 In Seattle, YMCA's Sprout Hochberg connects with middle-schoolers throughout the day. When the school day ends, community learning centers shift into high gear, keeping kids engaged in positive activities. |
When students walk through the front doors at Seattle's Aki Kurose Middle School, they hear a familiar voice calling out greetings. "I'm like the town crier," admits Sprout Hochberg, who still looks the part of the outgoing, energetic camp director she used to be. The personalized morning ritual has value, says Hochberg, "if it helps kids feel connected. If they feel welcome when they get here, that's a great start. If we can connect kids to school, there's a better chance they'll show up. If they're here and also behaving in a positive way, there's a better chance they'll learn something."
Hochberg--employed by the YMCA rather than the school district--oversees the community learning centers at Aki Kurose and Meany Middle School, both located in Seattle neighborhoods where most children are growing up amid poverty. But while her official duties include organizing a full slate of out-of-school activities many families could not otherwise afford, she keeps her focus squarely on the classroom. "Our role is to be educators," she says, speaking also for her colleagues in similar programs springing up across the region. "Our goal is to impact, in a positive way, what we call the three A's: attitude, attendance, and academic achievement."
Since she launched the program at Aki Kurose three years ago, Hochberg has made sure her work is fully integrated with the life of the school. "We don't just do an after-school program," she explains. "We partner fully. We know these kids all day long." Throughout the day, students and teachers are apt to encounter Hochberg's smiling face and benefit from her solid grounding in youth development. She pops into the school cafeteria to help with lunch duty. Helps chaperone field trips. Cheers the basketball teams to victory. Brainstorms with a committee about writing a grant. Listens to a girl read aloud. Encourages a boy with behavior issues to make it through the whole day without landing on the principal's doorstep.
And every step of the way, she's demonstrating what these programs do best: build the strong relationships necessary so that young people can thrive.
Across the Northwest region, community learning centers are exploding in number. The 21st Century Community Learning Center (CLC) federal grants--totaling $1 billion nationwide for school-based programs this year--have helped fuel the expansion in both urban and rural communities where poverty rates are high. Some communities are stretching federal dollars with help from private sources. In Seattle, for example, The Boeing Company backed the start-up of the program at Aki Kurose, and the Gates Foundation recently agreed to fund three middle school programs in Seattle for the next five years, based on the model developed at Aki Kurose. Drawing on a variety of resources, Seattle is opening community learning centers in 15 elementary and middle schools.
The pace of expansion has not gone unnoticed. Researchers have turned a keen eye on extended-day programs, evaluating everything from their impact on delinquency prevention to whether they help to raise standardized test scores. Early studies have proclaimed a slew of benefits (see The Barefoot Hours), and heightened expectations in communities just taking their first baby steps to build new programs.
The U.S. Department of Education considers the 21st Century CLC program a key component of the No Child Left Behind Act, signed by President Bush in January. According to the program Web site (www.ed.gov/21stcclc), the goal of the school-based CLCs funded under the reauthorized act is "to provide expanded academic enrichment opportunities for children attending low-performing schools. Tutorial services and academic enrichment activities are designed to help students meet local and state academic standards in subjects such as reading and math." In addition, 21st Century CLC programs may "provide youth development activities; drug and violence prevention programs; technology education programs; art, music, and recreation programs; counseling and career education to enhance the academic component of the program."
Students in Sisters pair up to use computers; In Prineville, programs for early years forge stronger school connections;
Terrebonne staffer offers tips on beading.
Hearing this extensive list of options, some communities may be tempted to think that starting an after-school program will be a cure-all. When a rural Central Oregon county landed a 21st Century CLC grant a few years ago, "We thought this would be it," admits Dennis Kostelecky, curriculum coordinator for the Crook County School District where socioeconomic factors put many students at risk of school failure. After three years of persistent effort but high staff turnover, the Crook County community learning center is just now starting to gel. Offerings appeal to a wide age range: preschool programs to enhance children's school readiness, after-school recreational offerings to keep young teens off the streets and cut vandalism rates, and summer classes to boost academic achievement. Still, the program hasn't been the silver bullet Crook County was hoping for. "We haven't reached our full potential as a lighted schoolhouse," Kostelecky says, "but the community is now starting to depend on us."
