In the interest of promoting equal educational opportunities for all children, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA, formerly known as No Child Left Behind) was signed into law in 1965. A critical issue on Capitol Hill, ESEA legislation authorizes several vital funding sources for the afterschool community, including (but not limited to):

• 21^st Century Community Learning Centers Federal Afterschool Initiative
  (21st CCLC)

This is the only federal funding source dedicated exclusively to afterschool programs. Each state receives funds based on its share of Title I funding for low income students. Grants support afterschool programs that provide youth with academic enrichment activities and complementary programming (e.g., arts, recreation, counseling, technology, etc), and their families with literacy and educational development services.

• Title I Funds

Targeted to schools with concentrations of children from low-income families, these grants help local education agencies and schools better teach children who are failing or at risk of failing and to help those children meet challenging state academic standards. Title I funds may be used for Supplemental Educational Services, which provide extra help to students in reading, language arts, and math via tutoring, afterschool services, and summer programs.

• Full Service Community Schools

This program encourages the coordination of academic, social, and health services through partnerships among public elementary and secondary schools; the schools’ local education agencies; and community-based organizations, nonprofit organizations, and other public or private entities. Full Service Community Schools provide comprehensive academic, social, and health services for students, their family members, and community members, and result in improved educational outcomes for children.

Official hearings and discussions of ESEA reauthorization began in Congress in 2006 and as of 2007 the Act was officially up for reauthorization. Currently, staff for the authorizing committee are working through the Act in a bipartisan manner to reach consensus on a host of key issues. On March 13, 2011, the Obama Administration released its blueprint for reauthorization. To stay abreast of ESEA reauthorization, check out the U.S. Department of Education’s blog here: http://www.ed.gov/blog/topic/esea-reauthorization/. (

Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELOs)

Expanded Learning Opportunities or ELOs offer children and youth access to academic enrichment through hands-on, experiential learning programs outside of traditional school hours. These activities and approaches often involve partnerships between schools and community-based organizations. ELOs include a variety of models: afterschool, summer learning, extended day/year programs, full-service community schools, school-community networks, online learning, and alternative high school credit programs.

Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA)

The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts (RISCA) was established by the state legislature in 1967 to raise public interest and participation in the arts and to serve as the liaison to the state arts community.

Afterschool providers can benefit from using the following RISCA resources:

• Apply for one of their program development grants.
• Search for an arts learning enrichment provider for children and youth via their RIARTS map.
• Visit their community toolkit dedicated to promoting arts education in Rhode Island by engaging community members and providing resources to support the importance of arts learning in and out of school.
• Check out their Youth Voices page, where youth can contribute their own digital stories.

Rhode Island Program Quality Assessment Tool (RIPQA)

In response to afterschool providers’ desire to learn more about quality improvement and outreach, the Providence After School Alliance (PASA) convened a working group of 25 afterschool providers to develop a set of standards and indicators to help define quality afterschool programming. Additionally, PASA scanned the country for existing afterschool standards and indicators as a starting point. The working group set out to customize these standards and indicators for Rhode Island providers under five broad categories: (1) Health, Safety, and the Environment; (2) Relationships; (3) Programming and Activities; (4) Staffing and Professional Development; (5) Administration. PASA then partnered with RIASPA and the HighScope Educational Research Foundation to develop an assessment tool built as a hybrid between a nationally recognized and validated assessment tool and a supplementary component addressing the unique needs and priorities of Rhode Island afterschool providers. The resulting tool was Rhode Island Program Quality Assessment Tool (RIPQA), which has been used in over 100 afterschool and youth development organizations to improve the quality of their programs.

Science, Engineering, Technology, and Mathematics (STEM)

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The STEM fields are those academic and professional disciplines that fall under the umbrella of the acronym. Because these fields are expected to be the underpinnings of the global economy of the future, many educators and advocates believe it is crucial to improve K-12 student achievement in these fields nationwide. Afterschool and summer learning programs can easily and creatively integrate STEM concepts into hands-on, interactive activities, thereby helping to prepare students to pursue careers as scientists, engineers, and innovators.

