Jeff Cole is the associate vice president of school-community partnerships for the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation and Network Lead for the Nebraska Community Learning Center Network.
As a first time participant in the Afterschool for All Challenge, I really didn’t know what to expect as we were filing into the Russell Senate Office Building. Having nominated Kristin Williams, Director of Community Initiatives at Omaha’s Sherwood Foundation, as Nebraska’s Afterschool Champion (a MUCH deserved recognition for all her work promoting afterschool programs in high poverty schools in Omaha and across the state), I knew state level advocates would be recognized for their work. I didn’t realize that a bipartisan group of senators and representatives would be joined by other national advocates and young people from nearby programs at the “Breakfast of Champions” to make such a strong case for why afterschool programs are so important for our nation’s future before heading to meetings on Capitol Hill.
I was especially hearted by Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) comments in support of S. 326, which strengthens the crucial federal 21st CCLC grant program, highlighting how important afterschool programs are for residents of her largely rural state. I was honored to have the opportunity to chat with and share my enthusiasm for rural afterschool programs with Sen. Murkowski as she was leaving the ornate and historic Kennedy Caucus Room.
I carried this enthusiasm for the importance of rural afterschool programs over into the meetings that I had with 4 of Nebraska’s 5 Congressional delegations after the “Breakfast of Champions.” Retiring Sen. Mike Johanns met with our group and reflected on his understanding of the importance of afterschool programs that he gained while serving as Nebraska’s governor.
We had similar meaningful discussions about the importance of afterschool and summer programs with Congressional staff in all of our visits. During these talks we emphasized the importance of the 21st CCLC grant program for facilitating the strong school-community partnerships that are at the heart of Nebraska’s afterschool programs, stressing how this proven, effective federal investment is multiplied many times over through meaningful collaborations in communities across our state.
We left Washington feeling good about our discussions, but uncertain what impact these conversations might have. This uncertainty dissipated the next week when we received a follow up call from the staff of newly-elected Sen. Deb Fischer’s Omaha office. Following our meeting in D.C., Sen. Fischer’s chief of staff contacted their local office to schedule a site visit in order to get a first-hand perspective on this important work in Nebraska.
We contacted the Collective for Youth, an intermediary facilitating out-of-school-time (OST) programs in the Omaha Metro Area, to arrange a tour of Marrs Middle School’s afterschool program, a 21st CCLC collaboration administered by the local nonprofit Completely Kids that has a well-regarded STEM program. Unsurprisingly the site visit was a big success, with the senator’s staff gaining a first-hand experience of the important role that afterschool programs play in the lives of youth in high poverty schools and the vital role of 21st CCLC grants in facilitating this school-community partnership that is leveraging local investments and supporting thousands of working families in our state.
With these positive experiences now under my belt, first in Washington and then back home in Nebraska, the Afterschool for All Challenge will definitely be an activity central to my work advocating for more high quality afterschool programs.
On the heels of the Afterschool for All Challenge, there have been a number of activities in Washington as we move into the middle of February. From the State of the Union earlier this week to a day of action on sequestration today, the impact on education in general and afterschool and summer learning programs in particular are highlighted below:
State of the Union Address
On Tuesday the president addressed a joint session of Congress to deliver his fifth State of the Union address. While the speech covered a range of topics, education was a key focus, including an emphasis on improving high school, STEM education and early education—including a proposal for high-quality preschool for every child and a significant investment in a new Early Head Start-Child Care partnership. While the details of the proposal continue to be fleshed out, it will be important to ensure that the new emphasis on early learners does not come at the expense of the 600,000 school-age children served through the Child Care Development Fund. Additionally the STEM and high school proposals offer potential opportunities for afterschool and summer learning programs and school-community partnerships. Among the proposals are:
Supporting all 50 states to provide access to preschool for all low- and moderate-income children: The president is proposing to work with Congress to provide all low- and moderate-income 4-year-old children with high-quality preschool—while also expanding these programs to reach hundreds of thousands of additional middle class children—and incentivizing full-day kindergarten policies, so that all children enter kindergarten prepared for academic success.
