Introducing the Expanded Learning 360°/365 Project

Sam Piha

By Sam Piha

In the last decade, research on learning and the brain, and the impact of social-emotional and character skills, has expanded our understanding of learning. Currently, we are witnessing a significant pivot from a narrow focus on academic performance, measured by standardized reading and math test scores, to a broader perspective of young people’s development that includes and promotes social-emotional and character skills.

This shift is based on recent research on the importance of social emotional learning, non-cognitive skills, growth mindsets, and character skills. Much of this is reflected by the new Common Core State Standards, the CORE Waiver’s focus on social-emotional accountability, and Expanded Learning Quality Standards being developed in many states.

In order to see this shift fully realized, a number of capacity building organizations came together to form a new project, entitled Expanded Learning 360°/365: Skills for Success in School, Work, and Life. These organizations include ASAPconnect, California School-Age Consortium (CalSAC), Learning in Afterschool & Summer (LIAS)/Temescal Associates, and Partnership for Children and Youth.

This project is designed to help policymakers, district and school leaders and expanded learning providers better identify and integrate social-emotional and character skills into their work with young people. We will accomplish this by:

• Clearly defining the role that expanded learning plays in social-emotional and character skill development,
• Promoting that school and expanded learning leaders work together to integrate teaching strategies around these skills across the school day and into expanded learning time,
• Working with policymakers and district leaders to integrate these ideas into the policies that guide and govern schools and expanded learning programs, and
• Identifying and developing trainings and curriculum for school and expanded learning staff that include best practices for supporting these skills in their young people.

Because we have seen a recent proliferation of lists identifying critical skills for youth, it is easy to see why some afterschool leaders are confused – “Which list is most important; which list should I use?” The Expanded Learning 360°/365 project convened a research work group to distill these lists into a more useable list - a single list. We will share more in a future post. Meanwhile, to learn more, click here.

Dr. Tony Smith - Former OUSD Superintendent Now State Superintendent of Education, Illinois

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

Oakland Unified School District lost a superb superintendent when Tony Smith left in 2013. He recently resurfaced as new State Superintendent of Education in Illinois this April 2015. A spokeswoman for Gov. Bruce Rauner said that Smith is "a transformational leader and has a proven track record of increasing student achievement, while successfully addressing fiscal and structural issues at the local district level."

While in Oakland, Smith talked about students being "community ready" as well as prepared for college and careers. Below we share an interview we did with Dr. Smith when he was in Oakland. You can also view this interview in a 2-part video with Dr. Smith by clicking here and here. 

Q: The LIAS learning principles were not intended to apply to strictly afterschool settings. In your experience, how are these principles, when taken together, relevant to young people’s learning? 

Dr. Tony Smith, State Superintendent of Education, Illinois
Photo Credit: http://www.chicagotribune.com/

A: I think the principles about learning and afterschool time are really about engaging the whole child, which is what I think good educators do and good school systems should be thinking about all the time. The research that has been happening reminds us that young people are active learners in the larger world around them and that we, as adults and communities, must support young people in their learning as they become more pro-socially integrated into the life of our communities.

Q: How are these LIAS principles related to what we are doing in school reform efforts? 

A: The guiding principles that have been pushed forward recently in the afterschool time are helping us think more about the whole child, about community schools, and connecting the world that our young people and families live in with the school house. We have to get much more thoughtful by engaging with community. We want to advance reform so that it’s not just about school reform, its about changing our notions of learning, engaging and inviting a fuller experience for what learning can be. The afterschool time is really pushing that and helping change ideas about what we should be doing inside of school.  

Q: We are focusing our efforts on the idea of improving our approaches to how children learn. Do you see this as an important shift in how we talk about learning in afterschool and summer programs? 

A: The really exciting part of what’s coming from brain research and our knowledge of how young people learn is that we need to change the daily experience inside of school and also remember that kids are in school for only a very short amount of their time. So how are we supporting young people to know, learn, and be productive citizens? 

Photo Credit: http://www.techbridgegirls.org/

Adults  have to start thinking differently. All of us need to stay close to learning theory and realize that there is more to learn about learning. If we can continue to basically teach and help people who are responsible for education know that they have to be learners themselves, I think that helps us change the conversation. I think staying grounded in the research and talking about the ideas of learning help to change the conversation over time. Then, with more evidence, we can change our behaviors and begin saying, “Hey the whole community should be the learning environment”. We should have more structured opportunities for kids to take the lead on stuff and bring what they’re learning outside of the school back in. That way, I think educators can be the learners also.  

Q: Can you speak to one or more of the LIAS principles that most resonate for you when you think about creating learning environments and activities for kids? 