ACCOLADES FROM THE FIELD

“Jackie is a champion because she is steadfast in her vision of afterschool. She never wavers in her commitment and always has a critical ‘eye on the prize’—quality afterschool programs that support and nurture kids and their families.” — Kai Cameron, Facilitator for Community Partnerships, Providence Public Schools

“As the Director of all things related to 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Jackie is afterschool’s biggest cheerleader at the Department of Education. I am constantly amazed by her ability to effectively manage, organize, and supervise all programming in Rhode Island while keeping a great sense of humor.”  — Dana Borrelli-Murray, Director of Expanded Learning Time at Highlander Charter School

Anne Marie Silvia, Wes Moore, Midge Sabatini, and Jackie Ascrizzi at the 2011 Lights on Afterschool Breakfast of Champions

AN INTERVIEW WITH JACKIE ASCRIZZI

What brought you to the afterschool field?

My graduate work focused on the intersection between health and education, and that lead me to the full service community school model, a strategy to address the education, health and social service needs of children and youth and their families at school, in the community, and at home.  Afterschool programs are a key component of the full service model.  Afterschool programs provide expanded learning opportunities that address these issues through an afterschool system of activities and services that focus on youth development.  Youth development is the combination of education and health in its purest form.

Who are the teachers, mentors, or heroes that shaped your career and guided your practice and principles?

The mentors and heroes that continue to shape my career in afterschool are the people doing the work on the ground.  I am in constant awe of the program managers, coordinators, providers, teachers, artists, and others that seem to have an unending source of energy, commitment, and a can-do attitude that seems to overcome the most confounding obstacles to success.  I have never worked with a more committed and passionate group of professionals, always willing to take on a challenge, share lessons learned, and build fabulous opportunities for the children and youth of our state to grow and learn in safe, nurturing, and engaging environments.

What most excites you globally about working in afterschool?

Youth development is meaningful everywhere around the world, in every culture, in all contexts and circumstances.  Imagine a world where all children and youth had opportunities to participate in music, theatre, art, sports, hands-on science, book clubs, math games, chess, swimming, community service, and more.  Imagine a world where all kids were surrounded by caring adults that mentored and nurtured each child to try new things, identify their challenges, find their strengths, and make friends.  That’s afterschool.  What a world that would be!

What makes Rhode Island a compelling place to work in afterschool?

Partnerships, partnerships, partnerships!  Rhode Island’s small size allows us to know each other, to know what resources exist or are needed, to understand the value of working together to reach common goals.  I am privileged to be a partner among so many organizations, funders, teachers, evaluators, data-crunchers, yogis, artists, book-worms, coaches, and others who work together to make the world a better place for our children and youth.  Rhode Island seems to attract smart, innovative, and forward-thinking individuals and the afterschool field is like a magnet for these folks.  The field of afterschool provides opportunities to think outside the box, to find ways to give kids what they need to be happy, productive, engaged learners.  Rhode Island is the Promised Land of afterschool.

What is your ultimate dream for afterschool in Rhode Island and beyond?

Ah, the dream.  All schools have robust afterschool programs that provide expanded learning opportunities that inspire, engage, motivate, and give hope that a meaningful future direction in life is waiting for each and every student.  Funding is plentiful to ensure high-quality programs, with highly trained staff, in safe and comfortable environments.  Collaboration between schools, community organizations, students, and families is alive and palpable.  Afterschool programs are places where kids are safe, nurtured, and supported; where adults know and care about the well-being and academic success of each child; where kids have fun, make friends, and find the doors are wide open to their dreams and possibilities.  Wouldn’t that be something?

In recognition of our tenth anniversary, RIASPA proudly unveiled a new research brief, The Power of Afterschool and the Future of Learning, at our January 25, 2012 Quarterly Membership Meeting.  This brief report showcases the gains the afterschool field has made in last ten years as well as our vision for the next ten. If this vision speaks to you and you wish to partner with us to improve education in our state, please do not hesitate to contact us. If you are not yet a member of RIASPA and would like to attend our future membership meetings, please join us!

Terry Peterson, Chairman of the Afterschool Alliance, offers his remarks.

Terry Curtin (Connecting for Children & Families), Sasha Sidorkin (Rhode Island College), and Terry Peterson (Afterschool Alliance) field questions about the future of afterschool in Rhode Island.

In smaller groups, RIASPA's members brainstorm about our vision for the next ten years.

RIASPA, an education initiative of United Way of Rhode Island, is looking to broaden collaborative efforts within communities to use the summer months as an opportunity to co-create and co-deliver curriculum for elementary- and/or middle-school youth that mitigates summer learning loss, achieves student academic gains, and aligns with quality standards.

This funding is intended to supplement already-existing summer learning programs. This Initiative is funded by Hasbro and is being managed by RIASPA.

