The bill requires states to devote more of their funding to quality initiatives, such as training, professional development and professional advancement of the child care workforce.  The bill ensures that CCDBG providers meet certain health and safety requirements related to: prevention and control of infectious diseases, first aid and CPR, child abuse prevention, administration of medication, prevention of and response to emergencies due to food allergies, prevention of sudden infant death syndrome and shaken baby syndrome, building and physical premises safety, and emergency response planning.  The legislation gives families more stability in the CCDBG program and works to improve early childhood care by requiring states to focus on infant and toddler quality initiatives.  Finally, the bill requires mandatory background checks for child care providers in the CCDBG program.  The text of the legislation can be accessed here.

Separate from the reauthorization bill, last month the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the Department of Health and Human Services announced proposed regulations for CCDF.  Join Shannon Rudisill, director of the ACF's Office of Child Care, on June 14 at 1 p.m. EDT for a webinar where she will present on the new rule proposal, including its potential impact on afterschool and school-age programs and providers.

The report calls on society to take on the role of engaging youth, and it’s both heartening and gratifying to see that the report’s authors recognize the important role out-of-school-time programs play, stating “Non-school learning settings demonstrate how powerful the principles of learning can be.”  Afterschool programs are creative and flexible—combining learning and fun to provide young people with a learning environment that embodies the principles of effective learning and is attuned to their interests; allows them to immerse themselves in a subject; creates personal connections between students, adults, the community and the work at hand; respects and listens to youth voice; and offers insightful and continuous feedback.  

The 10 principles of effective learning for older youth are:

1. Providing time for in-depth work opportunities, where high schoolers can immerse themselves in a subject—practicing new tasks and developing new skills and knowledge—on their path toward mastery of a discipline. 
2. Working and learning in a community of practice, where youth can participate and learn in a collaborative environment alongside peers and mentors.
3. Challenging young people’s critical thinking skills, but also structuring learning to allow them to develop understanding gradually.
4. Discovering, cultivating and growing young people’s motivation, which drives greater and deeper learning.
5.  Supporting youth agency, recognizing and encouraging their capabilities and development, as well as understanding their limitations.
6. Creating a learning experience that is meaningful to young people, linking projects to issues that are not only relevant to youth, but show youth how the activity is relevant to their life.   
7. Recognizing that emotion plays a role in learning, having the ability to enhance the learning experience and drive of youth.
8. Using timely, specific and continuous assessment to help young people develop their skills and mastery of a subject, as well as understand and familiarize them with the benefits that result from an iterative process.
9. Ensuring diverse learning experiences for youth that will expose them to the wide range of issues, fields, roles and opportunities available. 
10. Providing a strong adult role that youth can trust, who can help mentor and guide youth, help youth work though problems, approach problems through different lenses and reflect on their learning experiences.    

The report concludes, “…[non-school learning settings] must also be viewed as a critical part of the learning ecology for middle adolescents.  It is essential that we recognize, nurture, make accessible, finance, and legitimize the thousands of non-school learning settings for high-school youth that provide conditions for good learning.”  I wholeheartedly agree.  Before-school, afterschool and summer learning programs are a crucial part of making sure youth are best prepared for college, career and life, yet these programs are in danger of losing funding. Learn what you can do to help afterschool programs keep their doors open and meet the needs of the youth and families in their communities.

While New Jersey is clearly making bold moves to improve public education, significant budget cuts have forced school districts to seek ways to do more with less.  Increasingly, school districts are looking at the out-of-school-time hours to meet their goals in a cost-effective way. 

In came the 10 afterschool programs that volunteered to participate in a year of working on this project with us.  They varied greatly: 21^st Century Community Learning Centers, the YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs, and community education and faith-based expanded learning opportunity (ELO) providers all participated. 

Each program was asked to develop a vision and a project that would ultimately help prepare students for the challenges of the Common Core.  We supported their efforts by providing resources, guidance, introductory training and ongoing communication to answer any questions that arose. 

During the 2012-2013 school year, the 10 sites worked on reaching the goals of s3, which were to:

1. Get to know what the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are
2. Determine how the Common Core relates to their program

We wanted the programs to demonstrate linkages between the Common Core and their program activities.  We also hoped that the work they did at their sites would lead to stronger relationships with principals and teachers. 

Ten different projects arose out of the groups that signed up to participate.  They varied from working on professional development for the ELO and school day staff, to developing clubs that specifically addressed a particular grade group’s English/language arts and math standards, such as STEM and chess clubs.  One program used their year of work to educate the students and families about what the expectations will be when the Common Core becomes fully implemented.

