Wallace Blog Search Results

Search Blogs by Keyword

How One City Helped Pave the Way for Afterschool Systems Across the Country

2618

GP0|#b804f37e-c5dd-4433-a644-37b51bb2e211;L0|#0b804f37e-c5dd-4433-a644-37b51bb2e211|Afterschool;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61

“If it weren’t for Hillary Salmons’s foresight, brilliance, and leadership, the out-of-school-time field would not be what it is today,” says Jessica Donner. Donner should know. She heads Every Hour Counts, a coalition of citywide organizations working to increase access to high-quality learning opportunities for underserved students. And who, exactly, is Hillary Salmons, apart from being one of the founders of Every Hour Counts? She is the now-retired founding executive director of the Providence After School Alliance (PASA), which since its inception in 2004 has provided Rhode Island’s capital city with a model system of afterschool programming–and inspired similar efforts in some 30 cities nationwide, according to one estimate.  PASA is an “out-of-school-time intermediary,” which means it coordinates the many moving parts and players (schools, program providers, nonprofits, and municipal agencies for starters) of a system to provide young people, whatever their family’s income, with plenty of opportunities after school and during the summer. Programs to stretch the mind and muscle range from coding to basketball, ceramics to horticulture, dance to volleyball.PASA’s approach emphasizes high-quality programming, attention to the needs and wants of particular age groups, and collaboration among the various system partners.    PASA has historical ties to Wallace. In 2004, the foundation, as part of a major initiative to encourage the development of the then-novel idea of an afterschool system, awarded a $5 million grant to help establish PASA. This followed an earlier planning grant–and preceded additional support from the foundation over the years. In Providence, youth faced significant economic and educational challenges. Then-Mayor David Cicilline, along with a team of local organizations and experts including Salmons, put their heads together to plan an afterschool enterprise that would meet the needs and interests of the young people in the city. What emerged with PASA was the <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/afterzone-outcomes-for-youthparticipating-in-providences-citywide-after-school-system.aspx">AfterZone</a>, designed specifically for Providence’s middle school students. Today, it serves 1,500 young people each year, giving them access to almost 100 programs in STEM, the arts, and sports, provided by 70 Providence organizations, teachers, and community-based educators. PASA has also expanded its efforts to include high school students. Salmons retired in 2021 after 17 years heading PASA. It’s a measure of her impact that for an event several months ago to mark the milestone, every member of Rhode Island’s Congressional delegation–its two senators and two house members—prepared videos to thank her.  Among them was Cicilline, who, after the early PASA years, went on to serve seven terms in Congress. (He recently stepped down.) Some 17,000 children have been served by PASA since it was founded, Cicilline remarked, praising  Salmons’ “vision and fortitude” in helping to make that possible.  Salmons, he added, had been “part of one of the things I’m most proud of from my days as mayor.” We chatted with Salmons over Zoom recently to gain insights from her experiences working in afterschool, learn <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/hours-of-opportunity-volumes-i-ii-iii.aspx">why systems are important</a>, and find out more. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Wallace Foundation: PASA is one of the earliest afterschool systems. Can you talk about how it got started and how it grew? Hillary Salmons: Credit is due to The Wallace Foundation for inviting our city to develop a plan, but I think the way they conceived of planning was very smart. It had to be a very broad-based, public-private collaborative effort. They hired a local group, Rhode Island KIDS COUNT, and they facilitated the planning process, which involved Mayor Cicilline, now head of the Rhode Island Foundation. He was critical to the planning process. At the time, Wallace felt that public-private systems really needed to have a leader, and our mayor was 200 percent behind a youth development mindset and strategy. He was an education-minded leader. He totally embraced the planning process and participated in a great deal of it, which I think motivated community nonprofit organizations that were serving youth and the child policy community. It was really an all-inclusive effort. Hundreds of people came to planning meetings, and we divided up into all sorts of groups to work on determining what age group to work with and determine where our assets were. What could we build off of? What did we have in the nonprofit sector, in the public sector that could be better linked together, and what does it mean to build a system? Then also, what does quality mean? There were a lot of young people involved in the planning process as well from the high school age group, and they were really saying that they would walk across the city for a really high-quality program, but they wouldn't cross the street for crap. Kids were really our customers. They were discerning about what was stimulating and what was not. The young people in middle school and high school were vociferous about that being an important element and agreed that high quality was the essential part of the systems-building effort. It took about six to nine months to plan. Middle school was where the greatest deficits are. I think that that's often the case nationally. When looking at the gaps of where the need was the greatest, we felt as if middle school was where the greatest deficits are. I think that that's often the case nationally.  High school groups tend to be in arts organizations and sports organizations. There seems to be more in communities around high school because high school youth require it and demand it, but middle school in our city had a deficit. We didn't even have intramural sports. Other than 15 or 20 kids playing basketball, very few middle school students were engaged in afterschool learning and hands-on experiences. That was an area to start, and that's where we decided to focus. That pre-planning, I think, is always key. There's no question, having a major financial investment from the private sector was huge. It immediately attracted a local private investor in Bank of America and soon to follow the Rhode Island Foundation. WF: Can you talk a bit about why systems are important? HS: It's mostly scale. The reality is the field is often a patchwork quilt of smaller projects, and it's easier for a little nonprofit to serve 150 kids, but to go to scale in a city requires systems. That is, I think, the biggest motivation. Also, systems force communities to think about: What are we doing for elementary, middle, and high school right up through the ladder versus assigning afterschool to just the childcare route. When you're thinking with a youth development lens, you're thinking about: What does it take for a healthy development of young people, and where are the opportunity gaps for low-income kids? Oftentimes, middle class and upper middle-class kids have access because their parents can pay to play . If you're thinking systemically, you're thinking across age groups. You're thinking across resources and maximizing them. You're thinking about interfaces with the public systems, and then you're thinking about the class divide and the opportunity gap. Who's getting it and who's not? I think when you're thinking systemically, you start thinking holistically about child development. What do young people need to thrive? The point of systems is to get you out of the patchwork like, "Well, we're doing a little apprenticeship program for high school age kids, and well, we got the childcare covered," versus what does the healthy development of our young people in the non-school hours look like? WF: Were there a couple of key obstacles the organization needed to overcome, and, if so, how did you do that?What do we do with $1 million in a town that doesn't have that much money? How do we maximize the investment? HS: The biggest factor in a deficit-oriented economy is distrust because all the nonprofits are competing with each other [for funding]. Their first thought was: Who's going to get all this money when it comes to town? So, we had to think about how to build trust. You've got to really have everybody be involved in the planning process. I was a big believer in being transparent about budgets. We had to show people that we wanted to collectively invest the money as opposed to it being a competition where some nonprofits get money and some don’t. What do we do with $1 million in a town that doesn't have that much money? How do we maximize the investment , and how do you trust that this collective effort will leverage more money?In the first few years, we helped groups that didn't get 21st Century Community Learning Centers money become partners on getting 21st CCLC money with us, and we helped scaffold them in managing a federal grant. The word got out that we were real allies and to be trusted. WF: What advice might you give other cities that are considering building systems? What advice would you give to those that already have systems underway? HS: What do you want to do if you want to replicate a PASA or a Boston After School & Beyond? I think the advice the Every Hour Counts community gives to cities is to try to get a major local philanthropy. I really do think a capital infusion is absolutely essential. If it isn't coming from a national foundation, it should come from a local corporation. Right away, whoever the intermediary is needs to start raising local dollars. Really thinking about mapping out what's the potential for collective public-private investment makes a lot of sense. Then who are the key players? It's important to get the nonprofit sector to really collectively advocate for it, to work with the state afterschool alliance, so there's an advocacy agenda. I also think getting youth involved is absolutely key because they're the customer. I also think getting youth involved is absolutely key because they’re the customer, and the customer can really speak their power to say what they want.  I think youth leadership and youth voice are really important. The best place to really start in designing a system is to design it with some of the youth advocacy or youth development organizations because I think when investors–public or private–see their customer constituencies actively involved, it changes the political dynamic. WF: Are there any other thoughts that you want to share about afterschool systems in the year 2023 and beyond? The mayor of Providence became very connected to the mayor of Nashville. And then the Nashville mayor wanted to replicate what Providence was doing. HS: I think how we got PASA where it is now was by working with our colleagues in the field. Early on, The Wallace Foundation was great at helping build an afterschool systems network through their grantees, and we planned together, and learned, and shared. Then when Every Hour Counts was created by us, we could share strategies, and we could really share secrets with each other and support each other. That became huge. The mayor of Providence became very connected to the mayor of Nashville. And then the Nashville mayor wanted to replicate what Providence was doing.  Having these cities collegially working together is absolutely key. The good thing about 2023 is that there's a group of cities through Every Hour Counts that are all seeing the academic and mental health crisis that COVID created. They can stand together to say, "What are we seeing? What do we think we should do? How do we react to this?" Because if you're going in alone as a little city, you don't have the big picture. How do we stay strong, and balanced and find the research and data that backs us up?  Again, having a collective that's using data, and is rooted in quality, assessment, and accountability around youth development and child development metrics is extremely helpful to cities who are trying to make a case that this is what they should be doing. I think staying on top of the customers’ (youth) priorities is what the field can do because it's close to the ground. The whole field is close to the ground. <img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Preparing%20to%20head%20north_HS.jpg" alt="Preparing to head north_HS.jpg" style="margin:5px;" />Hillary holds a “lookalike puppet” awarded to her by PASA for her years of leadership as she prepares to head north to NewFoundland, where she spends her summers in retirement. WF: You've devoted so much of your life to PASA. What does the next chapter look like for you? I'm going to play, and I'm going to be a kid. HS: I've retired, and I've decided to be a kid. I just worked my butt off for 40-something years. I'm going to play, and I'm going to be a kid. I have a house in Newfoundland where I live two and a half months of the year. I try to kayak, hike, camp, enjoy my grandchildren, and get out in nature. I'm playing, doing arts and crafts. I'm doing all the things you're supposed to do in the afterschool world. I play volleyball, and I ski in the winter. I am on a few boards. I'm on the board of my Unitarian church and am helping with a campaign for the Congress seat. I am on the board of a charter school. I'm doing a little bit of volunteering. That's like joining a club. That's like my student council club. My life is like the PASA menu of programs, and I'm trying it all. I think one of the greatest rewards is knowing that PASA is alive and well and is thriving , and that it is a systemic and institutional sustainable idea. All new staff, great leader. They're all trucking along, doing amazing things in the city, and serving so many youth really well. Top photo: Hillary Salmons tells us she has been able to enjoy many hobbies during retirement, including picking blueberries, enjoying nature, kayaking, camping, playing volleyball, and spending time with her grandchildren.

