Wednesday, April 30, 2008

New Grants Database on Corporate Donations Announced

The NonProfit Times and NOZASEARCH recently unveiled a searchable database of more than 4,000 $1 million-plus corporate donations. The free service requires no registration and individuals can search for specific businesses or create an instant list by location or cause.

Listing courtesy of the Afterschool Alliance.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Hello All, I just read Deb McLaughlin's April 14 post about structured reading programs, especially for readers who are behind in skills. I wanted to add another interesting idea from the magazine Educational Leadership written in last fall's October 07 issue on providing interesting books with no timeable as a way to get disinterested readers to "break through". Research says there is overwhelming evidence that free voluntary reading of interesting books develops literacy. This means no book reports, no comprehension questions, and the freedom to put down and pick up the book whenever one chooses. There are many interesting books for low readers too.There is also evidence that children who get involved in free reading often end up picking what experts would call "good books". (That is heartening!) Based on this article among many and much other brain-based research on reader development, the belief that "once a poor reader always a poor reader" is just not true.

Penny Cuninggim

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Rural Communities Across the United States Need Additional Learning Opportunities

The Center for American Progress issued a new report this month - Additional Learning Opportunities in Rural Areas. Written by Roy Forbes, this report focuses on the needs, challenges and opportunities facing young people in rural America. Forbes' research revealed that students who live in rural areas are more at risk of dropping out of high school and perform less well on academic tests.

The natural inclination to expand learning opportunities, an effort being implemented in urban and suburban communities, is more challenging in rural communities due to lack of resources among other factors.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Structured Reading Programs After School Can Have an Impact if Implemented Properly

A study recently released by Aridce Hartry, Robert Fitzgerald, and Kristie Porter profiled the opportunities and challenges in providing structured afterschool reading programs for fourth, fifth and sixth graders. Their work focused on this group of students who were low-performing and structured reading programs after school was thought to be an effective strategy to help increase their literacy skills. Not surprisingly, the impact of this strategy was linked to how effectively it was being implemented.

Read their full article on-line courtesy of Red Orbit that was posted on Sunday, April 13, 2008.

The Afterschool Investments Project Provides New Resources

The Afterschool Investments Project is funded by the Child Care and Development Fund through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and provides a series of tools and information to help states assess their school age child care efforts.

State Child Care Subsidy Administration Policies Audio Conference
On January 31, 2008, the Afterschool Investments project held an audio conference for State and Regional Office staff on subsidy administration policies for school-age care, with a focus on state strategies for facilitating transitions between the regular school year and school breaks. This event was based on a new strategy brief released by Afterschool Investments. Please click here for more information about this event.

Using Quality Rating Systems to Promote Quality in Afterschool Programs
Executive Summary: Most tiered quality ratings systems were designed with early care providers in mind, but are readily adaptable to providers that care for school-age children. For those providers who only serve school-age children, adapting the ratings systems is more challenging. This brief outlines issues in adapting tiered quality ratings for those caring for school-age children; offers suggestions for adaptations; and provides examples of innovative solutions that states are proposing.

School-Age Children in Regulated Family Child Care Settings
This publication explores the role of licensed family child care providers in caring for school-age children. It outlines steps that states can take to better support these providers in serving school-age or mixed-age groups and addresses information gaps in the field where further research is needed.

Building Professional Development Systems for the Afterschool Field
Executive Summary: This publication provides a snapshot of state and local approaches to building professional development systems for school-age care professionals, highlighting the shared challenges these systems face and the common components of sustainable professional development systems.

State Child Care Subsidy Administration Policies for School-Age Care
This strategy brief examines subsidy administration policies and practices with regard to how they promote access to care for school-age children. It explores how states establish provider reimbursement rates for school-age care, determine co-payments for families with children in school, and develop strategies to facilitate the transitions between part-time care during the school year and full-time care during school and summer breaks.

State Afterschool Profiles
These annually updated profiles provide a snapshot of the “state of afterschool" in every state as well as an opportunity to compare afterschool activities across the country. Profiles highlight key data and descriptions of the afterschool landscape, which include a range of out-of-school time programming that can occur before and after school, on weekends, and during summer months. They are designed to serve as a resource for policymakers, administrators, and providers. Please click here for updated profiles for all fifty states and the District of Columbia.

Federal Resources for Afterschool Providers
This resource list offers a sample of information available on the Afterschool.gov website, including tips on starting and operating an afterschool program, accessing resources for program funding and financing, delivering fun and innovative curriculum and activities, and addressing issues facing America's youth.

Source: The Afterschool Investments Project website

WGBH Wins Prestigious Award for Work on Afterschool Training Toolkit

January 18, 2008

Partner WGBH Wins CINE Award for Toolkit Videos

WGBH Educational Foundation, one of the seven partners in the National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning that is supported by the US Department of Education 21st Century Learning Centers program, has won a highly acclaimed CINE Golden Eagle Award for video production on the Afterschool Training Toolkit.

The Golden Eagle Awards recognize excellence in documentary and informational film and video production. Recipients of CINE Golden Eagles include Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, John Lasseter, Barbara Kopple, Charles Guggenheim, Ken Burns, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Robert Zemeckis, Mike Nichols, Robert Altman, George Lucas, Spike Lee, Mel Brooks and many others distinguished for their work with film and video.

The three winning videos were "Rehearsing The Tempest," "Integrating Science Across the Curriculum," and "Investigating Science Through Inquiry." Cynthia McKeown, video producer at WGBH, worked with associate producer Jayne Sportelli, editors Karen Silverstein and Mary-Kate Shea, and executive producer Amy Tonkonogy worked to create all the videos for the site.

