most detrimental.

Recent research supports Alexander's findings, but also looks to see what kinds of summer programs are more effective in quelling access-to-learning issues over the summer months. A webinar on the recent research and issues on summer learning, profiled here earlier, is being held on August 8 by the Rand Corporation and Wallace Foundation.

Check out my story on summer programs, out last week.

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Some leaders in California are working to increase the options, availability, and quality of summer programs in the state, particularly for low-income kids.

In 2008, a bill established a legislative task force on summer learning to make research-backed recommendations to California officials on how to meet the needs of the state's underserved children in the summer. The task force has been advising state leaders since, including generating recent legislation that may enable California to use state and federal after-school funding to build summer programs and make summer learning a priority in future efforts. According to the National Summer Learning Association, California is one of only two states that are pushing legislation to increase summer programs in their states. (Rhode Island is the other.)

Jennifer Peck, executive director of the Partnership for Children and Youth, a Bay-area nonprofit that works with schools and organizations to build quality out-of-school time programs, helped establish the state's task force on summer learning and serves as its leader. Peck, who worked at the federal Department of Education for eight years advising and facilitating education initiatives, is also the senior policy adviser to California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson.

Peck shared information about the variety of funding opportunities for summer programs, the importance of data-driven accountability and quality programming in summer learning, and how summer programs can play an important role in combating childhood obesity.

Q: Given the declining stimulus funds many districts have used to support summer programs these past few years when their budgets were tight, what other federal sources can districts turn to? Are the additional decreases in 21st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) funding, and great competition between after-school programs for this funding, making it less likely that these funds can be used for summer programs?
A: Districts can choose to use Title I for these programs, and some do, but it's the exception rather than the rule, particularly in this budget environment when there are so many other demands for those dollars during the school year. Our 21st CCLC dollars have held relatively steady, but a vast majority of those dollars in California are dedicated to school-year programs. We have been working to change that through state legislation—we believe these dollars should support year-round learning opportunities for students. Some districts have used [federal] School Improvement Grants for summer learning. We'd like to see more of that happen but also recognize that those SIG funds are time-limited like the stimulus dollars.

Q: There is building support from the private sector for summer programming. What thoughts do you have on getting more donors behind this "movement" and how existing programs (and schools) can continue to build this support to enhance their programs?
A: I don't think there's any way we can ever provide summer learning programs for all kids who need them without the support of the business and philanthropic sectors. Our experience has been that once you talk to people about the research—what's really happening to hundreds of thousands of children in our state in the summertime and the effect it's having on the achievement gap and on children's health—they get it and are open to playing a role. It's our job to find meaningful and effective ways for the private sector to contribute and make sure we are effectively and continuously communicating the results of their investment. We are currently working with our partners in philanthropy who are already invested in this issue to come up with some specific strategies to dramatically increase private investment in summer learning programs in California.

Q: While talk of "summer slide" (and the research to support its existence) is common, there are fewer studies and discussions on the ramifications the summer months can have on children's health. One of the recommendations your task force makes is building summer programs that also focus on nutrition. What suggestions do you have for executing this and using summer programs to help curb growing rates of childhood obesity?
A: Research from University of California, Irvine, and other studies, such as the work of Ohio State University statistician Paul von Hippel, show that low-income children gain weight more rapidly in the summertime, we presume, because they lose access to organized school-year physical-activity programs, and they lose access to school meals, which may be healthier than what they eat at home. We know many children in poor neighborhoods are more sedentary in the summer, either because their families can't afford summer programs, or it may not be safe to play outside in their neighborhood.
The best solution here, like for prevention of learning loss, is to get more kids—and particularly the most vulnerable kids151;into summer programs. The National Summer Learning Association sets the quality standard for physical activity as at least 30 minutes per day. NSLA also encourages activities and structures that encourage all youth to participate. These quality standards—based on successful programs across the country—are an important tool in guiding programs to practices that will have an impact on youth. Also, offering free food is another NSLA standard that helps combat obesity. Many summer programs are able to offer meals and snacks through the federal summer meals program. This food may be the only balanced meals that young people in very low-income communities get, and may prevent their filling up on snacks and junk food with high calories but little nutritional value.

[Nora's Note: A study that just came out from the National Association for Sport and Physical Education urges 60 minutes of exercise daily for children and youths.]


Q: The importance and value of data-sharing is often discussed in the OST realm. How can we improve the data-sharing between summer programs and schools when many are not as closely linked as are programs during the year?
A: We see this in the same way we see the importance of data-sharing between after-school programs/providers and schools. It's essential that each player in a student's learning continuum understands where the child is, where the child needs to be, what's working and what's not. Our most successful after-school programs in California are ones that have data-sharing agreements with schools so that they can regularly assess student progress and tweak the programming to maximize after-school learning time. In most cases, the after-school provider is the same as the summer provider, offering the opportunity to continue those data-sharing agreements into the summer.
Ideally school staff and summer program staff are co-planning the summer program - jointly developing learning goals for targeted students based on school-year performance data, jointly designing programming and activities that will supplement and reinforce school year learning, and agreeing on appropriate assessments for the summer program.