Creating a Master Teacher Corps of exemplary educators in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM): President Obama is calling on Congress to commit new resources to create a STEM Master Teacher Corps, enlisting 10,000 of America’s best and brightest science and math teachers to improve STEM education across America’s schools.
Modernizing America’s high schools for real-world learning: The president is announcing a new competition to kick-start a redesign of high schools to emphasize real-world learning. The president’s plan will invest in redesigning high school to focus on providing challenging, relevant experiences as well as reward schools that develop new partnerships with colleges and employers and that create classes that focus on technology, science, engineering and other 21st century skills.
Less than 15 Days until Sequestration Feb. 14 has been declared a day of action on the sequester by a coalition of 3,200 organizations, including the Afterschool Alliance, who are concerned about the impact of the 5 percent across-the-board funding cut on children and communities nationwide. A number of hearings this week, including one by the Senate Appropriations Committee, addressed the impact of the sequester. Education Sec. Duncan testified in front of the Appropriations Committee citing a cut to Title I education spending of $725 million, which is estimated to eliminate support to 2,700 schools and 1.2 million students. This week the House Appropriations Committee Democrats also issued a Report on Sequestration that included the following findings:
Approximately 30,000 low-income children of working parents would lose child care assistance through the Child Care and Development Block Grant and many more would experience a reduction in services.
Title I Grants to school districts would see a cut in excess of $750 million, denying funding to well over 2,500 schools serving more than 1 million disadvantaged students. These funds pay for teachers, tutors and afterschool programs. Sequestration would mean job losses for more than 10,500 teachers and aides.
The sequester will take effect on March 1 if Congress does not act. For the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative, it is now estimated that about 80,000 young people would lose afterschool and summer learning supports beginning with the 2013-2014 school year if sequestration occurs. Friends of afterschool are urged to contact Congress in support of federal afterschool program funding.
On Feb. 7, 2013, hundreds of you across the country stepped up to the challenge and reached out to your elected officials to let them know that you support afterschool for all:
Arkansas: The Arkansas Out of School Network worked with allied organization Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families to take the Afterschool for All Challenge to the state capitol in Little Rock on February 7. Child advocates from across the state met at the Arkansas State Capitol to participate in the legislative process, meet with local legislators, attend legislative committee meetings, and observe lawmakers voting on bills that affect the lives of children and their families.
In conjunction with Kids Count Day, Arkansas Senate Bill 249 was introduced to provide $5 million to fund the pilot phase of the Positive Youth Development Act.
Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe stopped by Kids Count Day to lead pre-k children in singing Itsy Bitsy Spider. Watch:
Pittsburgh: Director Mila Yochum of Allegheny Partners for Out of School Time (APOST) had several local advocates join her at a series of meetings at the local offices of Rep. Mike Doyle and Sens. Pat Toomey and Pat Casey.
More than 200 state afterschool leaders and experts backed up your outreach with face-to-face meetings on Capitol Hill with senators and representatives to echo your message that afterschool works to keep kids safe, inspire learning and help working families.
More than 200 advocates for quality afterschool and summer learning programs packed into the majestic Kennedy Caucus Room in the Russell Senate Office Building on February 7 for the "Breakfast of Champions." The event honored a record 18 state afterschool champions, National Afterschool Champion John Galvin, assistant principal of I.S. 318 in Brooklyn, NY, (and co-star of the award winning afterschool chess documentary Brooklyn Castle), and four senators who are champions of afterschool programs. John Galvin was recognized for his dedication to his students and the afterschool chess program, which has helped build a culture of success at the school. Galvin mounted a community-wide campaign to fight budget cuts that threatened the chess program.
The "Breakfast of Champions" was part of the 13th annual Afterschool for All Challenge, which brought together hundreds of educators, parents, afterschool leaders and advocates from around the country for a series of events and meetings with Members of Congress. Sens. Mark Begich (AK), Barbara Boxer (CA), Lisa Murkowski (AK) and Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) addressed the enthusiastic crowd and were honored for their support of afterschool programs. Following the Breakfast, advocates met with more than 200 House and Senate offices asking for support for afterschool and summer learning programs that face a 5 percent funding cut next month due to sequestration; and supporting the soon to be introduced Afterschool for America’s Children Act.