Jenna Doleh

2023-09-19T04:00:00Z

Your source for research and ideas to expand high quality learning and enrichment opportunities. Supporting: School Leadership, After School, Summer and Extended Learning Time, Arts Education and Building Audiences for the Arts.

9/19/2023 5:53:24 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / How One City Helped Pave the Way for Afterschool Systems Across the Country it weren’t for Hillary Salmons’s foresight

498

https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx

html

False

aspx

Three Topics Educators and Students Want You to Pay Attention To

16010

GP0|#330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708;L0|#0330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708|School Leadership;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61

<div>High-quality education news coverage has only grown more important in recent years. From the effects of the pandemic to emerging trends and test scores, education media helps keep the public informed about the state of learning in our country. </div> Every year, the Education Writers Association brings together reporters, editors, and other media professionals to learn from practitioners, researchers, and each other about how to improve and grow their practice around education storytelling. This year’s conference, which took place in Atlanta, included educators, parents, and students alongside media professionals. Across dozens of panels, speakers were asked what topics in education they want people to pay attention to. Here are three themes that rose to the top:<h2 class="wf-Element-H2">Principals need support </h2>The session “Principals Navigating the New School Climate” began with data from RAND’s American Educator Panels research, which found that principals are bearing the brunt of political polarization in schools. Researchers found that principals could be better supported with more dedicated training in their preparation programs on how to navigate family and community relations, as well as from more opportunities to connect with colleagues about how they are navigating similar challenges. Following the research presentation, three current or former principals shared their experiences over the last several years of facing pushback from families and community members on politicized issues like LGBTQ+ rights and racism to COVID mitigation measures. Two of the three principals on the panel left the principalship over the last few years due to these challenges, and they underscored the importance of supporting principals as they navigate these difficult issues. To read more on how principals can be better prepared and supported, check out a recent report by the Learning Policy Institute, <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/developing-effective-principals-what-kind-of-learning-matters.aspx">Developing Effective Principals: What Kind of Learning Matters</a><a href="/knowledge-center/pages/developing-effective-principals-what-kind-of-learning-matters.aspx">?</a><h2 class="wf-Element-H2">Pass the mic to students</h2>A theme across several sessions was the importance of including student voices in education storytelling and decision making. One high school student who spoke on a panel said that she is often told her voice is important, but students also need to be shown how to use their voices and see examples of how powerful their voices can be.Educators who work closely with student leaders noted that there can be a fine line between protecting students and getting in their way. Journalists and other storytellers must always take care to prioritize student safety, while also making an effort to include student perspectives on topics that affect them the most.  To capture youth perspectives on out-of-school-time (OST) programs, we recently commissioned <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/youth-perspectives-on-designing-equitable-out-of-school-time-programs.aspx">a youth-led research project</a> that identifies common challenges to and leading practices toward equity in OST. Hear what they had to say in our podcast series, <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/beyond-the-classroom-podcast.aspx">Beyond the Classroom</a>.<h2 class="wf-Element-H2">Decision Makers are seeing the potential in OST</h2>The sessions on afterschool and summer learning were rife with success stories and examples of innovation in out-of-school time. One Mississippi educator spoke about the program she leads,<a href="https://nahighschool.com/impacto/" target="_blank"> IMPACTO</a>, which connects students to apprenticeships on topics of their choosing—from astronomy to equine care. A representative from the Oregon Department of Education spoke about how <a href="https://oese.ed.gov/offices/education-stabilization-fund/elementary-secondary-school-emergency-relief-fund/" target="_blank">ESSER </a> <a href="https://oese.ed.gov/offices/education-stabilization-fund/elementary-secondary-school-emergency-relief-fund/" target="_blank">funding</a> allowed her department to prioritize summer learning and realize its full potential. While decision makers are seeing the kind of impact OST programs can have on students, there is also real concern about what will happen when the federal funding runs out next year. State agencies and districts are working on sustainability plans, such as braiding funds, to continue to serve their students, but they are still relying on policymakers and other state leaders to continue to see the value in these programs.Hear more about how Oregon and other states are tackling summer learning on our podcast, <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/wallace-summer-learning-podcast-series.aspx">A Hot Time for Summer Learning.</a>

