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Innovation and Partnership Define Afterschool By Mary Ellen Pellegrini From rocket building and launching in New Orleans to music and dance as therapeutic intervention for juvenile offenders in Providence to composing and recording original songs in Palm Beach, afterschool programs, a godsend for working parents, now transcend basic child care. “Today’s afterschool programs are inspiring passions,” says Jodi Grant, executive director of the Afterschool Alliance in Washington, D.C. “At the Alliance we’re very focused on the changing world and preparing our kids to succeed in tomorrow’s workforce.” Created in September 1999, the Afterschool Alliance works to ensure all youth have access to quality, affordable activities when the school day ends. The hands-on learning, central to afterschool activities, piggybacks academic enhancement with good old-fashioned fun. Between 3 and 6 p.m., local youth, who might be otherwise unsupervised, are discovering fractions through baseball, geometry through golf, science through paper airplanes and foreign cultures through cooking. Collaboration between the Alliance and the U.S. Department of Education’s 21 st Century Community Learning Centers funds many of these activities. Locally, Akron Public Schools utilizes a 21 st Century grant to bring Alchemy Incorporated, a youth development program for urban males, to Akron’s Perkins Middle School. Alchemy Incorporated is operated by Kwame Scruggs, an organization that uses mythological stories told to the beat of an African drum. “We have found Alchemy to be a very successful and unique tool to engage young men in their middle school years to acquire life lessons, make good decisions, connect with adults and peers to navigate those transitional periods and then be productive,” says Carla Sibley, special projects coordinator for community partnerships at Akron Public Schools. Alchemy is one of many afterschool courses attended by 2,000 Akron elementary and 500 middle school students. Eighty community-based partners support the district’s efforts. Research at Kent State University shows children who attend afterschool programs score the same or higher than their peers on reading and math standardized tests. “Afterschool programs are one part of the pie in a child’s success,” Sibley said. A student who may not show an interest in math may be drawn to robotics or digital photography. “By offering these programs, students still get their math but don’t necessarily know it,” she said. Variety is crucial, especially for middle school students who vote with their feet, Sibley said. Akron’s afterschool agenda is divided into four areas: Academic enrichment - book club, science club; Health and Wellness - Girl Scouts, Alchemy Inc.; the Arts – visual, performing and media arts; and Sports and Fitness – family fitness, skating and hiking. The above are just a sampling of the district’s mid-afternoon schedule. However, one constant links all activities. “Any enrichment program must find the academic connection,” Sibley says. Tapping into students’ interests and talents is another component of success, Grant says. “There’s no one-size-fits-all.” Most elementary programs are school-based. However, for middle and high school students, recreational centers, the YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs and churches also offer safe havens, mentoring and personal growth. “Different models fit different kids,” Grant says. Among the many opportunities for Alliance City School children is a unique partnership between Alliance Middle School, the exercise science department at Mount Union College and Alliance Family YMCA targeting middle school students dealing with obesity. “Some of our students were failing physical education because they wouldn’t dress for and participate in gym class,” said Matt Horning, site coordinator for AMS afterschool programs. Consultation between school officials and Jennie Slimon, associate executive director at Alliance Family YMCA, spawned Healthy Teen. Through Healthy Teen, Mount Union exercise science majors developed personalized fitness routines for middle school youngsters. “Half of the one-and-a-half-hour session was spent learning healthy food choices and behaviors, the other half fitness options,” Slimon says. Middle school students received AMS physical education credit for completing Healthy Teen and a one-year YMCA membership. As a result, “our students became more confident, more self-motivated, more willing to participate. They were holding their heads a little higher,” Horning says. The collaboration ran for four years until funding expired. Efforts are underway to reinstitute the program for 2008-2009. Horning attributes the program’s success to an intensive recruiting, motivating and tracking effort by staff. “Jennie was wonderful at working with the kids and convincing them they needed to come back,” Horning says. In the Cleveland Heights/University Heights school district, a partnership with John Carroll University provided assessment and tutoring in reading for Gearity Elementary students. “The one-on-one instruction by college students was really beneficial,” says Richard Wright, program specialist for before- and afterschool programs for kindergarten through fifth grade in the CH/UH district. More than 200 CH/UH elementary students remain on site when the final bell rings. Legos, games, arts and crafts, dramatic play, creative dance, tapestries, murals, homework time and field trips encourage teamwork, cooperation and healthy interactions. “It’s a setting in which students can develop social skills and character building,” Wright says, adding, “Our kids have a lot of fun.” A show-and-tell segment complements the popular Lego building to help develop public speaking skills. CH/UH is licensed by the Ohio Department of Education for school-age child care. Keeping children in the same building when the school day ends “eliminates the safety issue of kids getting to another location,” Wright says. He credits a veteran staff for the program’s positive ratings. “They always have the kids’ best interests at heart,” Wright said. Sixth graders in the district can also take advantage of CHAMPS (Character, Honor, Achievement, Motivation and Partnership = Success). This offering blends academic assistance, social skills enrichment and recreation time. In addition to the above, afterschool programs introduce children to unknown opportunities. “You can’t be what you can’t see,” says Judi Hill, director of community partnerships at Akron Public Schools. Afterschool programs give area youth that window into the larger community and perhaps breed future engineers, scientists, nutritionists, tradesmen and others. ________________________________________________________________ Afterschool Care in Ohio
Source: America After 3 PM Household Survey on Afterschool conducted by the Afterschool Alliance, Washington, D.C. |
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