The State Champions honored at the Afterschool for All Challenge were:
Arkansas: Tammie Cloyes, 21st CCLC Program Coordinator, Department of Education
California: Michael Funk, Director of the After School Division, Department of Education
Florida: Modesto Abety-Gutierrez, President and CEO, The Children’s Trust
Georgia: N. Jean Walker Ph.D., Vice President of Education, United Way of Greater Atlanta
Iowa: Dave Welter, Principal, Holmes Junior High School
Indiana: Willis Bright, Former Director of Youth Programs, Lilly Endowment
Kansas: Laura Kaiser, Family Engagement Chair, Kansas Parent Teacher Association
Massachusetts: The Honorable Thomas McGee, Massachusetts State Senate
North Carolina: Carr Thompson, Senior Program Officer, Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Nebraska: Kristin Williams, Director of Community Initiatives, The Sherwood Foundation
New Jersey: The Honorable Connie Wagner, New Jersey General Assembly
New Mexico: Laurie Mueller, Former 21st CCLC State Coordinator, Department of Education
Oklahoma: General Ben Robinson USAF (Ret.), President, Sentry One LLC
Pennsylvania: Leslie Roesler, Associate Director, Pennsylvania Key – Berks County Intermediate Unit
Rhode Island: The Honorable Frank Ferri, Rhode Island House of Representatives
Texas: Jennifer Esterline, Independent Nonprofit Consultant
Virginia: Kathryn Johnson, Executive Director, Alternatives, Inc.
West Virginia: Gayle Manchin, Vice President, State Board of Education.
Hundreds more afterschool advocates took action in their own communities as well—meeting with Members of Congress or hosting them at their afterschool programs. There's still time to take action.
The 2013 Afterschool for All Challenge is generously sponsored by: United States Tennis Association, United States Chess Federation, the NAMM Foundation, Cable in the Classroom and the National AfterSchool Association. Additional generous support is provided by Torani Syrups, the Noyce Foundation and the C.S. Mott Foundation.
Funny enough, failure may be a part of the answer. Not surprisingly though, a strong and supportive parent or adult mentor and what Paul Tough likes to call “character” are also key pieces to answering this age-old question asked by everyone from parents to educators to social scientists to policy makers.
Tough, New York Times best-selling author of How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character spoke at the opening plenary session of the National Network of Statewide Afterschool Networks annual conference yesterday. He began his speech with the idea that we are using the wrong strategies to help kids in our schools succeed and the conventional wisdom that has governed our thinking about education and success is misguided. As a nation, we have been obsessed with “cognitive hypothesis”—the belief that IQ scores alone measures what matters in determining success.
What his research uncovered was that an individual’s IQ and academic test scores weren’t the most significant factors in their life trajectory. What mattered more was the amount of trauma a child did or did not experience growing up—that the level of trauma one experienced in childhood had a direct linear correlation to negative adult outcomes. This means that the higher the trauma and stress levels a child experiences, the worse the outcomes would be in adulthood, such as higher levels of addiction and a higher likelihood of chronic illness. And the converse also held true, the lower the level of trauma, the healthier and better off the individual.
Tough then moved on to research supporting the notion that if we can improve a child’s environment, if we can combat the toxic stress that builds up in their system, and if we can reach them in early childhood and in their adolescence when they can be the most malleable, we can dramatically increase their prospects for success.
How do we do this? We strengthen and build on what economists refer to as “noncognitive” skills, the medical community refers to as “executive functions” and what Tough likes to call “character.” The list of seven strengths that was developed to quantify character include:
Grit
Self-control
Zest
Social intelligence
Gratitude
Optimism
Curiosity
Circling back to the opening paragraph, the word “failure” isn’t quite accurate. He gave a fantastic analogy of running on a treadmill versus climbing a mountain. Both are forms of exercise, but when you get on a treadmill, you know the level you’re going to program into the machine and you know that you will be able to finish your run. On the other hand, when you climb a mountain, there’s a possibility that you are going to fail and that you won’t make it to the top. In other words, in one instance you’re going through the motions but you’re not pushing yourself to the next level. In the latter instance, you may not succeed, but by facing adversity, you are practicing how to handle failure and the bumps in the road everyone experiences in life.