Andrea Ruggirello

114

2023-06-22T04:00:00Z

Highlights from the 2023 Education Writers Association conference

6/27/2023 2:33:04 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / Three Topics Educators and Students Want You to Pay Attention To Highlights from the 2023 Education Writers Association

1567

https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx

html

False

aspx

School/OST Partnerships Help Kids Thrive, Thanks to Pandemic Funding

15866

GP0|#b804f37e-c5dd-4433-a644-37b51bb2e211;L0|#0b804f37e-c5dd-4433-a644-37b51bb2e211|Afterschool;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61

Almost every headline about young people today seems to mention the learning loss and mental health challenges created by the pandemic. For good reason. The latest <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/" target="_blank">National Assessment of Educational Progress</a> found that math, reading, civics, and U.S. history scores for students decreased, in some cases with scores lower than all previous assessments dating back to 2005. School attendance as well has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, with estimates that the percentage of students who were chronically absent doubled from 8 million pre-pandemic to approximately 16 million in 2022. The prevalence of anxiety and depression among youth is also alarming. The CDC’s most recent <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/YRBS_Data-Summary-Trends_Report2023_508.pdf" target="_blank">Youth Risk Behavior Survey</a> found that more than two in five high schoolers report feeling sad or hopeless, an increase of 50 percent since 2011, and the <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf" target="_blank">U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory</a> raises the alarm about the epidemic of loneliness and isolation in the United States.   Decades of research demonstrate that afterschool and summer programs can help stem these losses. Moreover, pandemic relief funding has created a once in a generation chance to expand these opportunities for youth. Recognizing the value of afterschool and summer programs in supporting students’ well-being and academic growth, the federal government has provided upwards of $30 billion in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding to states and localities that can be used to create or expand afterschool and summer learning. <h2 class="wf-Element-H2">Programs a “second home” </h2>Because they focus on the whole child, afterschool and summer learning programs can offer enriching activities that engage young people in hands-on learning and encourage them to try new things. Staff are trained to help kids talk about their emotions, gain confidence, build healthy relationships, and heal from trauma. Research shows that kids who participate in afterschool develop strong social skills, get excited about learning, attend school more often, improve math and reading performance, and gain workforce skills. The data is powerful, but students help us put the benefits in even sharper focus. “My program became a second home for me,” says Madelyn Hinkleman, an afterschool student in South Dakota. “A place where my friends and I felt safe…where we go to discover who we were, take risks, and try new things.” <img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/school-ost-partnerships-help-kids-thrive-thanks-to-pandemic-funding/YouthAmb_QuoteCard_MadelynHinkleman_Quote_home.png" alt="YouthAmb_QuoteCard_MadelynHinkleman_Quote_home.png" style="margin:5px;" /> Another student, Nekayla Stokes in Delaware, says she values “working with caring adults who encourage us to listen to each other, respect all voices in a room, and learn about different perspectives.” <img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/school-ost-partnerships-help-kids-thrive-thanks-to-pandemic-funding/YouthAmb_QuoteCard_NekaylaStokes_Quote_caringadults.png" alt="YouthAmb_QuoteCard_NekaylaStokes_Quote_caringadults.png" style="margin:5px;" /> Millions of students like Madelyn and Nekayla are now thriving, thanks to those ARP investments. Some standout programs have included: <div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Experiential learning camps in Vermont, where youth learned how to use a compass and to identify wild edibles; </div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">STEM offerings in Bloomington, Illinois, where the school district teamed up with community partners like the Children's Discovery Museum, Illinois State University for Math and Science, and local Boys & Girls Clubs;</div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Seattle’s $1 million investment in youth employment and paid internship opportunities.</div><h2 class="wf-Element-H2">Tapping (and mapping) federal funds</h2>But while strong examples exist, billions of dollars are still on the table. Of the $30 billion or so that can be invested in afterschool and summer, thus far just $6 billion has been tapped. To help spur more partnerships, the U.S. Department of Education created a special initiative, <a href="http://www.engageeverystudent.org/" target="_blank">Engage Every Student</a>, to help school districts, localities, and programs tap pandemic relief funds to support students after school and in the summer. The Engage Every Student Initiative partners offer technical assistance to those interested, and the Afterschool Alliance and National League of Cities have developed a <a href="https://engageeverystudent.org/interactive-map/?utm_source=sendinblue&utm_campaign=Updated%20ARP%20Map%20%20ARP%20blogs&utm_medium=email" target="_blank">map</a> featuring more than 300 examples of states, school districts, and local governments that have invested pandemic funds in programming for youth. These examples serve as inspiration and models for other communities, and they help demonstrate to policymakers the effectiveness and sound use of pandemic funds to support students after school and in the summer. As relief funding ends in 2024, showing demonstrated success will be critical to make the case for continued investments at the local, state, and federal level. <h2 class="wf-Element-H2">Look for community partners </h2>The strongest examples of pandemic investments in afterschool and summer are built around partnerships with existing community providers, build on the evidence base for effective programming, and utilize the principles of expanded learning including both academic and enrichment opportunities that help support the whole child. In Idaho, for example, an evaluation of out-of-school time programs made possible by COVID-relief funds found positive academic and social impacts. For example, 87 percent of families say the program helps their child succeed academically. More than nine in ten families say that their child enjoys attending the program and is gaining new experiences in it. In Tulsa, the school district developed a four-week summer program for 10,000 students in K-12 grades that offered a variety of activities including gardening, robotics, field trips, and academic enrichment. Students participating in the summer 2021 program showed gains in grade-level reading and math proficiency, respectively, on Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) assessments.If you have tapped into federal pandemic relief funding to expand, enhance, or develop a new afterschool or summer learning program that embodies partnership, whole-child support, and evidence based practices, we encourage you to tell your story and be included on the map. To be featured, share your example using the <a href="https://engageeverystudent.org/join-us/#pledge" target="_blank">Engage Every Student pledge form</a>.

Jodi Grant

2023-06-15T04:00:00Z

6/15/2023 2:29:24 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / School/OST Partnerships Help Kids Thrive, Thanks to Pandemic Funding But showing demonstrated success will be critical to

2144

https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx

html

False

aspx

Change Is Inevitable. Are Out-of-School Time Programs Ready for It?

