Aligning Worlds
Stephen M. Pratt, President
Dear Friends:
For every child, the in-school and out-of-school worlds intersect on a daily basis. Whether the transition from school is to a formal or an informal setting, kids know that over the course of their waking hours, they will interact with adults in a variety of settings and contexts. The experiences can be disjointed and disconnected, or they can work toward a common purpose - safe and healthy children developing to their fullest potential.
When Mayor Menino opened school buildings to community organizations for after-school programming in 1998, he understood the common sense behind the idea that an integrated strategy for in-school and out-of-school time would have better results for Boston's children. Today, 79 of Boston's public schools offer some form of after-school programming on site. Largely as a result of the additional capacity offered by these school sites, participation in after-school programs nearly doubled over five years, from 27 percent to 51 percent.
Bringing community organizations and schools together in close quarters was a critical first step toward the goal of aligning the in-school and out-of-school worlds for children. But we also know that much more can be done to leverage these connections than is suggested by cohabitation alone.
When we speak of aligning these worlds for children, we are not suggesting that the agenda of one sector subsume the other. We are pursuing the natural synergy that exists in the pursuit of both healthy youth development and academic achievement. The investments made in out-of-school enrichment programs could compliment the investments made in core academic instruction in the schools. Knowledge about effective practices for individual students and groups of students could travel between in-school and out-of-school professionals, deepening the impact and efficacy of work in both sectors and in the system as a whole.
In this issue, we offer the results of our research on the state of school-based programming before and after school. Our guest columnist, Catalina Montes, offers a moving first-person account of her "ah-ha" moment as principal of the Gardner School that led to it becoming a model for the sort of integrated strategy we are seeking today. We know that when a school and a community get this alignment right, the results can be incredibly powerful for children. With this in mind, Boston Beyond is announcing its first major initiative, Partners for Student Success, a collaborative effort of public, philanthropic and nonprofit partners to learn how best to bring these elements together to support the success of all Boston's students.
Thanks for reading,
Guest Column
In 1996 I experienced a memorable day, the worst in my decades of service in the Boston Public Schools. On that day I had to turn over six children to the Department of Social Services. I was heartbroken. Fortunately, it was also the day a professor from a nearby university came into my office to thank me for the opportunity to interview children for her book on the effect of homelessness on children. Through the tears I begged her to stay and help us. What happened was an odyssey every principal should have the opportunity to experience. It was the beginning of some extraordinary school/community partnerships that transformed my building from a one-dimensional enterprise into a comprehensive "village" school outfitted with a network of health, mental health and recreational programs that support the healthy development of children and families.
By Dr. Catalina Montes, Principal on Assignment, Teaching and Learning, Boston Public Schools
New Additions on this Topic to our Online Research Library
Boston Public Schools Out-of-School Time Survey Highlights
The survey and focus group interviews build on the knowledge base developed over the last ten years highlighting the accomplishments and struggles schools and OST providers face in their efforts to offer high-quality programming in a complex system. This research offers insight to help inform our collective efforts to align and support out-of-school time programming for all of Boston’s children.
Other Resources
2005 KIDS COUNT Data Online
A national and state-by-state effort to track the status of children in the U.S. available online. The 16th annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, released July 27, 2005 by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, shows a half million more children living in poverty in 2003 than 2000, for a total of nearly 13 million.
The Evaluation Exchange
Harvard Family Research Project recognizes that for children to be successful in school and life there must be an array of learning supports around them. These supports and opportunities, which must reach beyond the school, should complement one another and be linked and aligned. We call this network of supports "complementary learning." Family involvement, early childhood education, and after school programs are all examples of complementary learning in that they support and complement the work of schools. The spring 2005 issue of The Evaluation Exchange delves into the kinds of mechanisms that can create these linkages and sustain their effectiveness, and highlight promising approaches for evaluating the complementary-learning practices that already exist, both in terms of what outcomes to focus on and what methodologies to use.