It’s this adversity that Tough believes teaches kids how to manage failure and how to develop character. However, he refers to the “adversity gap”—where if there’s too much adversity, the youth need to have protection and support to face the challenges in front of them, but if there isn’t enough adversity, youth need more exposure to challenges and opportunities to fail. Visiting schools across the country, he found that more often than not, kids living in high poverty areas were falling behind academically and were let fail too often. In lower income schools, a number of students faced high stress and other negative factors outside of school that directly affected their school performance, their behavior and their overall well-being. At the other end of the spectrum were affluent schools, where most students were overachievers and highly competitive and where students were protected from failure by their school, their parents and the overall culture of their environment. These students were missing out on the opportunity to develop grit.
Tough makes the argument that we as a society need to learn how to model failure for children and show them that falling down is not the worst thing in the world. He also believes that it’s the relationship that children develop between their parents, their teachers, their mentors and other supportive adults that is the most important factor in guiding kids toward success.
Tough closed his speech with the hope that his research makes people want to help more, to want a better system where all kids are given the opportunity to succeed, and to want to work on policies and with organizations to make all of this happen. All in all, it was a great way to start off a week that will culminate in our Afterschool for All Challenge—letting Congress know how important afterschool programs are for our kids, families and communities.
This morning I was lucky enough to be a part of the 500-person crowd at the National Press Club to celebrate the release of Expanding Minds and Opportunities: Leveraging the Power of Afterschool and Summer Learning for Student Success. The impressive compendium includes studies, reports and commentaries by more than 100 authors and is edited by Terry Peterson, Afterschool Alliance’s board chair and director of the Afterschool and Community Learning Resource Network.
Bill White, president and CEO of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation kicked off the release with a rousing speech about the impact of afterschool and summer learning programs. He shared with the audience his belief that if you can educate, enrich and mentor youth in the afterschool and summer hours, they have a significantly better chance of having positive life outcomes. His remarks earned him a standing ovation from the crowd.
He then introduced the man of the hour, Terry, who took the stage and spoke about afterschool programs across the country—from New York to Florida to Texas—that were creating new and exciting ways for children to learn, such as through botany, the arts, robotics and fitness.
Terry stressed that because kids spend between 75 and 80 percent of their time outside of school, it is up to afterschool and summer learning programs to help students “catch up and keep up.” If afterschool and summer learning programs continue their work to create a spark of excitement for children to learn, partner with local schools, build on their community partners and engage families, there is a truly great opportunity to make expansions in the area of out-of-school time.
To close, Terry rallied the crowd of educators, researchers, policy makers and advocates with a call to action, stating that the evidence is in and the time is now to help spread this dream of quality afterschool for all.
Next up was the event’s moderator, Jim Kohlmoos, executive director of the National Association of State Boards of Education. Jim keyed in on the compendium’s use of the word “leveraging,” discussing the need to leverage opportunities, resources and knowledge. In order to work to close the opportunity gap in America, we need to promote student success by creating enrichment activities during the hours out of school that complement and supplement the school day, but that “don’t do more of the same.”
The panel was a stellar representation of policy, research, school and community groups:
Mayor Christopher Colemen, City of St. Paul, MN
Gail Connelly, Executive Director, National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP)
Ayeola Fortune, Director, Education Team, Untied Way Worldwide
Deborah Lowe Vandell, Founding Dean, School of Education, University of California, Irvine
Each panelist spoke to a different facet of the power of afterschool and summer learning programs, but each person highlighted the significant benefits these programs have on children and the need to work together to make certain the youth of our country are given the opportunity to succeed. Afterschool programs offer an environment that is flexible and doesn’t mirror the school day, allowing students to explore their interests and become more engaged in learning. Kids from low-income households are often the ones who benefit most from these programs, and if we want to see a narrowing of the achievement gap, investment in high-quality afterschool and summer learning programs is a necessity.