13068

GP0|#b804f37e-c5dd-4433-a644-37b51bb2e211;L0|#0b804f37e-c5dd-4433-a644-37b51bb2e211|Afterschool;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61

The out-of-school time (OST) sector provides many opportunities for staff learning and improvement, including webinars, newsletters, and professional conferences. These opportunities also provide time and space for networking, generating new ideas, and potentially using those ideas to change existing operations, practices, and strategies. But sometimes the ideas just don't take hold. Why is that? How could it be that the research- and evidence-based strategies that you just learned about didn’t work for your program?This could happen for any number of reasons, including lack of time and resources, staff resistance to new ideas, confusion from youth participants about the change, or misalignment with existing policies and practices. These are just a few examples that add up to a bigger piece of the implementation puzzle: readiness.The concept of “readiness”—or lack thereof—is often the culprit behind challenges in implementation.<div> </div><div><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcop.21698" target="_blank">Research</a> has described readiness as the product of an organization’s motivation and capacity to implement an innovation. We have spent the last two years building on this foundational work to explore what readiness means for OST programs, by diving deep into the literature and talking to OST practitioners and field leaders.</div><div> </div><div>One key takeaway from our work: Organizations don’t make change happen, people do. Organizations, and those who lead them, can create processes and practices that support implementation, but ultimately it is the practitioners, participants, and other key stakeholders who are essential to change management. These people are the ones responsible for implementation. In other words, all of these people need to be “ready” before any change can happen.</div><div> </div><div>We define readiness in OST as the overall willingness and capacity within an organization and its staff that enables change to occur successfully. More specifically for programs, this means: <ol><li>Having strong operations and procedures. This includes building a positive culture and climate, creating processes for collaborative decision-making, ensuring alignment with existing policies and practices, and having the capacity and plans for implementation. </li><li>Ensuring staff well-being. Programs should help staff develop self-efficacy and a growth mindset, as well as ensure staff feel that they have the necessary knowledge and skills to help facilitate change. </li><li>Keeping stakeholders, including young people and their families, engaged and informed. Programs should ensure they have input into decisions and an understanding of how these decisions will affect them. </li><li> Accessing specific resources, materials, and training that are unique to the specific and intentional change programs are making or new idea they are introducing. </li></ol>This last item in the list—gathering knowledge, resources, and materials—is often where organizations start, but it is only part of being ready. To be truly ready means attending to all four elements of readiness—the specific intentional practices, and the more general practices of operations, staff, and stakeholders. Our research shows that they are all equally important.If this feels like a lot to think about, don’t worry! We have learned that readiness is something that can be measured and built over time. We find peace in this idea because it gives us a starting place to engage in readiness thinking when starting something new. We have also used what we’ve learned to create a <a href="https://www.readytoolkit.org/" target="_blank">free, online toolkit</a> for OST leaders and staff to help support and develop readiness thinking. Users can create a free account, take a readiness assessment, and receive an automated report with readiness scores to gain insight into where they are more and less ready for change. The toolkit links to the many other resources and tools already available that may be used to build readiness. It also includes a growing number of <a href="https://readytoolkit.org/learn-more-about-ost-readiness/" target="_blank">readiness-specific tools</a> for those who are just beginning to think about readiness.It is our hope that by introducing the idea of readiness and creating tools and resources to measure and build readiness, programs can more smoothly engage with new ideas and ensure that they are ready to implement them. We encourage you to consider: Are you ready for change? </div>

Jessy Newman and Arielle Lentz

133

2023-05-02T04:00:00Z

Two researchers explain readiness, why it matters, and how OST programs can build and measure it

5/2/2023 2:17:31 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / Change Is Inevitable Two researchers explain readiness, why it matters, and how OST programs can build and measure it

1898

https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx

html

False

aspx

More Arts = More Benefits for Kids

13053

GP0|#d2020f9f-c87c-4828-b93b-572786ae94a8;L0|#0d2020f9f-c87c-4828-b93b-572786ae94a8|Arts Education;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61

A recent <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pam.22449" target="_blank">study</a> brings good news about arts education: it can boost students’ writing skills, build social and emotional skills, and increase school engagement. But the same study warns that arts learning has been deprioritized in K-12 education since the 1980s, as schools have shifted tight budgets to align instruction with standardized testing. Additionally, few studies exist that demonstrate that the arts in schools are a beneficial investment.This study is the first large-scale, randomized controlled trial of a city’s collective efforts to restore arts education in schools through community partnerships and investments. It examined the impact of participation in Houston’s Arts Access Initiative, a coalition of more than 50 cultural institutions, philanthropies, and other local organizations dedicated to providing more arts resources to schools that lack them. Brian Kisida, assistant professor in the Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri, and Daniel Bowen, a professor of educational administration at Texas A&M, worked with the district to follow two groups of schools randomly selected to either participate in the initiative or act as a control group–a total of more than 15,000 children from grades three to eight. The arts experiences included theater, dance, music, and visual arts and were provided through teaching-artist residencies, in-school professional artist performances and workshops, field trips, and out-of-school-time art programs. Compared with the control group, the schools with extra arts experiences saw improvements in student behavior and increases in standardized writing achievement scores. The researchers also conducted surveys that showed an increase in students’ compassion for others, higher engagement in school, and stronger college aspirations.Kisida and Bowen, who together co-direct the <a href="https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/qJjDCqxDQniyp5KuZ1hmf?domain=artslab.tamu.edu/" target="_blank">Arts, Humanities, and Civic Engagement</a><a href="https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/qJjDCqxDQniyp5KuZ1hmf?domain=artslab.tamu.edu/">Lab</a> supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, also studied <a href="/News-and-Media/Blog/pages/decade-long-effort-to-expand-arts-education-in-boston-pays-off.aspx?_ga=2.175317028.720931135.1682361553-41959513.1679494370">arts education in Boston</a>. They found similar results, including consistent positive effects on student attendance, and higher parent and student school engagement. We caught up with them to talk more about the benefits of arts education for students, important policy considerations for retaining arts education, and more.The Wallace Foundation: Can you talk about the importance of school-community partnerships? How can approaching arts education from a systems perspective help improve access to/remove barriers to arts education? Brian Kisida: To begin with, many under-resourced schools can leverage school-community partnerships to supplement arts education experiences and reverse the declines we’ve seen with access to the arts. But there are larger systemic benefits from these approaches. By making education a community endeavor that brings together educators, artists, nonprofits, philanthropies, and researchers, education becomes a more collaborative experience that strengthens a community’s involvement and commitment to education. Dan Bowen: In Houston, we have seen how these partnerships can promote systemic change in addition to increasing students’ arts learning opportunities. Despite the concern that these partnerships become substitutes for system-wide commitments and resources, we have seen how they can promote and complement these efforts.WF: According to your research, the academic performance of students in math, reading, and science was no different for those who got more art than those who didn’t get access to extra art. Is this a bad thing? Why or why not? BK: Unfortunately, there have been many claims made by arts advocates that increased involvement in the arts can boost test scores in other subjects, but these claims have not been supported by rigorous evidence. In our study, we didn’t expect to find gains in test scores, and we don’t think it’s a bad thing that we didn’t. In fact, arts advocates and education policymakers should consider that finding no effect on test scores is actually a win for the arts. Consider that school administrators often shift resources away from the arts in order to divert more resources to tested subjects, with the belief that doing so would boost test scores. If this were true, we would have expected the schools in our control group to outperform the treatment group on tested outcomes. The fact that there is no difference on test scores, yet the arts are producing meaningful impacts on other measures of behavior and social-emotional development, suggest that schools that cut the arts are missing out on these benefits without experiencing gains in test scores.WF: Why do you think there were positive outcomes on writing test scores but not on math, science, and reading test scores? BK: The arts programs that many of the students were involved in provided many opportunities for students to learn how to express themselves, to present a point of view, and form their own perspectives. Some of the programs even involved writing components that tied to arts experiences. When we disaggregate the writing score gains made by the treatment group into the two components measured by the state’s writing test–multiple choice items on mechanical skills and open-response expository essays–we find significant increases for treatment group students on both sections, but effects are greater in magnitude and significance for the written composition portion of the exam. This aligns with our expectations given the focus of arts programs on students’ self-expression skills.WF: You saw similar positive outcomes with your study in Boston. To what extent do you think these results would replicate in other cities? Do you have advice for other communities that want to mimic the Houston Arts Access Initiative?DB: Finding similar results in Boston was very encouraging and gives us hope that these findings would be similar with other cities. One concern might be that Houston and Boston are large metropolitan areas with abundances of arts resources, and we would not find the same results in smaller or less arts-rich locations. We definitely think it will be important to further investigate the question of how these contexts affect impacts. However, from our experiences, we often find that even smaller, more rural parts of the U.S. tend to have untapped arts resources that are potentially ripe for school partnerships. We find that these partnerships produce meaningful, sustained learning opportunities when schools regularly engage with artists and arts organizations to identify respective needs and resources.   WF: How can this study help school and district leaders make the case for adding more arts experiences for students in schools? How can this study inform public policy decisions?BK: Education policymakers are increasingly interested in providing a well-rounded educational experience that produces benefits beyond test scores. Student attendance, behavior, engagement, and social-emotional development are increasingly viewed as important outcomes, and related research finds that these skills are incredibly important for success later in life. But few interventions have demonstrated the ability to move the needle on these outcomes. The arts seem well-poised to play a critical role in providing the kinds of engaging educational experiences that can move the needle on these outcomes.WF: Why is it so important to study the relationship between arts learning and educational outcomes? What do you hope to find out in future studies?DB: We don’t personally need to be convinced of the intrinsic benefits of the arts. However, policymaking works best when it is guided by evidence, and research on the benefits of arts education has been regrettably limited compared to other education topics. We hope our ongoing and future studies will shed further light on the value of the arts in promoting human development and social and emotional well-being.

