Welcome Back!
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Welcome back - even though for many of you the summer months are not an "off" time.
Recognition continues to grow of the role high quality summer learning programming plays in young people's academic development. Research suggests that the dramatically different learning experiences that low and high income youth experience during summer is key to understanding the educational equity gap. So congratulations to all of you who have worked this summer to provide expanded learning opportunities for the youth in your community!
Before summer becomes a distant memory, we encourage you (or one of your program champions) to document your success to make the case for next summer's programs. Summarize the activities you organized and overall participation and achievement levels. Conduct follow-up interviews with participants / parents, and get a good handle on overall program costs.
Tapping into national research by institutions like Johns Hopkins Center for Summer Learning can help build your case for expanded learning locally. You may also find President Obama's recent proclamation naming July 9th National Summer Learning Day useful in aligning your program with emerging national educational reform efforts.
You'll find that the work you do now to document and promote your programs will pay dividends in the summers to come.
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Lowe's Toolbox For Education: K-12 Projects
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Lowe's will award up to $5,000 to nonprofit K-12 public schools and school-affiliated parent groups working on facility enhancements or landscaping/cleanup projects. Click here for additional information and how to apply.
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| We'd love to hear from you . . . |
Stay in touch! Be sure to fill out an NCLCN Partner Form at
www.NebraskaCLCNetwork.org.
It only takes a minute, and it will help keep you connected with community learning center work throughout the state.
If you have ideas for news stories to be featured in NCLCN News, or have questions or comments, contact Jeff Cole at
jcole@nebraskachildren.org.
The Nebraska Community Learning Center Network is administered by Nebraska Children and Families Foundation.
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Out-of-School Time and
National Education Reform
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This summer has seen a whirlwind of activity around major new federal efforts to implement national education reform. In July, the President released the request for proposals for an unprecedented state-level grant competition (termed the Race to the Top fund). Expanded learning opportunities numbers among the key strategies being promoted for improving low-performing schools.
While these Race to the Top funds will only support large, state-level projects, the Federal government plans to release requests for proposals for Innovation Fund grants later this summer. These grants are designed to promote local-level collaboration between school districts and community organizations. We anticipate the Innovation Grants will include opportunities for extended learning and encourage you to take advantage of them to build innovative, high quality programs in your communities.
A new practice guide, Structuring Out-of-School Time to Improve Academic Achievement, has been published by the Federal Department of Education. The guide, available from the What Works Clearinghouse as well as our own NCLCN website, draws upon emerging field research to identify five strategies to strengthen the academic portion of out-of-school programs: - Align out-of-school time programs academically with school day
- Maximize student participation and attendance
- Adapt instruction to individual and small group needs
- Provide engaging learning experiences
- Assess program performance and use the results to improve the quality of the program
If you are developing out-of-school time programs in your community, this guide can help you root your initiative in the latest research.
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Integrating Services Around
Community Learning Centers
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Numerous non-academic issues can have a direct impact academic achievement, particularly the health of students. When students or their families are sick and unable to access needed health care services, their ability to participate in school or afterschool programs diminishes.
Fortunately districts across the state and nation are attempting some partnerships in an attempt at facilitating some common sense solutions to this problem. In Omaha, for example, an innovative partnership between Omaha Public Schools and a variety of community partners is bringing much needed health services into neighborhood schools. This program illustrates how schools, community-based service providers and families can work together to come up with solutions that keep children healthy and help more students thrive in school.
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Safe Routes Nebraska Funding
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The Nebraska Department of Roads Safe Routes Program is announcing the availability of funds for projects that encourage and better enable children of Nebraska to walk and bike safely to school. Safe Routes Nebraska representatives will conduct workshops August 11th in Kearney at the Fort Kearney Visitor's Center (1007 2nd Ave.) and August 12th in Norfolk at Health and Human Services (209 N. 5th St.).
The workshop consists of a presentation about the program followed by a working session for communities to discuss project ideas. Participants are encouraged to bring materials, such as maps and photos to help explain their project ideas. Schools, state, local, and non-profit organizations may apply by completing an intent-to-apply form.
Intent-to-apply Deadline: September 3, 2009.
For more information, contact Kelly Morgan, Safe Routes Nebraska Program Coordinator at 402-476-7331 or email: kmorgan@sinclairhille.com.
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Grants Available for School and Youth Gardens
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The National Gardening Association works with sponsoring companies and organizations to provide in-kind grants to projects that engage children with gardening and improve the quality of life for their communities. There are three grant awards open for application:
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