In both cities and rural places, communities are learning that there's no one model for a successful program. And although great hopes are being pinned on community learning centers, there's no guarantee that they will turn around struggling schools in poor neighborhoods. Growing pains are inevitable. "Progress is slow as molasses," admits even the perennially upbeat Hochberg. "Our test scores are still ridiculously low. Our truancy rate is ridiculously high. We have a long ways to go--but everything is improving. We have seen success with kids who have not been successful before. We have changed some lives."
Seasoned staff in both rural and urban programs recently agreed to share some of their success stories, along with insights into overcoming start-up challenges and tailoring programs to meet diverse community needs.
Although researchers are still evaluating the long-term effects of community learning centers, they've reached one conclusion already: Successful after-school programs don't happen by accident. It takes thoughtful planning, school-community partnerships, and also ongoing evaluation to make sure programs meet local community needs and support the learning that takes place during the traditional school day.
North Central Regional Educational Laboratory has identified 16 areas or characteristics to consider in comprehensive planning of after-school programs. Resources for After-School Programming: Strengthening Connections, an online guide, explains each characteristic in detail and also suggests samples of effective policies and strategies. As NCREL authors Judy Caplan and Carol Calfee explain: "The lines between after-school program, the regular school day, and partnerships within the community become blurred--the term after-school no longer really applies. We are now looking at a comprehensive program in a community school." Guiding a program to maturity takes "stable leadership and strong vision."
The 16 characteristics for comprehensive program planning include:
The full document is available online (www.ncrel.org/21stcclc/connect/). NCREL also has produced a toolkit to assist in program planning. Information on ordering Beyond the Bell: A Toolkit for Creating Effective After-School Programs is available from the NCREL Web site, www.ncrel.org/after/.
Call him Jesse. Not long ago, he was a middle-schooler who regularly got into fights. When the dismissal bell rang, he would hang around the school grounds rather than go home. Other kids steered clear of him. When his school opened a community learning center with after-school offerings, Jesse wasn't interested. "But the [after-school] staff saw him out there on the playground, and they started recruiting him," relates Lolly Tweed of Crook/Deschutes Education Service District, which coordinates the community learning centers grants in Deschutes County. "They kept after him, and he wasn't the kind of kid who usually gets invited to join in." What finally snagged his interest? A roller hockey club. The coach happened to be a police volunteer who insisted his players keep up with their school work if they wanted to play hockey. Once Jesse found out he had a talent for roller hockey, the rest of his school life improved. Says Tweed: "His attendance has improved. He's not getting into fights. He's pulling a B average. He's doing a better job with his peers, and as a student. He's found out he can be successful."
Although Central Oregon's Deschutes County includes the booming city of Bend (population 50,000), much of it remains a rural place with small towns and ranches scattered across the sagebrush landscape. There's plenty of awesome scenery, but not much public transportation. That can be tough on a teenager too young to drive but hungry for something to do, somewhere to go, after the school day ends.
"We all know the research," says Lolly Tweed of Crook/Deschutes ESD.
"The hours from 3 to 7 p.m. may not be spent in the most prosocial way. In every kind of community, problems come up when kids have too much time and not enough positive ways to spend it. These are good communities," she says, flashing the pride of a native Oregonian, "but unless you give a kid positive alternatives, it's only luck," if he chooses to use his free time in ways that are going to be good for him, or risky.
As soon as the federal grants became available, Deschutes County jumped in, eager as a swimmer on a hot day. Community learning centers now operate in a dozen locations across the county, serving some 1,500 students annually in both elementary and middle schools. After four years of helping to launch centers everywhere from Terrebonne to Tumalo, Tweed knows one thing for sure: "You can't overlay a program on a community. An outsider won't know what the community needs."