Jenna Doleh

2023-04-25T04:00:00Z

Study of arts education in Houston finds school engagement and student behavior improve–and test scores don’t decline

4/25/2023 2:59:03 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / More Arts = More Benefits for Kids Study of arts education in Houston finds school engagement and student behavior

5595

https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx

html

False

aspx

Ensuring Access to Out-of-School-Time Programs and Using Federal Funds to Pay for It

1412

Ask people about the book they remember most clearly, a movie script they could recite, or the weirdest song they can sing along to, and chances are they’ll name something from their adolescence. The tween and early teen years, for better or worse, can stick with us throughout our lives, determining who we are, where we feel we belong and where we want to be when we grow up.How can today’s adults help young people use these crucial years to become healthy, productive, and empathetic adults of tomorrow? One way is to offer meaningful and enriching out-of-school activities that provide safe spaces to experiment with new experiences, new interests, and new ways of relating to the world. Unfortunately, many young people lack access to such activities. <a href="http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/AA3PM/">A 2020 survey conducted by the Afterschool Alliance</a> found that there were 24.6 million children in the U.S. who were not enrolled in out-of-school-time programs but would be if such programs were available to them. For every child enrolled in out-of-school programs, according to the same survey, there were three who would attend if they could. Access is especially limited for youth from low-income backgrounds, many of whom may most need afterschool support while parents or guardians work multiple jobs to make ends meet. <a href="https://www.childtrends.org/publications/participation-in-out-of-school-time-activities-and-programs">According to a 2014 Child Trends survey</a>, 72.7 percent of households with incomes more than twice the federal poverty level enrolled children in out-of-school activities. For households making less than that, the number fell to just 43.9 percent, a 29-point difference. <img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/ensuring-access-to-out-of-school-time-programs-and-using-federal-funds-to-pay-for-it/Federal-funds-for-OST-ch.jpg" alt="Federal-funds-for-OST-ch.jpg" style="margin:5px;" /> Decades of Wallace experience suggest that a focus on systems—the coordinated efforts of entities such as departments of education, school boards, philanthropies, nonprofit groups, and intermediary organizations—could help change this picture and expand access to quality out-of-school-time programs. Efforts in cities around the country, including <a href="/knowledge-center/Pages/building-an-effective-social-and-emotional-learning-committe-dallas-vol2-pt3.aspx">Dallas</a>, <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/expanding-social-and-emotional-learning-boston-vol2-pt2.aspx">Boston</a> and <a href="/knowledge-center/Pages/learning-to-focus-on-adult-sel-first-tulsa-vol2-pt7.aspx">Tulsa</a>, point to elements of systems that could help more young people access the programs they need, including:<div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">An entity to coordinate the work of different groups and the resources available to them </div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Clear standards of quality</div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Data systems that keep track of who has access to out-of-school-time programs, populations that may be excluded from them, the quality of services these programs provide, and opportunities to improve them</div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Committed leadership from prominent officials such as mayors and county executives</div>Wallace has <a href="/knowledge-center/after-school/pages/default.aspx">several resources available</a> to help cities develop such systems. Among them are guides to:<div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Help <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/from-access-to-equity-making-out-of-school-time-spaces-meaningful-for-teens-from-marginalized-communities.aspx">ensure equity</a> in out-of-school-time programs </div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Use <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/framework-for-measurement-continuous-improvement-and-equitable-systems.aspx">data to assess their effectiveness</a></div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Identify<a href="/knowledge-center/pages/federal-funding-guide-for-summer-and-afterschool.aspx"> federal funding opportunities</a>, made available through the American Rescue Plan of 2021, that could help pay for the development of these systems</div>

Wallace editorial team

2023-03-21T04:00:00Z

3/21/2023 4:40:28 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / Ensuring Access to Out-of-School-Time Programs and Using Federal Funds to Pay for It Resources to help develop and cover

2113

https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx

html

False

aspx

What Young People Want from Afterschool Programs

42608

GP0|#b804f37e-c5dd-4433-a644-37b51bb2e211;L0|#0b804f37e-c5dd-4433-a644-37b51bb2e211|Afterschool;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61