A Bidders’ Conference occurred on January 23. Participants at the Bidders’ Conference have asked subsequent clarifying questions about the proposal. We have included the questions and answers here as a way to make this information available to other potential applicants.

Proposals are due by 5:00 PM on Wednesday, February 15, 2012, to Joseph Morra.

RSVP TODAY!

Wednesday, January 25, 2012
9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Casey Family Services, Providence

2012 is RIASPA’s 10th year!

Join us for a celebration of our achievements as a field in the last 10 years and an illuminating conversation about our field-wide vision for the next ten!

An interview with Walker Mettling

Please tell us about your program.

Well, I started the Providence Comics Consortium with my buddy Andrew Oesch in September of 2010 as a series of six comics-making workshops for kids at five branches of the Providence Community Library. The initial series of workshops was made possible by the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. In the classes kids practice drawing and learn about inking and using panels and telling stories. From last year’s winter workshops there is a forthcoming two-hundred page anthology, showcasing the kids’ work and augmented by over 20 adult comic artists’ renderings of the kids’ characters and stories.

We have since had a second series of workshops at both the Providence Community Libraries and The Learning Community, a charter elementary school in Central Falls, as well as three stellar PCL Summer Comics Camps. A second anthology is coming together right now from the spring and summer workshops and this time around we have contributions from Canadian artists who have made comics and art using the kids’ characters. It is going to be really exciting.

Can you say more about your collaboration with adult comic-artists?

We invite greats from the comics scene to collaborate with the kids. These artists draw new versions of the kids’ characters and bring them to life using the origin stories that kids develop themselves in the workshops. So far, artists have included noted locals like Brian Chippendale (Ninja), CF (Powr Mastrs), Michaela Zacchilli (Rav) and Alec Thibodeau, as well as many others from as far away as Puerto Rico and California.

What drew you to the afterschool/youth development field?

I like working with kids; their ideas are great and they’re great to collaborate with, especially before growing up makes creativity something that a lot of us become embarrassed of. I used to lead book-making field trips for elementary school kids at 826 Valencia in San Francisco in the mornings and teach art to teens locked up in the Alameda County Juvenile Facility in the afternoon. In the mornings I would help elementary school students make illustrated books about tiny dragons with potato chip wings or a two-headed cobra working out roommate disputes with a mouse. In the afternoon, I’d be in juvenile hall and it was this intense juxtaposition because, creatively, juvenile hall is not a safe space at all. A couple of kids there were confident at drawing and everyone else preferred not to draw lest they be mocked for it, by other kids or by the guards. It was a really hard crowd until I realized that clay created an even playing field. Even if you hated clay you got the rush of squashing a less-than-satisfying project.

Having taught in oppressive environments makes teaching afterschool a little lighter, especially at the libraries, where there are all these great books, tools, and supportive librarians!

What excites you most about working with youth in an afterschool setting?

After school we can try curriculum that rings with all different types of learners—be it using ink on huge sheets of paper or playing fast-paced drawing games with colored pencils—and that’s an especially important tactic after kids have been sitting in school all day. Also, it is perfect that our laboratory is the Providence Community Library, a totally new library system trying to foster more community programming than the libraries have ever had using less money.

A lot of kids basically live at the libraries until their parents get off of work, so the libraries tend to have a buzz of kids around the computers or chessboards. It’s exciting to tap into the energy that’s inherent to these spaces and bring even more kids in as we get the word out about the program.

What’s upcoming for your program?

The Comics Consortium’s first anthology, A Guy Is Fighting A Monster Out of Nowhere, will come out in September or October and will be available at Ada Books as well as through our website. Every kid who made work for the book will get a copy, as well all the branches of the Providence Community Library. The second anthology will come out later this year.

In October, there will be a fourth round of comics workshops at the Providence Community Libraries and we hope to represent the program and the kids at comics conventions this fall and winter.

What are your interests beyond afterschool?

Besides carving out more time to draw my own comics, I am the host of an irregular reading series that has included “100 Ten Second Stories,” “You and All the Other Creatures” (with New Urban Arts), and “Not Enough Room” (with Craftland). I also write and read stories, screen print posters, and occasionally produce radio.

In addition to Mr. Moore, we heard from Commissioner Deborah Gist and parent speaker Shari Weinberger. Congressman David Cicilline presented Champion Awards to Senator Frank DeVall and Representative Frank Ferri in recognition of their unflagging support of out-of-school time. We also honored Matt Diamond, an exemplary youth worker with the Cumberland Youth Commission, as well as Newport Community School for their outstanding program.