Each of the Deschutes County centers looks different, Tweed explains, "and that's a good thing. It's got to be flexible to meet local needs." Partnerships with local agencies--staffed by people who know their community--have been at the heart of the county's success. It helps that the region has a long history of collaboration between agencies. Every school in the county has a person on staff dedicated to being a family advocate. The Family Advocate Network (FAN) partners with about 15 agencies to link families to needed services. The FAN steering committee does double duty as the committee overseeing the community learning centers. The committee has created a menu of program and service providers, ranging from local parks and recreation programs to national youth-serving organizations. In developing community learning centers, communities can pick and choose from the menu, selecting partners that best match local needs. What's more, regular networking sessions allow program staff from different communities to share ideas about what's working. "No one person holds all the magic," explains Tweed.
Terrebonne, for example, might look like little more than a wide spot in the road to an out-of-towner. A flashing yellow highway light shows where to turn to find the only school in town, enrolling 404 elementary students. By the time they reach middle school, kids have to travel five miles south to Redmond, the nearest "big" city with a population of about 13,000.
When Melissa Riggleman took on the job of launching a Boys and Girls Club in Terrebonne, she wasn't sure the program would succeed. "Did the community need us?" she wondered. But word got out in a hurry. "Interest exploded," she says, "and has become bigger than anyone could have imagined."
By mid-afternoon on a typical weekday, the clubhouse--a portable building tucked behind Terrebonne Elementary--overflows with as many as 85 kids. Some are doing homework in a quiet back room; others are shooting pool; several are gathered around Riggleman at a crafts table. Another couple of dozen are making use of the school building--shooting hoops in the gym or working on beading projects in the cafeteria. What's surprising is not only the sheer number of youth engaged here, but also the range of ages--from kindergartners to teenagers.
"We never planned on attracting high schoolers," Riggleman admits. "It was kind of a shock when they started dropping in here--but we were excited. Our teens tell us there's nothing else for them to do." Many are just looking for a place to hang out, and that's fine by Riggleman. "But we make sure to hang out with them," she says, referring to her staff members who are trained in youth development. Even when they're shooting pool or vegging on the couch, teenagers are apt to be talking, and Riggleman and her colleagues make sure to listen and join the dialogue. "We're like a second parent to some of these kids," she says. Sometimes, a young person needs more than an open ear. As the school's partner in the CLC grant, the Boys and Girls Club provides trained staff and a research-based curriculum, including classes on topics such as preventing inappropriate touching or drug-and-alcohol abuse.
An outgoing 10th-grader named Rainey attests to the power of positive activities: "If this place wasn't here, I'd probably still be getting in trouble. This is a better place to be," she says. In fact, her leadership skills have blossomed since she started coming to the club and participating in after-school classes. Now she's a junior staff member, thinking about a career in the field of youth development. For a 14-year-old named Jessica, the appeal is similar: "You get attached to people here. There's a bond."
Call them the Smiths. They're a family of two school-aged children being raised by a single mom. She recently left behind a husband with a violent temper and moved with her kids to the small town of Sisters, Oregon, in search of a fresh start. The kids are slowly finding their way, nudged along by Tom Coffield and a community recreation program he founded called SOAR (Sisters Organization for Activities and Recreation), a partner in the 21st Century Community Learning Center at Sisters Middle School. Here's the transformation he has seen in the Smith kids: "After school, the girl used to sit in a corner with a book and wouldn't talk to anyone. Then we got her signed up for a horse riding class. She discovered she loves horses, and she's also made two or three close girlfriends. The son showed up here with a lot of anger, most of it directed at his mom. He couldn't seem to participate in anything without getting mad. Now he's starting to play basketball and finding out how to feel part of a group. Some families move to a small town like this because they want to save their families. But a move alone doesn't change the dynamics. A program like this can have a positive effect on the whole family."
Indeed, entire communities stand to gain when informal learning opportunities are extended beyond the regular school day. The SOAR program in Sisters, for example, had started before the 21st Century CLC grants were available. It's been able to expand with the infusion of federal funds. SOAR now offers not only sports and recreation to appeal to a wide range of interests and ages, but also after-school tutoring for students who need one-to-one help with academics. The tutors are regular classroom teachers hired for extra duty after school, so they know the kids and the curriculum. Young adults--often local college students--are hired to act as mentors. Even kids who have gotten into trouble are finding an open door and a fresh start. A teen court diversion program allows delinquent youth to work off their community service time at SOAR. One girl served her court-ordered time by helping with after-school programming, then asked to return as a volunteer when her mandatory duty was up. "She's discovered she's good at working with younger kids," says Coffield, and that discovery is helping her appreciate her own strengths.