<a href="/knowledge-center/pages/the-value-of-out-of-school-time-programs.aspx?_ga=2.116943174.1727170393.1677083209-1728090683.1676648512">Research has shown</a> that out-of-school-time programs are generally effective at producing the benefits for young people that they set out to provide–whether academic gains, enriching experiences, or homework help. But while there are numerous sources of federal and state funds available for afterschool and summer programs, they have seen consistently low rates of student participation. Take, for instance, the federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program, a part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which provides over $1 billion in funding annually for afterschool and summer programs for children in grades K through 12. Nearly half of the regular participants in the 21st CCLC programs attend fewer than 30 days a year.We know this because of a <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/7459d0266b83629b887ac324b4f8307c/1.pdf?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y" target="_blank">recent analysis</a> of the current 21st CCLC policy by Jane Quinn, a venerable figure in the world of out-of-school-time. <a href="https://www.childrensaidnyc.org/impact/stories/jane-quinn-leader-and-advocate-community-schools" target="_blank">An expert in afterschool and OST, she has more than five decades of experience</a> in the sector, having working as a social and youth worker for organizations including the Juvenile Protective Association of Chicago, Girls Clubs of America, Children’s Aid—and as program director here at Wallace for seven years in the 1990s.Quinn is also, at age 78, a newly minted Ph.D. In fact, her findings about the low participation rate in out-of-school-time programs emerged from her dissertation for a doctoral program in urban education at the CUNY Graduate Center. In her thesis, Quinn analyzes the strengths and shortcomings of the current 21st CCLC policy. She argues that the challenge of meager participation can be addressed by “listening to the voices of young people and responding to their desire for engagement and challenge in out-of-school time programs.” We sat down with her to learn more about this and other key findings in the study. Her responses have been edited for length and clarity. Wallace Foundation: Your study found that nearly half of regular participants in the 21st CCLC programs attend fewer than 30 days a year. Why do you think attendance is so low, and what can be done to improve it? Jane Quinn: According to the U.S. Department of Education’s data–specifically, their Annual Performance Reports on the 21st Century Community Learning Centers–fully 45 percent of students deemed to be “regular participants” in these programs across the country were reported to attend fewer than 30 days a year.  This number is problematic for several reasons, including the fact that we know from <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/the-value-of-out-of-school-time-programs.aspx?_ga=2.116943174.1727170393.1677083209-1728090683.1676648512">prior research</a> that “dosage makes a difference,” meaning that higher program attendance has been shown to produce better outcomes. When we combine this information about low attendance rates with US DOE [Department of Education] data about the content of 21st CCLC programs, we can begin to surmise why these rates might be so low. The Annual Performance Reports show that two of the three most frequently offered programs in 21st Century Community Learning Centers are homework help and tutoring, suggesting that many of the programs have largely become “more school” and are operating in ways that are not consistent with what young people say they want to do during their non-school hours. Homework help is offered five times more frequently than mentoring–something young people do want–and tutoring is offered four times more frequently than leadership development. WF: Why is enrichment so important, and why do you think it is so overlooked?JQ: In the context of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers policy and program, enrichment should be considered important because it is central to the Congressionally mandated purpose of the program. However, the legislation never defines what is meant by enrichment, which has led to multiple interpretations, many of which seem off base to me. In the context of what we know about young people’s development, enrichment is critical because it starts with student interests and focuses on engaging young people in their own learning. Why is it overlooked in many schools and afterschool programs? Because most people don’t understand what the term means, and some have never seen high-quality enrichment in practice. Enrichment involves both pedagogy and program content. According to Professor Joseph Renzulli and his University of Connecticut colleagues, enrichment as a pedagogy consists of four elements: it is based on student interest; it uses authentic methodologies, such as project-based learning; it addresses issues that have no existing solution or “right” answer; and it results in culminating activities that allow young people to demonstrate what they have learned. This kind of pedagogy can be applied to a nearly endless array of content. The experts I interviewed had no problem naming the kinds of programming that they viewed as enrichment: book clubs, chess, debate, music, drama, dance, visual arts, robotics, computer programming, community service, sports, mentoring, and leadership development, among others. I believe that kids shouldn't have to be born rich to have access to enrichment. WF: Can you describe some characteristics of a good enrichment program?   JQ: Joseph Renzulli says that good enrichment programs are characterized by engagement, enjoyment, and enthusiasm. Many years ago, before I became acquainted with his work, I wrote a column for YouthToday, in which I described a similar set of characteristics. Mine were engagement, exposure, and experience. By exposure, I meant that afterschool and youth development programs can introduce young people to new relationships that build their social capital, to new ideas that enlarge their sense of the world around them, and to new opportunities that feed their aspirations. More affluent children and youth tend to have these kinds of experiences built into their academic and at-home environments. I believe that kids shouldn’t have to be born rich to have access to enrichment.  WF: What are some ways the quality of the programs can be improved, and how should quality be measured?JQ: When conducting my dissertation research, I was rather astonished to find that the federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers legislation and guidance said almost nothing about program quality, despite the great advancements over the past 25 years in the field’s definition of best practices. The field has produced well-documented guides, rooted in research, about the program factors that are associated with the achievement of positive results. In addition, we now have several quality assessment tools that program operators can use to examine and strengthen their own practice. One of the best tools, in my view, is the <a href="https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/vuFuC4x463i48x3cOFbHx?domain=forumfyi.org/" target="_blank">Youth Program Quality Assessment</a>, supported by the Weikart Center.  When assessing program quality, we want to look at a range of factors, including program content, health and safety, staff qualifications, youth voice and choice, and interpersonal relationships, including peer-to-peer and adult-youth interactions. WF: You were involved in the community schools movement from the early days. Can you reflect on where it was back then and how it has evolved?JQ: Well, I wasn’t there in the really early days—that would have been at the turn of the 20th century when John Dewey, the renowned educational philosopher, wrote a monograph entitled Schools as Social Centers (1902). He had the right idea then, and his work has influenced several generations of community school leaders. In 1998, John Rogers, a UCLA education professor, wrote a seminal paper on the history of community schooling in America, documenting that the current generation of community schools is the fourth such iteration of the work to foster strong relationships between schools and their local communities. My involvement in this current generation of community schooling includes two phases. First was my work as a program director at Wallace in the mid- to late-1990s, which helped to create the <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/findings-from-the-extended-service-schools-initiative.aspx">Extended-Service Schools</a> Initiative. And second, was my 18-year tenure as director of the National Center for Community Schools, a program of Children’s Aid. In my view, all of these early investments contributed substantially to the current community schools movement, which is demonstrating success in informing federal, state, and local education policy and in responding to the documented needs of students and families in what is now being referred to as the post-COVID environment. More than 100 districts nationwide have adopted community schools as a preferred reform strategy, and Congress recently authorized an additional $75 million for the USDOE’s Full-Service Community Schools program, which will provide incentives for additional districts to adopt this strategy. The first and most important is clarifying what is meant by enrichment WF: What do you think policymakers should consider if they were to reimagine the 21st Century Community Learning Centers?JQ: My research offers 10 lessons for strengthening the 21st CCLC policy and program. The first and most important is clarifying what is meant by enrichment —an element that distinguishes this program from other federal initiatives that focus on remediation and compensatory approaches. A related lesson is finding ways to address the participation rate problem. My sense is that, if programs were required and supported to offer genuine enrichment, rather than a steady diet of homework help and tutoring, young people would make it their businessto participate. And, in turn, outcomes would improve because young people would be engaged in activities of their own choosing.  Another consideration would be how to encourage the creation of authentic partnerships between schools and such community resources as youth development agencies, arts organizations, and science museums. And, since 21st Century funding is one of the few sources of public support for summer programming, the authors of federal guidance could consider placing more emphasis on encouraging and enabling providers to include summer enrichment in their 21st Century-funded programs. Policymakers should seize the opportunity provided by COVID’s disruptions of the educational landscape by re-envisioning the enrichment role of out-of-school-time programs in the lives of America’s children and youth.