Q: One of the recommendations the task force made was to have summer programs serve as "laboratories of innovation" that can help drive school-year reforms. Can you expand on how the summer might be a time to experiment with teaching and programming that could lead to best practices during the school year? How can we link summer and the traditional year but still keep summer distinct and not "more of the same"?
A: In the summer, when there are fewer constraints on teachers and youth workers to fit within a particular frame of time, schedules, and content, they have more freedom to test strategies and approaches to instruction that may be difficult to employ during the school year. We've seen this concretely in several of the communities that we've been working with. In Whittier City school district, for example, the credentialed teachers have been very enthusiastic about the opportunity to teach standards-based content in new and creative ways. They have been excited to bring more hands-on projects into their school-year classrooms because they've seen how engaged and motivated students become.
Across the board, teachers understand that high quality instruction involves the type of flexibility, creativity and integration of academics and enrichment that is possible during the summer. Alignment between summer and the school year is happening through the teachers and youth workers who interact and support each other in the summer programs and translate their experiences for school day and after-school teaching. We would expect that more formal information sharing will take place151;back and forth between school day, summer, and after-school, as teachers and administrators continue to see the impact that out-of-school time programs are having on their students.

Q: What expectations do California OST leaders have with the new state administration in regards to efforts expanding and promoting extended learning programs? Do you think building a sustainable summer program model (like the state's after-school model) is realistic, aside from the major public-funding hurdles you face?
A: We think it's possible and we think it's essential, but it won't be quick. But we have a few really promising things going for us in this regard in California. Our new state superintendent of public instruction, Tom Torlakson, is a longtime advocate for after-school programs, dating back to his time in the legislature, and really understands the importance of summer learning programs. He is a critical partner in thinking through how we can utilize existing dollars to support summer programming as well as thinking about how new education revenue in the future can help support summer learning. Second, we have a growing number of state legislators who have been paying attention to the research and stepping forward to support legislation that addresses summer learning. Additionally, we are in the third year of piloting and building a cadre of summer programs in California that are employing research-based practices (such as full-day programming that blends academics, enrichment, and recreation; has clear learning goals; and has commitment to ongoing improvement). This Summer Learning Initiative, which is generously supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, leverages existing public dollars and is allowing us to demonstrate what's possible in California communities. The data and the stories we are collecting from these programs help us build the case across the state that summer learning matters.

Photos:
Jennifer Peck, executive director, Partnership for Children and Youth. (Courtesy of Partnership for Children and Youth)
Sacramento students celebrate Summer Learning Day on June 21 at the Capitol. (Courtesy of Center for Multicultural Cooperation)
California Sen. Mark DeSaulnier speaks on the importance of summer learning at the Summer Learning Day event in Sacramento. (Courtesy of Center for Multicultural Cooperation)
California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson gives a science lesson at the event. (Courtesy of Center for Multicultural Cooperation)

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A group of senators proposed a reauthorization plan yesterday for the federal 21st Century Community Learning Center grant program that would enhance application protocol and accountability requirements for after-school, before school, and summer programs.

The Afterschool for America's Children Act, proposed by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), places emphasis on improving out-of-school time programs through staff training, community partnerships, school alignment, and tracking of student progress. Boxer, chair of the Senate Afterschool Caucus, has been a longtime advocate for after-school programs.

The 21st CCLC funding program was established to help states create out-of-school time and community programs in their localities. States are allocated formula grants from the federal government, and then re-allocate funds to entities like districts and community organizations through a competitive grant process.

(A bill crafted recently in the U.S House of Representatives would allow states flexbility in using other federal funding streams as part of their 21st CCLC grants, if passed.)

Yesterday's proposed legislation rides on the coattails of another recently proposed bill that would add and prioritize the 21st CCLC funding applications from expanded learning time programs, or schools that would add at least 300 hours to the year for added academic, enrichment, and planning time to help close the achievement gap.

The Improving Student Achievement and Engagement through Expanded Learning Time Act would mandate states use 95 percent of their 21st CCLC funding to award sub-grants to districts that could be allocated as one-year planning grants solely for expanded learning time programs and renewable multi-year grants to create expanded learning time or out-of-school time programs.

"In today's global economy, we cannot allow our students to fall behind the curve and lose out on the jobs of the future," said Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), one of the sponsors of the Improving Student Achievement and Engagement through Expanded Learning Time Act. "Expanded learning time is a key way to close the achievement gap and improve student performance, particularly in our nation's lowest-performing schools."

