Maryville Students Get a Glimpse of Careers at 'Citizen School' (The Courier-Journal, Kentucky)
Maryville Elementary School counselor Kaet Barron launched a free weekly afterschool program last month to give students a chance to gain exposure to a variety of careers. This week’s guest was Hillview Police Chief Glenn Caple. “At the elementary level, the discussion about jobs isn’t always introduced as often as it should,” Barron told the Courier-Journal. “The goal is to start connecting that, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up’ question to what they’re learning now.”

Houston Library Looks to Big Businesses for Help (Houston Chronicle, Texas)
The Houston Public Library Foundation accepted a $100,000 check from Comerica Bank to support the library’s afterschool program and technology needs. In the past two years the library’s annual budget has shrunk from $37- to $32 million, so library officials are challenging the Houston business community to step up and support community programs.

Fine Tuning: Memphis’ Cypress Middle School Guitar Club Teaches Music, Accountability (The Commercial Appeal, Tennessee)
A 12-member guitar club, led by Rhodes College student volunteers through the Mike Curb Institute for Music, at Cypress Middle School teaches students accountability and music and encourages students to improve their behavior during the school day. The afterschool program teaches guitar to economically disadvantaged students at their neighborhood school. “A 2009 study published in the journal Psychology of Music found that elementary-school children exposed to a multi-year program of music tuition displayed superior cognitive performance in certain reading skills compared with their non-musically trained peers,” the Commercial Appeal reports.

N.H. Among Lowest Drop Outs in the U.S. (Foster’s Daily Democrat, New Hampshire)
New Hampshire boasts one of the lowest dropout rates in the nation and one principal credits afterschool programs as one of the solutions to keeping at-risk youth engaged in the afternoons. Principal Todd Allen told Foster’s Daily Democrat that: academic supports, like the Homework Den afterschool program and a Learning Lab, which is available to students throughout the school day where students can find both short and long term assistance with subjects as needed; student tutors; and a comprehensive guidance program, where counselors work with any at-risk students and connect them to credit recovery programs, alternative credit options like internships and independent study, as well as traditional counseling services, are a big part of success.
 

The first Digital Learning Day is this Wednesday, Feb. 1, and marks an important moment to reflect on the effect of digital technology across all aspects of education.  In addition to transforming how students learn during the school day, digital technology has major implications beyond the school day, in afterschool and summer learning programs.  These programs play a major role in helping schools to address issues of equitable access, supporting student learning and building digital literacy.

Although Internet-enabled mobile devices have helped to increase the number of youth with Internet access, the digital divide between socioeconomic groups is still very much a real issue.  According to a 2010 survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, only 45 percent of households earning less than $30,000 per year had broadband access in the home.  As technology becomes more integrated into the school day, the effects of this inequity in access may become even more pronounced between students who can extend their learning at home and those who cannot. 

Afterschool and summer programs broaden access to digital technology beyond the school day, particularly for socioeconomically disadvantaged youth.  Yet, they provide much more than a few additional hours with a laptop.  They can use digital technology to deepen a child's understanding of academic subjects, complementing the school day with an even richer exploration of school lessons, and help students build critical digital literacy skills.  In order to be successful in the 21st century, students need much more than a basic understanding of digital technology.  Digital literacy emphasizes a student's ability to evaluate, manipulate and actively contribute to the pool of existing digital media and content.

This year’s Lights On Afterschool poster contest is now officially underway!  Afterschool program participants are encouraged to submit artwork that celebrates afterschool programs and conveys the importance of keeping the lights on afterschool.   The winning poster design will be printed on 70,000 posters sent to Lights On Afterschool celebrations across the country, not to mention that the winning artist will be featured on our website, blog and Afterschool Storybook. 

The deadline for submissions is May 1, 2012.  Click here for contest details and submission guidelines.  Keep in mind that the winning artwork will be scanned become a digital image, so avoid using textures or raised materials.  We love bright colors that jump off the poster, so materials that won’t smear or rub off—like markers, paint and pens—often work better than crayons, watercolors or chalk (or why not try your hand at some digital art?).

We’re already excited about the 13^th annual Lights On Afterschool on Oct. 18, 2012, and can’t wait to see what our afterschool artists come up with to help us celebrate!

Zoo Animals Visit School (News Herald, Ohio)
Afterschool youth at Champions for Children in Port Clinton had some creepy crawly visitors on Monday – a snake, cockroach and a lizard from the Toledo Zoo. The afterschool program is participating in several enrichment programs to make learning more interesting for youth. The Zoo’s Education Manager Josh Minor told the students he would bring a tree frog, lizard, alligator, Guinea pig or a tarantula the next time he visits the program.

