|
|
 |
EVENTS
August 25
Back to School: Free and Reduced-Price School Meal Application
Hunger Solutions New York
Online
September 13
Creating Authentic Assessments
ASCD
Online
September15–16
Career and Technical Education Equity Council Best Practices Conference
Career and Technical Education Equity Council
Tulsa, OK
September 28
Making Programs More Inclusive and Accessible for Youth with Disabilities
National Girls Collaborative Project
Online
October 7
Ed Tech 2012 Chicago: Boosting Student Achievement
Education Week
Chicago, IL
October 11
Cloudy with a Change in Learning
The New Jersey Association for Educational Technology
Lakewood, NJ
October 25–26
2011 Expanded Learning Time Convening
National Center on Time and Learning and the Harvard Graduate School of Education
Boston, MA
|
JOBS
Director of Education
The After-School Corporation
New York, NY
Special Assistant to the President
The After-School Corporation
New York, NY
Communications and Policy Associate
New York State Afterschool Network
New York, NY
After-School Coordinator
Chinatown YMCA
New York, NY
Out-of-School Time Program Facilitator
Young Athletes, Inc.
Bronx, NY
Group Leader
Police Athletic League
Brooklyn, NY
Homework Helper,
Part-time
Boys' Club of New York
New York, NY
For more job openings and training opportunities in the after-school field, visit www.afterschool
pathfinder.org.
|
|
Back to School, Only Different
Is the backpack filled with school supplies? Have you mapped the shortest route to school? Is your child blogging? Which of these back-to-school questions is not like the others?
If you were at our standing-room-only Digital Learning Forum hosted by Google this summer, you would have caught the wave of technology that is changing learning as we know it at home, at school, at the library, on your child's mobile phone, and among the ever-expanding online networks of educators who seek to customize learning to the need of every child. In school and after school this year, don't be surprised to see educators use blogs, social media tools and other online forums to stimulate student writing and development of projects they can re-mix and share with kids across the hall or across the world. This blended learning approach isn't an alternative to the traditional classroom model, but a way to meet and engage kids where they already are—online.
TASC has embarked on an initiative with the U.S. Department of Education to build partnerships between schools and community organizations to make the best use of online tools to spur higher achievement, deepen student engagement and expand the time and ways kids learn. We know community educators who work with kids after school and in libraries and museums are in the forefront of blending tech tools with adult guidance to engage kids more deeply in learning. But just as with teachers, many community educators are sidelined by a lack of equipment, infrastructure, web access or professional guidance in how to integrate online and on-site education.
Read this White House blog post to learn more about how we're working with national leaders to build partnerships in blended learning between schools, communities and families.
 Principal Sean Davenport is your guide to an expanded learning day in a New York City public school:
WHAT'S LUCY READING?
TASC President Lucy N. Friedman catches you up on her list of must-reads:
I enjoyed a particularly sharp and clear piece of writing on why learning needs a digital upgrade from The New York Times Opinionator Virginia Heffernan. She describes a new book on learning in the digital age—"Now You See It" from the MacArthur Foundation's Cathy A. Davidson—as "rooted in field experience, as well as rigorous history, philosophy and science" but also as an "optimistic, even thrilling, summer read." Sounds just right for the end of August.
A rigorous analysis of Providence, Rhode Island's citywide after-school system for middle school students shows that participating students attended school more often (shrinking their school absences by 25% over two years), improved their attitudes toward school and did better in math. You can find the full report by Public/Private Ventures here. The study confirms what a growing body of evidence tells us: high quality programming benefits kids, and the more they participate, the more they benefit.
Sometimes I take a break from reading to listen. A different take on "anytime, anywhere" learning came through in this NPR story on an Inwood artist who has taken it upon himself to teach his neighbors English in the un-intimidating surroundings of their neighborhood Laundromat. Some of the most interesting education thinkers can be heard in the new-ish Harvard EdCast series of podcasts from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. It's refreshing to hear prominent education reformers and commenters like Alexander Russo and Andrew Rotherham in their own voices when we're so much more used to them as bloggers on the page. In a recent podcast Mr. Russo called the current wave of school reform "a bubble that's about to crash." Is he being prescient?
Hear Pedro Noguera talk about the benefits of expanded learning time:
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
In the six years since New York City established the largest system of municipally-funded of after-school programs in the country, we have become, along with our colleagues, so much more ambitious about how to use the hours after 3 to help kids learn and develop to their fullest potential. The city's Department of Youth and Community Development is expected to open up its Out-of-School Time initiative this fall to applications from a fresh round of school-and-community partners who want to operate daily programs. This will not be a painless process; budget cuts mean that fewer students will be served than in recent years. Based on a recently published concept paper (PDF, 248 KB), however, we can expect the city to raise the bar on program quality and curriculum and to introduce new standards for engaging kids in hands-on, potentially life-changing science, technology, engineering and math experiences.
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
Staples Youth Social Entrepreneur (YSE) Competition
Deadline: September 9
This competition, created by Staples Foundation and Ashoka, recognizes exceptional young people using innovation and technology to advance social change and improve their communities and the world.
Sodexo Youth Grants
Deadline: September 16
Twenty-five grants of $500 each are available to support youth-led service projects that address the issue of childhood hunger during National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week in November.
Greenworks Grant Program
Deadline: September 30
Greenworks grants of up to $1,000 can help educators and students implement environmental projects such as school/community native plant gardens, recycling programs or energy conservation projects.
Power a Bright Future
Deadline: October 17
Clorox is giving students more chances to play, create and explore by awarding four $25,000 grants and one $50,000 grant to fund academic and extracurricular programs in schools.
UnitedHealth HEROES
Deadline: October 17
This service-learning initiative in partnership with Youth Service America awards $1,000 grants to help youth create and implement local, hands-on programs to fight childhood obesity.
Project Ignition
Deadline: November 15
High schools can win up to $9,500 to fund student-led awareness and engagement campaigns designed to promote safe driving by teenagers.
For the most up-to-date funding opportunities, be sure to visit TASC's Youth Funders Database.
|
|