Mayor Coleman discussed his work as a public defender in the area of juvenile justice. Through his work, he saw it was a child’s environment that led them into trouble. It was then he saw that all roads in economic development lead back to education, and now he views afterschool and summer learning programs as his city’s crime fighting strategy, housing strategy and economic growth strategy.
Deborah from UC Irvine spoke next about the importance of research (one of her more recent studies, a 2007 analysis of 45 afterschool programs, is a key piece of research linking regular participation in afterschool programs to significant gains in test scores and reductions in behavior problems) and the sizable body of research currently available on afterschool field. The three takeaways from her talking points were:
Afterschool program quality—specifically supportive relations with adults and staff, positive relationships between students and sustained engagement in activities kids care about—matters.
Dosage, or the amount of time a child participates in an afterschool program, matters.
21st century skills, such as persistence and team work, are linked to participation in high-quality out-of-school time programs.
Gail, from NAESP, and Ayeola, from United Way Worldwide, each spoke about the importance of partnerships and the need to work together, implement together and share responsibility. Gail shared that principals are the gateway into the schools and by working together, afterschool programs and schools can be a cohesive and coherent approach to leveraging student potential and creating more opportunities. Ayeola offered the metaphor of the United Way Worldwide pushing to be the glue in communities. She shared that their organization is working to increase the graduation rate and make certain that a diploma means something to graduates. They take a holistic view of what a child needs to succeed—starting from birth and going through to age 21.
The Afterschool Alliance’s own Executive Director Jodi Grant was one of the compendium’s 14 contributing authors who gave a “shout out” during the event, speaking about the importance of building partnerships with the business community.
There were a number of great questions during the Q&A period, but perhaps the most relevant was the last question of the day asked by Jean Walker, vice president of education at the United Way of Greater Atlanta. Dr. Walker asked how we make sure that this compendium, filled with excellent research and makes a convincing case for afterschool and summer learning programs, doesn’t end up on our shelf with the other books that we meant to read or are planning to read at some point in the future? I think she summed it up best when she said, “So what, now what?”
The answer to her question is to leverage networks and share the compendium as a resource, reach out and involve more groups in the afterschool and summer learning cause and mobilize efforts supporting afterschool in an organized and cohesive way. Lastly, one concrete and immediate way to put the compendium’s base of knowledge to use is to join the Afterschool Alliance and participate in the Afterschool for All Challenge this Thursday, Feb. 7.
Streamed live from the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., this live webcast will unveil a groundbreaking new compendium,Expanding Minds and Opportunities: Leveraging the Power of Afterschool and Summer Learning for Student Success.
Edited by our very own Board Chairman Terry K. Peterson, Ph.D., this seminal work features studies, reports and commentaries by more than 100 thought leaders including elected officials, educators, researchers, advocates and other prominent authors.
Join us for the live webcast at 9 a.m. EST as we highlight the bold and persuasive evidence from the field that engaging opportunities—drawing from robust partnerships—yield positive outcomes for students and for community and family engagement in learning. This webcast will be a great opportunity to help you prepare to take the Afterschool for All Challenge at home and make the case for afterschool to your Members of Congress.
Or, if you're going to be in D.C. on Feb. 5, we'd love to have you join us in person!
Gail Connelly, National Association of Elementary School Principals
Delia Pompa, National Council of La Raza
Ayeola Fortune, United Way Worldwide
Deborah Lowe Vandell, University of California, Irvine
Jim Kohlmoos. National Association of State Boards of Education
Help spread the word!
Post on Facebook:
Join the @Expanded Learning and Afterschool Project, in partnership with the C.S. Mott Foundation, as they unveil a groundbreaking new compendium, Expanding Minds and Opportunities: Leveraging the Power of Afterschool and Summer Learning for Student Success.