"Our emphasis is to build on the 40 assets," Coffield explains, referring to research on resiliency. The Search Institute has identified 40 specific assets as the building blocks of positive youth development. The more assets young people acknowledge having in their lives--such as receiving love and support from their families, feeling safe, and feeling optimistic about the future--the healthier the whole community.
For some kids, a dose of what Coffield calls "positive self-image" might come from an art or music class where they discover a creative way to express their emotions. For others, it might be serving on a leadership team that serves as the eyes and ears for SOAR, gathering suggestions for activities their peers want most in their community.
Whatever the activity, the most important benefit may be the opportunity it provides for making connections. Research shows that all kids benefit by connecting with an adult who cares about them. For youth at risk, that dose of positive adult attention can change their lives. Community learning centers set up the informal opportunities where such transformations can happen. "Kids come in here by choice," Coffield explains. "That's the advantage for a coach or an art teacher. Kids are drawn here because something sounds like fun. It makes it easier for an adult to build that rapport."
In rural areas where youth programs and recreational offerings tend to be scarce, a program like SOAR "is often the only game in town" for providing such support, points out Tweed. "These kids are not having the same childhoods we had," she adds, recalling her own idyllic-sounding girlhood on a farm in Southern Oregon. "After school, I had chores to do, then I could ride my horse. TV was a very small part of my life." Today, that farmhouse is more apt to be empty after school, with more and more parents working outside jobs to help make ends meet. The average school-aged youth spends three hours a day in front of the television. "Family demographics have changed," Tweed says, "and culturally, childhood is very different today." But more than ever, kids benefit from activities that allow them to feel competent and cared for. The community learning centers, she says, "are about giving a future to these kids."
Evaluation is one of the key areas identified by North Central Regional Educational Laboratory for program success, and it's also an expectation of programs receiving 21st Century Community Learning Center grants. The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory is working with community learning centers across the region to design and carry out evaluations. For more information about obtaining assistance with program evaluation, contact NWREL's Education, Career, and Community Program at (503) 275-9500.
The Harvard Family Research Project is focusing on strategies for evaluating child and family services. Project Director Heather Weiss, writing in a recent issue of The Evaluation Exchange, noted: "A substantial challenge that confronts many programs... relates to how to respond to the demand for outcomes measurement in the current era of accountability. After-school programs increasingly must show results at the national, state, and community levels, creating an atmosphere that has changed how stakeholders need to think about the evaluation of their programs."
The Evaluation Exchange provides information on promising practices in evaluation and ongoing research on programs such as community learning centers. In addition, the Harvard Family Research Project has created a database of evaluations for out-of-school time programs. More information is available on the project Web site, http://gseweb.harvard.edu/~hfrp.
Call him Raul. He lives in a Seattle neighborhood where boys start getting recruited to join a gang by their early teens. By eighth grade, he and his buddies are dressing to look the part of an Hispanic gang that hangs out near their neighborhood. Sprout Hochberg admits her bias. "I adore these boys," she says. She sees right through the gang wardrobes and the risky behavior to their potential to become competent, caring young men. She has taken the time to get to know them. In the process, they have learned to trust her. Recently, Raul asked if they could start a break dancing club as part of the community learning center's after-school program. Hochberg first asked the group, "What would you need to make that happen?" Then she laid out her expectations: "What I need is for you to behave appropriately. I need you to make good choices, because what you do here at school is my business. There will be no second chances," she said, and no tolerance for drugs or alcohol. Raul gave her his word, adding, "I tell you the truth, Miss Sprout." They launched the club on a Monday. To attend, each boy had to show up for school and steer clear of discipline problems for the entire day--not a small feat for some of them. Hochberg says: "This got them behaving on Mondays so they can attend the class. Now I'm asking them, what can we do to get you behaving on Tuesdays, too?"