NJSACC supported these goals with professional development and prescriptive technical assistance based on each site’s project.  Below is a program snapshot that gives more detail about the work that took place.

South Brunswick Community Ed/Club 678, operated by the Board of Education/Community Education Office, has 80 students participating in the afterschool program and is staffed by a team of eight.  The program is fee-based and receives a small number of grants to support its mission.

The afterschool program’s vision for the s3 team was to work with the administration at two local middle schools, providing afterschool support and resources in the areas where the school could use assistance meeting the CCSS for afterschool program participants.

To do this, the s3 team—made up of the afterschool director, site director and school curriculum specialist—did the following:

• Evaluated existing afterschool activities related to the CCSS
• Identified the potential to enhance the scope of activities that provide greater support for academic success and engagement
• Implemented new clubs and designed lessons with intent to address the CCSS
• Enhanced the existing homework club, and based on collaboration with the school, identified 31 students to participate

Major takeaways after one year of work on the s3 project are:

• Build strong relationships between afterschool and school day staff.  Relationships between afterschool and school day staff need to be strong and communication should flow well and frequently.  Student information should be shared in a way that is appropriate and with the intention to help children succeed.  It is important to establish and build relationships first—ELOs with established school relationships had more success communicating students’ academic needs.
• Professional development is a key factor in success.  Non-certified teaching staff have a greater challenge comprehending the CCSS, but it can be taught. Common Core implementation requires careful analysis and proper training for all involved.
• Trainings can be shared.  The staff working before 3 p.m. and after 3 p.m. need the same quality of professional development and can share the resources on both sides of the bell to help students.   
• Select the right staff.  Programs that choose staff with a strong interest in supporting student learning by connecting fun and engaging activities with academics have more success with students.
• Listen to your students.  Getting students interested in academic related activities was a challenge for programs at first.  Programs learned that students enjoy activities that include social elements, such as book discussions, as well as activities that they select and design themselves.  Giving students input and the opportunity to choose and create activities gets higher participation rates and has better outcomes for activity success.

The Reimagining Education summit was just the start of conversations that are taking place around the country.  A great piece in the Huffington Post by Connie Yowell, director of education grantmaking at the MacArthur Foundation, and Pharrell Williams—singer, rapper, song writer, producer and education advocate—discusses what it’s going to take to create a world where all kids have the opportunity for lifetime success and shares how we can better engage, challenge and motivate youth to become lifelong learners. 

You can also join the conversation at #reimagineed, connect with others interested in connected learning through the National Writing Project’s Educator Innovator, take “A Dive Into Connected Learning” by watching a webinar hosted by Alliance for Educational Excellence, and take part in events and projects through the Summer of Making and Connecting.  Just last week we hosted the first of a three-part webinar series introducing the afterschool field to maker culture as a part of the Summer of Making and Connecting.  Sign up for our newsletter to be one of the first to find out when our next webinar on the maker movement is taking place.

When funding is on the line—for schools and afterschool programs alike—parents are often the most effective advocates—especially when they’re organized and prepared to mobilize ahead of time.

"When it comes time to mobilize, any Title I principal would already have a cohort of parents willing to go to the mat to advocate," said Rolonda Smith, executive director of Parents for Public Schools of Greater Cincinnati, in a recent interview with Education Daily.  "Why not work every day toward that so when times come around and you need that support or backing, all you have to do is press one button, and it will ring 400 phones?"

With a general understanding of where and how to channel their efforts, parents can make the difference and potentially save their child’s afterschool programs from devastating cuts or closure. 

How can parents help advocate for your afterschool program? It’s important to let parents of afterschool participants know that they don’t need to invest a lot of time or energy in order to be a strong voice for afterschool.  Here are some ideas to get parents started advocating right away for afterschool programs in your community:

• Call or email your city council representatives– Let them know that afterschool programs are important.
• Circulate a petition– Have fellow parents, friends, neighbors and other community members sign a petition showing their support for afterschool programs.
• Host a parents night at your afterschool program – Work with the leaders of your afterschool program to host a parents night, so that parents and other community members can observe the program in action.  A Lights On Afterschool event is a great way to start.
• Organize a letter writing campaign– Encourage parents, neighbors and program volunteers to write letters in supportof afterschool to local elected officials, such as the mayor and the city council.
• Set up a site visit for local elected leaders– Work with your afterschool program leaders to plan an afternoon for localleaders to visit the program and see how afterschool works.
• Write a letter to the editor of your local paper or a guest post on a neighborhood blog– Tie the benefits ofafterschool programs to other local issues that people are talking about: bullying, crime rates, healthy food andphysical activity, test scores, etc.