Rethinking the Traditional School Day

Michelle (my boss) asked who would like to contribute to a blog on community schools. She provided some educational links and suggestions. I took this as a learning opportunity and volunteered. Suddenly I was reading about Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELOs) and Community Schools. Imagine that, ELOs are in businesses also! Our productivity is garnered no differently than our children’s are. Learning is lifelong and is accomplished when the community, businesses, schools, and government start understanding that we are all in the same life boat. We don’t succeed unless all of us do.

The world HAS changed since I was in grade school and yet many schools still teach the same way they did when I was 6 years old. How sad is that? Meanwhile the educational gap increases between what is left of the middle class children and children born into poverty (see links provided below).

I work with a group of well-educated and experienced people who are chomping at the bit to get going but they know that it takes slow and steady to create change, it doesn’t happen overnight. Reading through the Baltimore case study in the below links showed some of the strategies that devoted groups have to go through to get a program up and running. These are typical: transparent governance, the full enlistment of public sector partners, sustaining and growing available funding to reach scale, deepening the quality of available programs, successfully reaching and engaging older youth, and capturing and expressing a fuller range of anticipated youth outcomes. This is building the community school and ELO infrastructure.

When you prepare properly with the combined assistance of engaged community partners you are able to offer learning opportunities that were not as fully available as before. When parents see that they too can have opportunities to learn and engage with their children, it benefits everyone in society. We have programs here in Connecticut such as New Haven’s Community Schools BOOST! program and Hartford’s Community Schools that expand learning opportunities into the weekends for families and students. This is a good start.

There are many positive studies available. The Coalition of Community Schools has published a new report on Community Schools and Expanded Learning Opportunities at their website. You can download a copy and check out their blogs and case studies. As always if any of us at the Network can assist you please let us know.

The Growing Convergence of Community Schools and Expanded Learning Opportunities
http://www.communityschools.org/elo/

The After-School Needs and Resources of a Low-Income Urban Community: Surveying Youth and Parents for Community Change - email me for this document at rdugas@ctafterschoolnetwork.org