Edited by Terry K. Peterson this book features studies, reports and commentaries by more than 100 thought leaders in the afterschool field.
The unveiling will be streamed live from the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on February 5, 2013 at 9am EST. Learn more and register today: http://www.expandinglearning.org/expandingminds
Tweet:
Join the launch of Terry Peterson’s new #Afterschool compendium: http://bit.ly/UiJKbn
The new #afterschool compendium, Expanding Minds, has articles from @LincolnChafee & @TomTorlakson, see the launch: http://bit.ly/UiJKbn
Next week on Feb. 7, the Afterschool for All Challenge is an opportunity to raise your voice right in your own community to support the quality afterschool and summer learning programs that inspire young people to learn, support working families and keep children safe. Over the last 11 years several thousand parents, educators, young people and afterschool champions have come to Washington, D.C., and Capitol Hill to make the case that afterschool, before school and summer learning programs are critical to the success of young people and a lifeline for parents.
This year we are changing it up and not asking advocates to travel to Washington, D.C., for the Afterschool for All Challenge. Because budgets are tight and times are uncertain at afterschool programs we are instead calling on friends of afterschool programs to call, meet in home district offices and email Congress on Afterschool for All Challenge day: Feb. 7, 2013. Here in Washington, we will be backing up your outreach at home through face-to-face meetings with Congress, as we team up with over 40 state teams who will be in Washington for the conference of the National Network of Statewide Afterschool Networks.
The results of the last 11 years of afterschool advocacy are clear: federal support for afterschool and summer learning through the 21st CCLC has grown—from being able to help 40,000 students access support in 1998 to helping more than 1 million young people last year. We know afterschool works and champions of afterschool are excellent at making the case:
The Promising Afterschool Programs Study found that regular participation in high-quality afterschool programs is linked to significant gains in standardized test scores and work habits. (University of California, Irvine, 2007)
A meta analysis of 68 afterschool studies concluded that high quality afterschool programs can lead to improved attendance, behavior and coursework. Students participating in a high quality afterschool program went to school more, behaved better, received better grades and did better on tests compared to non-participating students. (Durlak, Weissberg & Pachan, 2010)
The Promising Afterschool Programs Study found that students reported improved social and behavioral outcomes: elementary students reported reductions in aggressive behavior toward other students and skipping school; middle school students reported reduced use of drugs and alcohol, compared to their routinely unsupervised peers. (Policy Studies Associates, Inc., 2007)
Register online today to take the Afterschool for All Challenge in your own community. Set up your meetings and join us in calling on Congress to commit to afterschool:
If sequestration goes into effect on March 2 approximately 100,000 young people could lose access to quality afterschool and summer learning programs.
Discretionary programs have already contributed $1.5 trillion in spending cuts from the Fiscal Year 2011 continuing resolution, the bipartisan Budget Control Act of 2011 and the bipartisan American Taxpayer Relief Act.
Now is the time to invest in our young people through programs like 21st CCLC so they are prepared to lead the nation in the future.
2. Co-sponsor reintroduction of the bipartisan Afterschool for America's Children Act.
The bill reauthorizes the 21st CCLC program and supports quality afterschool, before-school and summer learning programs that enhance and complement the school day through engaging, hands-on, experiential learning activities.
Builds upon strong partnerships between schools and community- and faith-based organizations through shared data and resources.
Promotes professional development and training of afterschool program staff.
3. Join the Afterschool Caucus.
Invite members of Congress to join more than 100 of their peers in serving on the House and Senate Afterschool Caucuses. Membership on the Caucus signifies a commitment to afterschool, before-school and summer learning program opportunities for young people.
Next week on Feb. 7, the Afterschool for All Challenge is an opportunity to raise your voice right in your own community to support the quality afterschool and summer learning programs that inspire young people to learn, support working families and keep children safe. Over the last 11 years several thousand parents, educators, young people and afterschool champions have come to Washington, D.C., and Capitol Hill to make the case that afterschool, before school and summer learning programs are critical to the success of young people and a lifeline for parents.
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