Competition is already steep for 21st CCLC funding, but after $12.3 million in cuts made this past spring (equaling about 12,000 student slots in programs), that competition may get even steeper, particularly if expanded learning time programs are prioritized and included in the mix, according to the Afterschool Alliance.

"For every school that extends its school day under this legislation, it is estimated that six after-school programs will have to close their doors," the Alliance reports. "In tight budgetary times, this means replacing more cost efficient after-school programs with a more expensive new and untested model. The result will be more children unsupervised afterschool and fewer communities served."

A spokesman for Sen. Bernie Sander's (I-Vt.), another sponsor of the Improving Student Achievement and Engagement through Expanded Learning Time Act, said the goal is not to kick after-school programs to the curb, but to incentivize schools to implement expanded learning time that would benefit all students. While these applications would be prioritized under the bill, states would not be required to give grants only to ELT programs and should instead award grants to the best applicants.

"Expanded Learning Time schools provide all students within that school with the opportunity to participate in a variety of programs that support their academic achievement and improve student engagement," said Sanders' aide. "In a time when schools across the country are being forced to make cuts, the Expanded Learning Time model creates a more sustainable and thoughtful restructuring of the school day that connects and broadens learning through strong partnerships between schools and community-based organization."

As I mentioned a few months ago, there is other federal legislation on the table that would create a competitive grant program for states and districts that want to implement expanded learning time models in their schools. The TIME Act was recently endorsed by over 40 organizations and think tanks that support expanded learning.

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My story on summer programs is up on our homepage today. (It's in the print issue of our paper this week, too.) It takes a look at four cities that have managed to maintain, enhance, and increase summer programs when many others are slashing them given budget shortfalls.

The four cities—Baltimore, Chicago, New Orleans, and Oakland, Calif.—have made building programs in the summer months a priority to counteract the effects of "summer learning loss," which is particularly harmful to low-income students.

While the stories and programs are all different, they have some commonalities: strong partnerships with local organizations and community providers, use of blended funding sources, and development of creative programming to meet the diverse needs of their populations. All also may have to be innovative with their programs moving forward, as some funding used to fuel these programs is drying up.

Read about Baltimore's summer program, which, among other objectives, is striving to help middle school students who perform poorly in math through innovative, project-based learning activities. This year the program is dubbed the Grand Prix of Summer Learning in honor of the IndyCar race hitting the city in September and the soapbox cars the kids will apply their mathematical skills to build and race in August.

The country's third-largest school district, Chicago, is serving 95,000 students this summer and providing a number of new offerings that move away from the traditional "drill and kill" of summer school. Its programs are available both to students who are performing proficiently and those who are struggling academically. High school mentors are working in several of them to support younger students.

This is the first summer in a long time (or maybe ever) that kids in New Orleans will have a variety of options available to them, due to a newly independent city parks and recreation commission. More than 4,000 children under 12 and 3,000-plus teens will be served in city-supported programs; another 2,000 are in noncity-funded programs. Last summer, only about 1,000 kids under 12 were served, and there were no teen programs.

Across the country in Oakland, the school district is serving at least 6,000 students this summer. Oakland is a rarity in California; district officials told me few of their neighbors attempted summer programming at all, let alone to the level they've undertaken, given the state's budget woes. Still, summer may be gaining some traction in the state: Look for an upcoming blog item that discusses a state legislative task force that is making recommendations to the governor and legislature on how California can use funding and other resources to make summer programs a priority.

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How do you improve the quality of summer schools and make them more cost-effective, the New York Times asks seven education leaders, in a discussion posted online yesterday.

It's about time and structure. To Kathleen Porter-Magee, director of the High Quality Standards Project; Pedro Noguera, professor of education at New York University; and Paul Thomas, education professor at Furman University; the answer lies in changing the school calendar, particularly with reducing what they consider to be the overly long block of time constituting summer vacation, which research has shown can significantly hinder academic gains made during the school year. While Porter-Magee and Thomas both suggest breaking summer vacation into smaller increments scattered throughout the year, Noguera advocates the expanded learning-time model, or longer days and school year.

It's about programming. Roger Prosise, the superintendent of a suburban Chicago district, says it's about using a more "progressive" approach to learning outside the classroom, such as more field trips and project-based learning, particularly for those students who typically wouldn't have access to such experiences. Patrick Welsh, a teacher in Alexandria, Va., says its about focusing on improving the skills of those who are really behind, not those who just didn't perform well the past year.

It's about capacity building. According to Lucy Friedman, president of TASC, schools need to look to building capacity through partnerships with community organizations that can help enhance program offerings and allow programs to increase in size and scope.