Youth had a strong presence at the event, with 96 youth in attendance for the entire breakfast and 48 arriving afterwards for a youth-centered workshop with Wes Moore. We enjoyed a lively and invigorating performance by youth from the African Drumming Extended Day Enrichment Program at The MET School, and those of us who observed the workshop session that followed the breakfast were moved by the incisive questions posed by middle- and high-school youth. We also featured a gallery of quilted banners in which each quilt square was decorated by youth from local afterschool and summer learning programs.

A total of 392 afterschool professionals, elected officials, school teachers, school principals, superintendents, AmeriCorps members, parents, and advocates enjoyed a powerful event!

RIASPA would like to thank the following companies and organizations for generously sponsoring our 2011 Lights on Afterschool! Breakfast of Champions:

Bank of America

Citizens Bank

Cox Communications

METLife Home and Auto

Sodexo Rhode Island

SAVE THE DATE
2012 Lights On Afterschool! Breakfast of Champions
October 19, 2012
details forthcoming

Please tell us about your program.

OCYL, the Office of Children, Youth, and Learning, offers educational programs to expand opportunities for children to learn and achieve. Our mission is to help foster a comprehensive learning environment for children in the first two decades of their lives while promoting civic engagement.  Our goal is for every Cumberland child to become a skilled learner with a creative mind who achieves to his or her fullest potential.

We offer programs at our location on the monastery grounds, adjacent to the public library, playground, and walking trails. Classes in the visual, musical, and literary arts; chess; math; robotics; Spanish; SAT prep; and science are offered year round. Summer learning programs include a Leadership Academy for middle- and high-school students interested in civics and becoming members of the Cumberland Youth Commission.

While the majority of participants are Cumberland residents, students from surrounding areas are welcome to participate. Cumberland residents who qualify for free/reduced lunch attend programs for free, making the program more accessible to those who would otherwise not have enrichment opportunities.

What drew you to the afterschool/youth development field?

I was fortunate to grow up near a major city in the Midwest and saw education as the number one priority–all education: arts, sciences, field trips, college prep, afterschool, and in-school. While I was working in the nonprofit arts field for more than a decade, I realized that young people were not getting the breadth of education I was fortunate enough to receive. In addition, working with young artists trying to make a living, I saw their need for more support and encouragement and ways to connect with the community.

By the time I had children of my own, schools everywhere were drastically reducing in-school and even afterschool programs. Linking the arts with literacy became a natural connection for me as a parent, visual artist, and educator, so I took a position working with children and families at the town library. From there, my desire to teach and administrate programs returned. Ultimately I was offered the position here at OCYL to lead the way for other teachers to support and encourage children, no matter what subject they are learning.

What excites you most about working in an afterschool setting?

OCYL’s Early Childhood Programs recently made their way “home”  here in our main location. Seeing the children with excited, happy faces during the day and having time to connect with them and their parents is truly gratifying. Afterschool, kids who have had a long day in traditional classrooms spark energy into our “home” and give so much back to us as teachers and administrators the moment they walk in the door.

What’s coming up for your program?

We are currently expanding and will be offering more programs for middle- and high-school students as part of the Cumberland Youth Commission programming. These youth are providing guidance as to the kinds of classes they want to see offered here at OCYL, especially in the new “youth room” that will serve as a temporary location as they work toward a student center for the community.

In addition, the OCYL is leading an “education pledge” in which we ask every Cumberland family to commit to education as a priority in their home, reminding them that every part of the day counts: in school, after school, and even vacations. We will also be reaching out to other organizations and businesses to become part of what we hope will be the “calling card” for Cumberland: a great place to get a fantastic education–in school and after school!

What are your interests beyond afterschool?

Beyond afterschool, OCYL offers weekday programming for Early Childhood (in literacy, math, and music) and Home School groups. These programs, along with the Youth Commission, are integral for our success in reaching as many children in Cumberland as possible. Collaborations with more local organizations and the public school are closer to realization than ever before in our five year history.

On a personal note,  I’m interested in participating with other organizations such as BAAM (Because Art Always Matters), the PTO, and am currently a panelist with the RI State Council on the Arts. I love attending arts festivals and gallery shows with my family, making art with my daughters, taking my Girl Scouts on trips, and playing with my big silly dog Lucy who inspires me to stay young.

After the School Bell Rings: Key Findings from a Statewide Parent Survey