Jenna Doleh

2023-02-24T05:00:00Z

An expert on out-of-school-time argues for focusing on vital enrichment programs rather than on homework help or tutoring

2/23/2023 8:37:56 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / What Young People Want from Afterschool Programs An expert on out-of-school-time argues for focusing on vital enrichment

1227

https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx

html

False

aspx

Let’s Make Summer a Season of Opportunity for Students

42487

GP0|#ff9563e3-b973-45a7-8ac3-c9f4122f9a13;L0|#0ff9563e3-b973-45a7-8ac3-c9f4122f9a13|Summer Learning;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61

We’ve always known that disparities exist in education, but the COVID pandemic has shined an even brighter light on gaps in opportunities for America’s students. We see evidence of these gaps in the latest National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) scores, which <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/10/24/1130629135/naep-test-covid" target="_blank">show unprecedented declines</a>, including an eight-point drop in eighth grade math—the largest in almost two decades—with historically marginalized students suffering the <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/ltt/2022/" target="_blank">greatest losses</a>. Additionally, more than a quarter of a million students <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/07/24/1110916298/losing-a-parent-can-derail-teens-lives-a-high-school-grief-club-aims-to-help" target="_blank">lost a parent</a> during the pandemic, adding to the <a href="https://www.nami.org/Blogs/From-the-CEO/April-2022/The-Crisis-of-Youth-Mental-Health" target="_blank">mental health crisis</a> among young people. While there has been a consistent and urgent call from parents, educators and politicians to do something different to help stem these losses, there’s not a lot of specificity about what should be done. One place to start would be to radically reconceptualize an often under-appreciated component of the U.S. education system: summer learning programs. <img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/lets-make-summer-a-season-of-opportunity-for-students/NSLA3.jpg" alt="NSLA3.jpg" class="wf-Image-Left" style="margin:5px;width:374px;height:281px;" />To that end, FHI 360, a nonprofit human development and research organization, has gathered more than a hundred school districts from across the country, all of which are committed to maximizing summer learning opportunities, particularly for underserved youth. The goal of this group, called the District Summer Learning Network (DSLN), is to help districts repurpose summertime and use it as a starting point to improve outcomes for young people as they strive to recover from the last three years. The Wallace Foundation provides funding for DSLN. <img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/lets-make-summer-a-season-of-opportunity-for-students/-Primary_DSLN-Color.png" alt="-Primary_DSLN-Color.png" class="wf-Image-Right" style="margin:5px;width:254px;height:278px;" />Over the course of the project, those of us involved have come to see summer as a season of opportunity not just for children, but also for rethinking how schools look and feel for young people. Here’s why.<ol><li>Summer is a great time for districts to experiment. Freed from the pressures of the academic year calendar, state assessments and standards, and curriculum constraints, summer can be the perfect time to try new strategies. It can offer opportunities to pilot new instructional practices and test curriculum in ways that improve student engagement and learning, while building system-wide capacity. For example, last summer, one of our DSLN districts in the Midwest tested several new ideas: a new curriculum, outdoor classrooms and teachers assigned by passion rather than grade. Young people’s attendance soared, and teachers are eager to return in summer 2023. Another Midwestern DSLN district changed their approach to academic instruction. Community partners led full-day enrichment programming, and academic teachers provided small group tutoring in math and literacy. Summer provided districts the time and space to pilot new kinds of learning and collect data about what works. </li><li>High-quality programs can help re-ignite students’ passion to learn. Through three consecutive rounds of funding during the pandemic, Congress dedicated billions of extra dollars to the states to fund additional services for students. Many of the districts we worked with used those funds to jettison strategies that did not work in the past for new ideas that better addressed students’ needs and interests. For instance, one Northeast district that had previously focused students on recovering credits for classes they’d failed, instead started providing the students opportunities to take new classes around topics that excited them. They are now planning to expand this approach. Another Midwestern district deepened its partnerships with local cultural institutions to bring students into museums and explore the city’s rich cultural diversity. The program saw vast increases in student retention throughout the summer. </li><li><img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/lets-make-summer-a-season-of-opportunity-for-students/Summer1.jpg" alt="Summer1.jpg" class="ms-rte-paste-setimagesize wf-Image-Right" style="margin:5px;height:256px;color:#555555;font-size:14px;width:227px;" /><div>Young people are ready for additional challenges and opportunities. All young people deserve to experience the feeling of coming back to school in the fall with a fresh outlook, a new set of skills and newfound confidence. But too often students from historically marginalized communities have been left out of opportunities for growth during the summer months. Our project set out to address this inequity, and we heard from many DSLN districts that their students were ready to dive in over the summer. Some took accelerated courses, while others engaged in hands-on projects and connected to career learning. Some of the students even took on the role of lead teachers in summer learning classes for younger students. We saw over and over again that, given the chance, students welcomed opportunities to learn and grow and build confidence. </div></li></ol>Summer is a time to address opportunity gaps. Let’s not let this valuable resource pass us by. If we start now, we have a runway to rethink the way we approach summer learning. We can take advantage of the time and the resources available to plan an extraordinary summer for young people across the nation—a summer where we can engage them, nurture them and connect with them in ways that maximize their potential.

Nancy Gannon

130

2023-01-10T05:00:00Z

Academic loss and mental health issues continue in the wake of the pandemic—can summer programs help turn the tide?

1/10/2023 8:16:53 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / Let’s Make Summer a Season of Opportunity for Students Academic loss and mental health issues continue in the wake of the

3029

https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx

html

False

aspx

Study Seeks to Understand Adults Working with Young People Outside of School

42559

GP0|#b804f37e-c5dd-4433-a644-37b51bb2e211;L0|#0b804f37e-c5dd-4433-a644-37b51bb2e211|Afterschool;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61