Miracle After-School Program Taps Wine Festival to Help Immokalee Students Achieve (Naples Daily News, Florida)
Afterschool students in Immokalee have a wine festival to thank for their program’s funding.  “Without the wine festival we would not be able to get the 21st Century grant that pays for the majority of the program,” Pat Riley, executive director of the Alliance of Educational Leaders, which works to implement the Miracle program in Immokalee, told the Naples Daily News. The 21st Century Community Learning Center has grants for about 80% of its funding, and the Wine Festival’s sponsor – The Naples Children and Education Foundation – supports the rest of the local funding. This will be the fourth year that the Wine Festival donates to the Miracle program at Immokalee’s schools.

$10 Million Tennis Facility to Open in Marshall Heights in September (Washington Post, District of Columbia)
Construction will break ground next week on a new seven-acre tennis facility in Marshall Heights, after a seven-year fundraising campaign by the Washington Tennis & Education Foundation to bring its youth development programs to Southeast D.C. The facility will house the Center for Excellence, an afterschool program for at-risk youth which provides about 60 K-12 students from Northeast and Southeast each year with academic support and tennis training aimed at getting them into college.

SIUE’s STEM Program Brings Academic Subjects Together (The Telegraph, Illinois)
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Center for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Research, Education and Outreach has partnered with the Boys & Girls Club of Bethalto to provide hands-on learning experiences for afterschool students in Alton. Two to three times per month the university’s Minds on Science Activities in the Community Program brings all the materials and supplies to engage afterschool youth in STEM activities, like building a small-scale catapult prototype, investigating the mysteries of owl pellets or snowflake science.
 

Just hours before President Obama gave his third State of the Union speech, the Afterschool for America's Children Act, HR 3821, was introduced in the House of Representatives. The legislation, a House companion bill to the bipartisan S. 1370 introduced last July in the Senate, would strengthen 21st Century Community Learning Centers by supporting innovation in before-school, afterschool and summer learning programs. Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI), a founding member of the House Afterschool Caucus and Ranking Member of the Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education Subcommittee, was joined by Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Nita Lowey (D-NY) as original co-sponsors of the bill. At a time when afterschool programs are facing huge financial challenges, the Afterschool for America's Children Act makes a commitment to federal afterschool support, which can be used to leverage state, local, private and philanthropic support. The legislation would:

• Strengthen school-community partnerships to include sharing of data and resources, the ability to better leverage relationships within the community and provide an intentional alignment with the school day.
• Promote professional development and training for afterschool program staff.
• Encourage innovative new ways to engage students in learning that looks different from a traditional school day, with an emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning; science, technology, engineering, and math; social and emotional learning; and physical activity and nutrition education. Supports approaches that focus on individualized learning that provide a variety of ways for students to master core skills and knowledge.
• Provide accountability measures that are connected to college- and career-readiness goals and show student progress over time toward meeting indicators of success including school attendance, grades and on-time grade level advancement.
• Ensure that funding supports programs that utilize evidence-based, successful practices. Increase quality and accountability through parent engagement, better alignment with state learning objectives and coordination between federal, state and local agencies.
• Maintain formula grants to states that then distribute funds to local school-community partnerships through a competitive grant process.

The bill recognizes the significant unmet need for afterschool programs by ensuring that local communities can make a choice about what afterschool programs best meet the needs of its children and families. With the House Education and the Workforce Committee expected to take up ESEA reauthorization legislation this winter, the bill is well-positioned to be part of the discussion. Friends of afterschool programs can contact their Representatives in support of HR 3821 and ask them to co-sponsor the bill.

This week the House and Senate will reconvene for second session of the 112^th Congress.  On Jan. 24, the President will speak to a joint session of Congress and the American public during the annual State of the Union address.  The White House has announced a number of opportunities to provide input on the President’s priorities.  The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) is expected to be brought up during the President’s speech and House action on the two draft ESEA bills released earlier this month may not be far behind.  Late last week the Afterschool Alliance wrote to House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman Kline commenting on the draft bills and calling on the Chairman to include reauthorization of the 21^st Century Community Learning Centers (21^st CCLC) initiative as part of his ESEA reauthorization strategy.  Friends of afterschool can send comments to their Members of Congress in support of afterschool and 21^st CCLCs.