When Hochberg set out to launch what has become a model middle school program in South Seattle, "teachers greeted me and the program with healthy skepticism," she admits. "Their attitude was: This sounds fine, but will you stay?" Unlike rural places, the inner cities have seen lots of youth programs over the years--but also an ebb and flow of interest and funding.
A few blocks away at Brighton Elementary, Lisa Fabatz met with similar resistance when she was hired by the Boys and Girls Club to establish a community learning center. "Teachers have seen a lot of programs like this come and go," she admits. "They see us as that little day-care room out back." Indeed, Fabatz and her staff work out of a portable building behind the main school building. But what they offer is much more than child care to about 100 children--more than a third of the school's enrollment. "It's been a big challenge to integrate our program with the community, with the school district, and with the Boys and Girls Club," Fabatz admits. "But as teachers see our kids doing better in class," as a result of after-school attention, "they're getting more supportive."
With more than a dozen CLCs scattered across the city, Seattle has gone far toward the goal of making the lighted schoolhouse a focal point in every neighborhood. By design, each center is unique so that it can reflect the needs of the community it serves. A coordinating provider--typically the YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, or other partner--is selected through a process that involves the whole community. Families retain a strong voice in program offerings.
At Brighton Elementary, for example, Fabatz at first resisted devoting after-school program time to homework. She was eager to enrich the lives of her diverse mix of students by offering "things they would not otherwise have a chance to do." Parents, however, had other ideas. Fabatz explains: "We serve a lot of immigrant families. Many of our parents do not speak enough English to help their kids with homework. This is causing stress in families. Our parents were asking us, 'Please help.'" So homework time, silent reading, and journal writing were added to the after-school schedule--although Fabatz makes sure there's still time in the after-school hours for African drumming, yoga, and other enrichment activities. "It's important that this time is not more school after school," she says, acknowledging that it's equally vital for programs to be responsive to family needs.
In the first days after President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act, national attention focused on how the regular school day may change as a result of the sweeping legislation. Yet advocates of programs that take place outside the 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. timeframe also consider the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) "an important landmark for after-school programs in America," reports Judy Y. Samelson, executive director of Afterschool Alliance, a national coalition promoting affordable programs for out-of-school time.
The 2002 appropriation of $1 billion in federal funds for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program is an indication, Samelson adds, "that federal support for after-school programming is here to stay, and will only grow in the months and years ahead." Indeed, funding for CLCs has grown steadily since the programs were introduced four years ago with an initial budget of $40 million. ESEA, Samelson adds, "lays out a road map to increase federal support to $2.5 billion by 2007."
While that's reassuring news to communities that have developed after-school programs--and to the families who have come to rely on their services--the new law suggests changes ahead in the way after-school programs are funded and where they may be located.
The biggest change, reports Afterschool Alliance, is that the U.S. Department of Education will not administer future grants. Instead, state education agencies--typically, state departments of education--will receive an allotment based on current Title I funding. Although current grantees will not be affected, new applicants will be competing for funds within their own state rather than from a national pool.
In another change, programs are no longer limited to school sites. Programs housed away from school grounds must be readily accessible to students, however. Grants may be awarded to local education agencies (such as school districts), and community-based organizations, including faith-based organizations.
The new legislation identifies three primary purposes for CLC programs:
This holistic approach to programming is being echoed across the city. Program staff agree that providing a safe place for kids to spend their out-of-school time is an essential first step for building a program. Enrichment opportunities have value, especially in schools where funding has suffered for arts or sports programs. Academic support makes sense in schools where a high percentage of students lag behind grade level. "We simply won't be successful," Hochberg says, "if our job is limited to after-school time." She makes it a point to connect with kids and school staff all day, every day.
