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It's been a sobering spring as after-school programs have struggled from recessionary pressures. So I took heart from reading "Manga High: Literacy, Identity, and Coming of Age in an Urban High School." This book, by Michael Bitz, describes how students at Martin Luther King Jr. High School campus developed their passion for creating Japanese-style comics after school. I'm a longtime fan of The Comic Book Project, a curriculum that blends art and literacy, which Michael widely piloted in TASC programs. Writing and illustrating comic books continues to be incredibly popular in our programs – especially among boys who can be hard to engage. It's a stellar example of the way after-school can put kids' creativity and urge toward self-expression at the center of their learning experience.
I recommend this essay in The Washington Post to those who doubt whether parents will embrace the richer school experience an expanded year can offer. Anyone for calligraphy or Japanese? The momentum to expand learning time is building.
If you missed these recommendations from the Harvard Family Research Project, on why the federal government should support learning outside of school time, go to page 24 for an excellent summary of the five changes that next need to happen so we can serve more kids, with higher quality programs, as part of a whole day/whole year learning strategy.
We get lots of inquiries about how federal stimulus funds might support traditional after-school programs. Bookmark this: the Afterschool Alliance's Economic Recovery Wiki, a constantly updated exchange of tips, resources and how-to's, fed by many great minds out there in the field.
The Summer, 2009 issue of American Educator is dedicated to exploring school-community partnerships. I found this article on Community Schools, by Jane Quinn and Joy Dryfoos, particularly interesting.
Finally, if you've missed Sam Roberts' book about Herb Sturz, it answers the question so many of us have asked ourselves: how can one man have accomplished so much social change, so quietly and yet so effectively? It really is a kind of genius.