Millions of professionals and volunteers work with young people every day in the many settings where they play, learn and grow outside of the school day. To learn more about these youth-serving professionals, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) is conducting a study, with support from Wallace. The study includes a national survey called the <a href="https://powerofussurvey.org/">Power of Us Workforce Survey</a>, in which the results are intended to ultimately better support the youth workforce and inform policy, practice and further research.In this Q&A, Deborah Moroney, a vice president at AIR, and Ann Stone, senior research officer at Wallace, reflect on this work. This post originally appeared on the <a href="https://workforce-matters.org/">Workforce Matters</a> website and is reprinted with their permission.The Wallace Foundation: What is the Youth Fields Workforce Study? Deborah: The U.S. Department of Education has challenged educators to <a href="https://engageeverystudent.org/">engage every student</a>. But who are the adults who are allies to, support and foster learning and development outside of the school day? While we know that those who work in youth fields play an important role, we lack the broader knowledge, context and holistic understanding of these individuals’ experiences and career pathways. The Youth Fields Workforce Study is a nationwide effort to fill that knowledge gap and gain critical insights into the people who make up these fields, where they work, what they do and what supports they need to continue engaging in transformative work with young people. WF: Why did the Wallace Foundation decide to invest in the Youth Fields Workforce Study? Ann: Over the years, we’ve heard anecdotal evidence that staffing has been a consistent challenge for out-of-school time programs. The COVID-19 pandemic, and the associated labor shortage it caused, only made things worse. For example, a <a href="http://afterschoolalliance.org/documents/Afterschool-COVID-19-Wave-6-Brief.pdf">survey by the Afterschool Alliance</a> found that the top two concerns among afterschool providers were finding staff to hire or staffing shortages and maintaining staff levels through health concerns and safety protocols.Given this, we felt it was important to learn more from the field itself about the state of the workforce. The challenge is not a trivial one. Skilled staff are crucial to fostering the <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/the-value-of-out-of-school-time-programs.aspx">many benefits </a>that afterschool and summer programs can provide young people—including new skills, exposure to new experiences, academic gains, awareness of career options, and life skills like persistence. These benefits vary, based on how programs are designed. But no matter what kind of program, we know that staff are central to creating positive relationships with young people, setting the climate, and sharing special expertise. Hardworking, well-trained staff play a key role in quality, and quality plays a key role in outcomes, so it’s important that this vital workforce is better understood—and supported. WF: What do you hope to learn from the results of the Youth Fields Workforce Study? Ann: The study is unusual in how thoroughly it seeks to incorporate views from those actually in the workforce. It will offer a window into who makes up the workforce, their career pathways, how they see their expertise and training needs, thoughts on job mobility, and retention. In capturing the lived experience of the staff who are forming relationships with youth, teaching skills and setting the climate, this study by AIR will not only help the field understand the challenge—but also suggest solutions. For example, understanding what motivates staff to stay in this field could be used to help attract new staff. This information should be especially useful since the pandemic, along with the influx of federal funding, have elevated the importance of afterschool and summer programming. Deborah: There are real and practical uses for the survey findings, which is timely because we know that this field is not immune to <a href="https://www.edweek.org/leadership/afterschool-programs-are-low-on-staff-leaving-students-unsupervised-and-underserved/2022/03">shifts in the labor market</a>. Our partners tell us they will use the survey data to make the case to expand access to programs for youth, prioritize professional development supports, and develop career pathways for adults. But we need the information first, and we need your help! If you are part of the youth fields workforce, share your story by taking the survey. If you support the youth fields workforce, help us spread the word by sharing the survey with your networks. The more people who complete the survey, the more we will know about the adults in the youth fields workforce, and the more we can all do to support them as they support all youth to thrive

Jenna Doleh

2022-12-08T05:00:00Z

12/12/2022 3:55:00 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / Study Seeks to Understand Adults Working with Young People Outside of School Millions of professionals and volunteers work

1241

https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx

html

False

aspx

Resources to Help Guide Your Summer Learning Program

42540

GP0|#ff9563e3-b973-45a7-8ac3-c9f4122f9a13;L0|#0ff9563e3-b973-45a7-8ac3-c9f4122f9a13|Summer Learning;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61

The school bell may have stopped ringing, but summer is a great time for all kinds of learning opportunities for kids. In honor of this year’s National Summer Learning Week, here are some helpful reports, tools and articles to guide your summer program. And don’t forget to check out the <a href="https://www.summerlearning.org/summer-learning-week/" target="_blank">National Summer Learning Association</a> to discover summer programs, additional resources and more during this week-long celebration. <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/supporting-quality-in-summer-learning-how-districts-plan-develop-and-implement-programs.aspx?_ga=2.130479439.1378018415.1657643438-504352793.1654185536"> <img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/resources-to-help-guide-your-summer-learning-program/supporting-quality-in-summer-learning-full-report-a.jpg" alt="supporting-quality-in-summer-learning-full-report-a.jpg" class="wf-Image-Left" style="margin:5px;width:146px;height:188px;" />Supporting Quality in Summer Learning: How Districts Plan, Develop, and Implement Programs</a> School district-led summer programs play a critical role in supporting students academically and providing them with enriching experiences. Drawing on existing research and the perspectives of policymakers and field professionals, this recently released report looks at the policies, practices and resources that go into the planning, development and operation of these programs. <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/summer-for-all-building-coordinated-networks-promote-access-to-quality-summer-learning-enrichment.aspx?_ga=2.130479439.1378018415.1657643438-504352793.1654185536"><img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/resources-to-help-guide-your-summer-learning-program/summer-for-all-building-coordinated-networks-promote-summer-learning-a.jpg" alt="summer-for-all-building-coordinated-networks-promote-summer-learning-a.jpg" class="wf-Image-Left" style="margin:5px;width:145px;height:207px;" />Summer for All: Building Coordinated Networks to Promote Access to Quality Summer Learning and Enrichment Opportunities Across a Community</a> This report looks at how schools, community-based organizations and other civic organizations in four cities formed coordinated networks to increase access to high-quality summer programming for young people. <a href="/News-and-Media/Blog/pages/two-summer-programs-inch-towards-normal-as-covid-subsides.aspx"><img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/blog-pandemic-summer-post-lg-feature.jpg" alt="blog-pandemic-summer-post-lg-feature.jpg" class="wf-Image-Left" style="margin:5px;width:274px;height:117px;" />Two Summer Programs Inch Towards Normal as Covid Subsides</a> Summer programs could be a key to addressing lost instructional and extracurricular time from COVID-19, and summer program leaders can learn a lot from the past two summers. Read about how two programs in New York and New Jersey have adapted to help young people through the pandemic, and how they’ve been preparing for this unpredictable summer. <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/getting-to-work-on-summer-learning-2nd-ed.aspx"><img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/resources-to-help-guide-your-summer-learning-program/Getting-to-Work-on-Summer-Learning-2nd-ed-a.jpg" alt="Getting-to-Work-on-Summer-Learning-2nd-ed-a.jpg" class="wf-Image-Left" style="margin:5px;width:144px;height:206px;" />Getting to Work on Summer Learning: Recommended Practices for Success, 2nd ed.</a> This report addresses questions about how to implement a high-quality summer learning program and offers evidence-based recommendations on such topics as timing, hiring and training, and how to recruit students. It also discusses the costs associated with offering a voluntary summer program and provides suggestions for lowering them, such as working with community-based organizations and consolidating program sites into as few buildings as possible. <a href="/knowledge-center/summer-learning/toolkit/pages/default.aspx"><img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/resources-to-help-guide-your-summer-learning-program/blog-summer-learning-toolkit.jpg" alt="blog-summer-learning-toolkit.jpg" class="wf-Image-Left" style="margin:5px;width:180px;height:110px;" />Summer Learning Toolkit</a> One of our most popular resources, the Summer Learning Toolkit consists of more than 50, evidence-based tools and resources drawn from the work of five urban school districts and their partners, and aligned with research from RAND. It might be a bit late to start planning this year, but it’s never too early to start the pre-planning for next summer!

Jenna Doleh

2022-07-13T04:00:00Z

From research reports and our popular hands-on toolkit to interviews with program staff and parents, these materials can help you plan a high-quality summer program.

7/13/2022 1:00:21 PM

The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / Resources to Help Guide Your Summer Learning Program From research reports and case studies to our popular hands-on toolkit

854

https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx

html

False

aspx

Wallace Blog Search Results

Tag Cloud

Tweets

Search Entire Site

Search Our Knowledge Center