As schools feel the push for accountability, community learning centers are also apt to feel more pressure to provide direct academic support. But that doesn't mean kids need to sit in traditional classrooms all afternoon to boost academic achievement. The middle school program at Aki Kurose, for example, offers students homework help as one choice for after-school time, but also slips academic skills into a variety of recreational offerings. Chess club teaches critical-thinking skills. Cooking incorporates math and reading instruction. Media lab teaches kids to use video editing equipment but also enhances the language skills of diverse learners whose first language might be Spanish, Tagalog, Cambodian, or Somali. "We try to incorporate academics into everything," Hochberg says, as well as reinforce positive behavior. Her refrain to students intent on acting up: "You are all intelligent, but you may not become educated if you can't behave so that you can learn."
Hochberg has even managed to improve students' access to health care by enlisting a volunteer physician to provide free physicals for kids who want to participate on school sports teams. She's also determined to increase parent involvement with the school. "The majority of our parents only get involved with school around discipline issues. We want parents to feel comfortable coming here for more positive reasons." In coming months, she hopes to plan outreach events to engage parents of diverse cultures.
"It's all about connecting resources," says Hochberg, to support the whole child. In urban areas, a variety of resources are likely to be available--but may not be easy for families to find or access on their own. The CLC model brings needed services right into the schoolhouse --and into students' lives. "For us," says Hochberg, "the holistic approach is how we'll succeed and sustain this program."
Although community learning centers are still works in progress, Hochberg harbors no doubts about the long-term value of the model. "This school has so many exciting things happening," she says about Aki Kurose Middle School, "and the community learning center is just one of them. We're on the verge of greatness."
The goals Seattle has set forth for its CLCs echo Hochberg's high hopes. Sara Tenney-Espinosa, CLC coordinator for Seattle Public Schools, outlines these intended benefits:
For community learning centers to reach their full potential, however, they must confront a variety of challenges. Experienced program administrators cite funding, staffing, and building solid relationships with the school community as three of their biggest day-to-day challenges. No community has found all the answers, but CLC staff members are eager to share the lessons learned so far.
Funding: Will community learning centers be able to continue after the initial period of grant funding? How to sustain programs for the long run is a concern in many communities. Partnerships with youth-serving agencies and additional support from foundations and other private sources are providing funding for some communities. Others charge fees on a sliding-fee scale. Seattle voters have passed a citywide levy to support youth programs for the long term.
Staffing: Recruiting qualified adults for after-school jobs can be a tall order, especially with many programs offering only part-time employment, low wages, and benefits that range from slim to none --and this in return for working with students whose struggles at home or school may translate to challenging behavior after school. "We're not looking for entry-level skills," admits one program administrator, "but we can only afford to pay entry-level wages." Staff turnover is a concern in many communities. "You can't build long-term relationships if the faces are always changing," says one program director. SOAR's Coffield finds it helpful to hire regular classroom teachers "who know the kids and the curriculum" for after-school tutoring. In Deschutes County, Tweed organizes cross-program training for CLC participants, bringing in guest experts to provide guidance on topics such as connecting with hard-to-engage youth. Seattle has taken a citywide approach to training staff and providing technical assistance (see After-School Needs Come Into Spotlight). The YMCA, which funds salaries for Hochberg and her co-worker, recruits staff members "who have years of youth development experience," she says, "so we don't have the high turnover. Our positions are full time and include benefits. Perhaps we are the exception," she admits, "but we feel hiring the right people is how we will be successful and sustainable."
Partnering: Integrating a community learning center with the culture of the host school is an essential step for a program to succeed. Administrative support is "imperative. That has to happen," says Hochberg. A supportive principal can provide the after-school program with access to facilities such as the school gym or a computer lab, and can also build ties with classroom teachers. Without support from the top, after-school staff may find themselves "confined to a table in the cafeteria, trying to keep kids busy with a box of crayons," says one CLC administrator. Equally important is "not having a huge agenda," advises Hochberg. "Let the program evolve so it fits with the school culture. Don't try to use a cookie-cutter model. And don't step on any toes." Seattle CLCs involve the local community in selecting a lead partner for each site; a center advisory board engages stakeholders in ongoing decisionmaking.
Although these logistics demand attention, the heart of community learning centers is not complicated. Says Tweed: "It all comes down to relationships--whether it's on the personal level, with families, or among agencies. We all want the same thing," she adds, "good things for families and for kids." 
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