Policymakers and Educators Discuss How Expanding the School Day Boosts
Student Achievement
“Re-Inventing Schools: A Policy Forum on Partnerships for School Reform,” brought together some of New Orleans’ leading educators and policymakers to discuss the benefits that longer school days, with more diverse learning opportunities, can have on student achievement. The forum, at the Hillel Center on Tulane University’s campus on June 13th, was hosted by The After-School Corporation (TASC), a national non-profit organization, and the Partnership for Youth Development (PYD), the New Orleans out-of-school-time intermediary organization that is guiding implementation of TASC’s ExpandED Schools model in New Orleans. A snap-shot of the first year’s work is available here. Video of the panels is available on the TASC website.
The forum drew on the experiences of schools and community partners over the past school year. Starting last fall, PYD and TASC partnered to bring TASC’s national expanded learning day model to three New Orleans schools: Batiste Cultural Arts Academy at Live Oak Elementary, Fannie C. Williams Elementary and McDonough 32 Elementary. The schools add two-to-three more hours of learning time to the traditional 6.5-hour public school day, with the goal of closing gaps in student opportunity and educational achievement. Additionally, each school partners with a community organization that leads students in a diverse range of enrichment activities, such as band, dance, sports, cooking, creative writing and videography. The results are schools with stronger social ties to the community and students who do better in school and have less unsupervised time during the day. Batiste partners with NOSACONN (New Orleans South African Connection), Fannie C. Williams with VIET (Vietnamese Initiatives in Economic Training); and McDonogh 32 with Young Audiences of Louisiana.
At the forum, Dr. Andre Perry, Ph.D., the Associate Director for Educational Initiatives for the Loyola Institute for Quality and Equity in Education, delivered the keynote address. Dr. Perry emphasized the need for schools to work with the community to foster better learning environments for students. “Learning is not just what happens during the traditional school day,” Perry said. Dr. Perry’s address was preceded by a speech from Dana Peterson, Deputy Superintendent for Internal Affairs in the Recovery School District, who focused on the rewards of a longer school day and school-community organization partnerships.
Perry’s speech followed representatives of two New Orleans ExpandED School teams that discussed what it takes to build truly integrated partnerships between school principals and partnering community organizations. The panelists, including Rickie Nutik, Executive Director of Young Audiences of Louisiana, Dwight Rhodes, Chief Academic of ReNEW Charter Schools and Korbin Johnson, Principal of KIPP Central City Primary School, discussed how such partnerships not only increase student academic growth, but also provide for safer environments for students and communities as a whole. Johnson pointed out that school-community partnerships work best when both parties work in harmony and the community partners’ goals align with those of the school.
The forum began with a discussion of how schools and communities are breaking down traditional barriers of leadership and partnership to share accountability for multiple measures of student progress. Dara Rose, Senior Program Officer of The Wallace Foundation, delivered an overview of efforts by government, schools and community organizations to expand the school day and year and to pinpoint the core elements that lead to student success.
“The traditional six hour, 180 day school year is outdated,” Rose said. “Students need more learning time.”
“The point of a forum like this is to learn from an open exchange about what’s working, but perhaps even more from how we can be more effective in dealing with the challenges of re-inventing school to give every student a fair chance to succeed in life,” said Lucy N. Friedman, TASC’s President. “Our goal with this demonstration project is to build a model that’s successful for students and families, but also cost-effective and sustainable for the long run. We need to ensure it includes core elements for success, but gives local school and community leaders the flexibility to meet the needs of their kids. This discussion will help us correct as we go, and also to inform and learn from policymakers who influence the ways schools are staffed, funded and developed.”
“PYD was thrilled to host today’s forum,” Lauren Bierbaum, PYD’s acting Executive Director said. “We firmly believe that school reform models such as ExpandED Schools create the enriching and supportive environments students need to learn, explore, and develop the academic and social skills required to excel in a 21st century world. We hope that today’s event brings in the voices of all our partners from across the nation and within New Orleans, from the classroom and from the community. Today’s event is about lifting up what works for all of us engaged in the crucial efforts of guiding young people through their development as life-long and multi-dimensional learners.”
“Schools just can’t do it all on their own, and they can’t do it all within the confines of the traditional school day,” said Rose of The Wallace Foundation. “Through forums like this we have an opportunity now to re-imagine how time can be spent, with caring adults and enrichment activities that are both academic and non-academic. We can co-construct models for more time for learning that improves school engagement along with other socio-emotional skills that are key to success in the 21st century.”
The ExpandED Schools National Demonstration Project receives major support from the Open Society Foundations and The Wallace Foundation.
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Partnership for Youth Development helps school age youth in New Orleans maximize their learning opportunities and educational experiences during out of school time. PYD maintains strong connections between community groups, schools, government agencies and families. Serving as this critical link, PYD leverages resources to community based organizations that serve youth and fill any gaps between existing local youth systems in order to create a strong infrastructure that effectively supports the children and youth of New Orleans.
ExpandED Schools by TASC are dedicated to giving all kids expanded learning opportunities that support, educate and inspire them. TASC is a nonprofit organization.
Contact:
Vincent Rossmeier, Policy Manager, Partnership for Youth Development
vrossmeier@nolayouth.org – 504-304-9591
Susan Brenna, Director of Communications, TASC
sbrenna@tascorp.org – 917-328-2448