McKeown says, "It is an honor to be recognized by CINE with a Golden Eagle Award, and it is also very gratifying to know that the Partnership's important work in promoting promising practices in afterschool is being honored as well."

CINE’s Golden Eagle Film and Video Awards event has been held annually since 1957. Originally founded to present a realistic view of the U.S. by showcasing the best American documentary films to overseas audiences, CINE’s mission has broadened to include recognizing and fostering overall excellence in film and video production, especially among new and emerging talent.

From: National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning

Friday, April 11, 2008

A question for all of you

Hello, 21st Century Community Learning Center peeps,

I have met many of you but for those I haven't yet had the pleasure of meeting in real life, let me virtually introduce myself. I am a consultant and I work mostly with government agencies, nonprofits and philanthropic organizations, or "mission-driven" organizations, as I like to call them.

Many of my clients are now talking about how they can help (through their programs, grants or technical assistance) create multiple pathways to higher learning. These programs, grants and TA are generally their response to a rather upsetting question:

How the heck are we going to cope with the reality that a) so many kids don't graduate from high school and b) of those that do, a very small percentage enter college, and c) even among those who enter college, the completion rates are just too low?

What do these things mean in a society which has an economic dependence on a trained, highly skilled, i.e. well-educated workforce?

My question to you (finally, you might rightfully be thinking!) is this: while community colleges, K-12 systems, adult basic education systems are wrestling with these stats, these projections and these problems, what is the role of OST in helping to design new pathways and help to create new educational offerings that might help some of those who are currently left behind?

I'm grateful for your insights, observations and thoughts, by email (Liz@strategymatters.org) or through the comments here.

Best to all,
Liz

Friday, April 4, 2008

NIOST Publishes 2008 Fact Sheet

The National Institute on Out -of-School Time (NIOST) has published their 2008 Fact Sheet called Making the Case: A 2008 Fact Sheet on Children and Youth In Out-of-School Time. This fact sheet is chock full of information about the impact of afterschool and out-of-school time programs upon the lives of children and youth, the continuing need for programs, characteristics of the workforce among other key themes.

This easy to read fact sheet can be a valuable tool when you are preparing your presentations, grants, and other reports.

Addressing Loss of Learning Over the Summer

Dr. Ruth Peters, a contributor to MSNBC, talks about the best ways for parents to prevent the loss of learning for their children over the summer months. Research indicates that students can lose up to two months of knowledge over the summer and that loss is even greater for low-income students. Click here for the article and video about this important topic.

Harvard Family Research Project Publishes New Issue Brief

A new issue brief from the Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) highlights ten years of research demonstrating the value of afterschool programs, and poses a series of forward-looking questions for program providers.

"After School Programs in the 21st Century: Their Potential and What It Takes to Achieve It," by Priscilla M.D. Little, Christopher Wimer and Heather B. Weiss is the tenth in HFRP's series of issue briefs covering a variety of topics related to afterschool research and evaluations. It highlights key research on afterschool programs' impact on academic success; social and emotional development; drug, alcohol and sex prevention; and health and wellness.

The brief identifies key building blocks for program success, including quality programming, sustained participation, partnerships with schools and community organizations, family participation and more. It concludes by framing a series of questions for the afterschool community. Among them: how to ensure that effective afterschool practices are broadly implemented, and how programs can work with schools and community partners to "ensure a complementary array of learning and developmental supports."

The brief is part of HFRP's "Issues and Opportunities in Out-of-School Time Evaluation" series.

Reprinted from the Afterschool Alliance.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Coalition for Community Schools Holds its National Forum on April 30 - May 2

The Coalition for Community Schools will host its National Forum 2008 in Portland, Oregon. The theme is "Community Schools for All." Participants will learn to mobilize local leadership as champions for community schools system-wide; increase their capacity to advocate with national, state and local policy makers; plan and organize at the school and community levels; utilize research data and information; apply best practices; and more. For information, visit the Community Schools website.

Listing courtesy of the Afterschool Alliance.

The Center for Summer Learning Holds Their National Conference on April 17-18

The Center for Summer Learning will host its National Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico from April 17-18. Attendees will hear about the latest research, discuss effective program management strategies, learn to influence public policy, advocate for high-quality summer learning programs, network with like-minded colleagues, and more. For information, visit the Center for Summer Learning.

Listing courtesy of the Afterschool Alliance.

Afterschool and Family Involvement

Last month, the Afterschool Alliance issued a new Issue Brief, Afterschool: Supporting Family Involvement in Schools that talks about the natural link afterschool programs provides to parents. Research indicates that parental involvement makes a real difference in how their children perform in school. Check it out!

New England 21st CCLC Conference Focuses on Leadership

The third annual New England 21st CCLC conference was held in Cambridge last week from March 25 to March 26. Attended by over 300 people, the conference focused on leadership and sustainability - a popular theme in Massachusetts for the past year or so.
Conference attendees were treated to a range of interactive workshops and lectures including learning more about our individual leadership styles using the Gregroc methods.

Congratulations to all the conference organizers for a job well done!

Playground games boost self control

Leading research by Dr. Adele Diamond, reveals that playground games helps children gain skills such as "executive control" which helps them to think twice before they make a decision. Executive control also helps young people make conscious and deliberate choices and improve working memory. Working memory is what is needed when solving math problems for example. "You need these kinds of skills in all facets of your life," said Adele Diamond, co-author of the study that appeared last November in the journal Science. This research shows that executive control are predictors of future success in school and IQ tests. Researchers claim that these kinds of skills can be taught like academic skills and may be a tool to help teachers work with children who may be considered hyperactive.