It's not about cuts. Cutting summer school won't really ameliorate significant budget shortfalls, writes Geoffrey Canada, president of the Harlem Children's Zone, but will have disastrous effects on underprivileged kids.

"We must not make decisions that save money in the short term, but leave our country unable to prepare for a more competitive future," Canada writes. "So while we must make tough decisions to balance our budgets, are we making smart ones?"

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Standardized-test scores of charter schools vs. traditional public schools recently released in Chicago had surprising results: The charter schools that had added time to their schedules did not seem to produce much higher scores than the other public schools that had a shorter school year.

The news comes as the Chicago district looks to expand its school calendar this coming fall. In light of those Chicago results, an article in The Washington Independent a few days ago makes comparisons between schools nationwide that have implemented an extended learning time model and its impact on test scores. It finds an inconsistent correlation—some schools saw positive results with more time, but others did not. But the article also questions whether those scores can really measure the impact on student performance and general improved outcomes.

As a L.A. Times article reports this week, summer schools and summer programs are using time creatively to provide both enrichment and support academic achievement through "disguised learning." The camp-like atmosphere, the article suggests, can be more conducive to results. Across the country, schools that have moved to lengthen the calendar have used various models, from adding more time for core academics to hours of enrichment that often look like good quality after-school or summer programs. Some research suggests that enrichment can have substantial influence on academic outcomes, but many schools worry about the accountability benchmarks they need to reach based on state tests.

As much as districts are turning toward ELT with hopes of reducing the achievement gap, it seems just as many districts are continuing to reduce time because of budget cuts, so reports a New York Times story this week.

One justification for adding time has always been that many of our international "competitors" require students to attend school for longer hours and lengthened years. Yet it looks like South Korea is considering cutting Saturday classes in its schools to give more time for family and student enrichment, according to a piece from Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Parents quoted in the article expressed concern over halting the Saturday classes, which may mean devoting more out-of-pocket resources to "cram" schools, tutoring, and online courses to ensure academic preparedness for students.

The debate over time equaling results seems to call into question something that's been touched on in discussions on expanded learning time on this blog: time added vs. time added well. How do you add time effectively to see results? It's a topic we'll be looking at further in a webinar on expanded learning I'll be moderating on August 10.

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Six school districts around the country will be expanding and enhancing their summer programs this summer with support from an initial $2.7 million grant from the Wallace Foundation, according to a report released today. The grant is part of a $50 million, five-year initiative Wallace will undertake to see whether summer programs in these districts, and possibly others, can have long term effects on summer slide for low-income students.(Wallace also underwrites coverage of extended/expanded learning in Education Week.)

The districts: Boston, Cincinnati, Dallas, Jacksonville, Fla., Pittsburgh, and Rochester, N.Y., were selected based on the existence of already-established summer programs and pledges to continue working to combat summer learning loss. After this summer, the foundation will work with each district to determine how it can build programs moving forward, with the potential for increased funding from the foundation.

Wallace will also work with the RAND Corp. this summer and next to assess the impact of efforts to expand the six districts' summer programs. Next year, RAND plans to publish a report on the information gathered on best practices that it hopes will influence other districts to improve their own. (The Wallace-RAND partnership was instrumental in research released last month that analyzed the impact of summer learning loss and what summer programs can do to help reduce it.)

Additionally, in 2013 and 2014, rising 4th graders in all district programs will be monitored in the summer and throughout the school year to see whether there are lasting, longitudinal effects on summer program participants, with particular attention given to academic outcomes and behavior changes.

While research has shown that participating in a single summer program can reduce summer learning loss for students, there has been no research to test whether attending a summer program for consecutive summers can have greater and more long-lasting effects on closing the achievement gap, said Ed Pauly, director of research and evaluation at the Wallace Foundation. The foundation hopes that the research from this initiative might bring light to some of those questions.

Look for my story on some other cities that have made summer programs a priority, out next week.

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New York City's Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) recently released a concept paper summarizing its future visions and goals for new and existing out-of-school-time programs for elementary and middle school youths in the city.

DYCD, which I profiled back in April, administers the various streams of funding that support New York City's youth and community programs, 485 programs to date, that serve 55,000 elementary and middle school youths. Recently, city budget cuts threatened some of these programs, but after many proponents spoke out on their importance, private donors pooled enough resources to maintain the threatened middle school and teen-job programs into the next year and the council restored some funding.

The concept paper, which will accept public comments until July 29, calls for more STEM curricula in the city's out-of-school-time programs, increased efforts at building relationships with parents, and improved alignment between the school day curriculum/school sites and after-school programs. The importance of hiring high-quality staff and using data tracking and other forms of assessment to hold programs accountable are also discussed. DYCD will be using a request for proposals to operate new programs soon.

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