This new paper looks at the role of after school and
summer learning programs in supporting student success.
Inside this paper, you will learn about the benefits
of expanded learning, why and how schools should partner,
and a warrant for future research on expanded learning
and education reform.
read more »
As the pressures of NCLB accountability have caused
schools to cut free time and recess -- depriving children of exercise and socialization -- unruly classrooms are the result, Reuters reports.
A new study by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine
compared the behavior of 10,000 children aged eight and nine, finding that children
who had at least a 15-minute break during the school day had superior classroom
behavior. The report, which was published in the journal
Pediatrics, states that "recess may play an important role in the learning,
social development, and health of children in elementary
school." read more »
The highly regarded "Harlem Children's Zone," which serves 8,000 children across 97 blocks of Central Harlem in New York City, is yet
another institution suffering from the downturn on
Wall Street . The extensive services provided by the
program, which follow children from birth to college,
require an annual budget of $68 million, up from $12 million when it started in 1997. Now, with 20 to 30 percent of its revenue from Wall Street
founder and director Geoffrey Canada is facing a revenue
reduction of at least seven percent for this year,
and next year is uncertain. As a result, he and his
board have cut 140 positions from the program and have scrapped expansion
plans. read more »
The California Budget Project has up-to-date information about legislative actions on current
year (2006-07) emergency budget cuts, which will have significant
impacts on social services and public education. read more »
The John W. Gardner Center's (JGC) is pleased to announce the release of its 2nd edition Youth Engaged in Leadership and Learning (YELL) Handbook. From 2000 to 2006, over 350 youth participated in JGC administered YELL programs
at Kennedy Middle School in Redwood City, California,
and McClymonds Educational Complex in West Oakland,
California. The YELL Handbook is based on the experiences
of these youth participants and their adult partners.
read more »
For over a decade, P/PV has engaged in the public dialogue about building
positive out-of-school-time opportunities for children and youth. In 2004, P/PV began work with The James Irvine Foundation's Communities Organizing Resources to Advance Learning
( CORAL) initiative. This $58 million effort to improve student achievement in five
California cities had been in operation since 1999. After disappointing outcomes were identified in a
midpoint review, the Foundation asked P/PV to help reorient the initiative's focus by integrating literacy instruction into the
CORAL sites' existing after-school enrichment programs and to evaluate the results. read more »
MAKiN' iT Day is a six-hour program designed for youth and young adults that
allows the participants to engage in activities that
challenge the notions of underachievement and complacency.
MAKiN' iT Day is based on over 20 years of experience with at-risk youth and young adults and is focused around helping
three primary groups: 1) in-school youth in need of academic support and increased
personal responsibility 2) out-of-school youth seeking educational options and workforce
skills 3) Adjudicated youth seeking options for diversion. read more »
A new Child Trends fact sheet finds that both family risks and neighborhood risks
are related to whether children are involved in out-of-school time programs. read more »
Children who live in high-support neighborhoods are more likely to also be connected
to family, peers, and the larger community, according
to a new Child Trends fact sheet. read more »