A: I think the guiding principles are essential. I think it’s so important to have a set of core ideas that you can work around. The way these principles have been compiled are really important. 

Obviously the work of being in a relationship with people, working deeply on stuff, really stuff you care about, matters.  The principle that is fundamentally important to me though is about expanding horizons, about the opportunity for young people to see possible futures. Sometimes, particularly in the urban setting or quite frankly in any setting, young people don’t have folks around them that are helping to expand the notions of what’s possible for them, who are looking into their eyes and saying, “I see greatness in you, and I see more than you see in yourself right now”. 

I think that afterschool time should offer those opportunities. Those in afterschool are less tethered to the school building, can do other stuff, can get further a field and actually get into some uncomfortable and different situations that provoke “huh, I never really thought about it like that”, or maybe “I could”, or “I really liked when we went there”. I think that when you have young people who only know a few square blocks, exposing them to new things can be fundamentally transformative. All of the other guiding principles are really important, but taking seriously that we have a responsibility to encourage, activate, and energize notions of possible futures, expanding horizons, that’s the one where I really think afterschool is uniquely and importantly positioned to do. 

Photo credit: http://content.time.com/

Q:What happens when we structure youth programs without paying attention to these learning principles? 

A: I think when we don’t pay attention to what really works for young people - about developing mastery, about caring about things, about working closely with others - then we create the conditions for young people to disengage.  This idea of young people dropping out of high school is a slow process of pushing kids out of the system.  If we don’t pay attention to what we know works for human beings, what we’re learning about human development, and all the learning research, then we’re responsible for making it less likely that young people realize their potential, that they’re connected, that they take leadership in positive ways.  

Young people are powerful and they want to have agency and exert energy on the world. Unless we’re helping them do that, working together, and helping with some boundaries,  I think we’re responsible for young people checking out and being outside of the system. 

Q: Which principle do you ultimately want every student to walk away with, more than any other principle?

A: At the end of the day, there’s no excuse for a young person or anybody not developing mastery over time. Many of these principles are facilitating conditions to develop mastery over time.  If in fact we don’t hold ourselves as a community, as adults, as educators, responsible for ensuring that people develop mastery, then we’ve failed in our responsibility. Having some sense of strength and agency is critical for every young person. It is not about seat time, it is about competence. It’s not about how long you did it, it’s about how well you do it. And we need to find ways to help every young person be great at something. 

Afterschool Learning and Digital Badges

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

If the growing afterschool movement is to prosper, these programs must be recognized as important places of learning. The use and awarding of digital badges to recognize the learning that takes place within these programs represents an excellent strategy to accomplish this. 

Digital badges can be used to recognize exemplar programs, staff trainers, program staff who have completed professional development sessions, or youth who have acquired new knowledge and skills through participation in afterschool activities.  

We believe there are many benefits to the awarding of digital badges for learning. Some of these are articulated below: 

• Because program leaders must think through and explicitly state what learning will go on in specific program activities or clubs that is being recognized by a digital badge, this specificity raises the bar for learning accountability. 
• The awarding of digital badges defines the learning that goes on in programs for outsiders, which is vital if afterschool programs are to be recognized as important places of learning. These badges are important, visible evidence that afterschool programs take learning seriously. 
• The adult program staff members often acquire important knowledge and skills through professional development and years of experience. Youth acquire valuable skills and knowledge through their participation in specific afterschool activities. Both deserve an artifact that documents their learning and—importantly—can be shared with peers, future employers, and those allowing admittance to higher education. 

To promote the use of digital badges, Temescal Associates and the Learning in Afterschool & Summer (LIAS) Project has launched the Center for Digital Badges (CDB). You can visit our website to access several informational articles and videos, see a gallery of badges we have designed for several afterschool partners, and review case studies. These case studies document how afterschool programs, training organizations, and regional work groups have used digital badges to recognize the learning of afterschool staff and youth participants, as well as exemplar afterschool programs. 

We believe that the digital badge revolution will serve the afterschool movement well. To ensure a growing understanding and valuing of digital badges, we have formed a statewide committee of afterschool organizations to develop an educational campaign. 

New Quality Standards, Program Improvement, and LIAS Learning Principles: An Interview with Michael Funk, California After School Division Director (Part 2)

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

The afterschool and summer learning movement has evolved under the new leadership of Tom Torlakson, California Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Michael Funk, Director of the After School Division. Below is part 2 of an interview we conducted with Michael Funk. 

You can view a video that reviews the new California Quality Standards for Expanded Learning Programs by clicking here. You can view a brief video of Michael's remarks at the recent How Kids Learn IV conference by clicking here. You can also view a video of an interview with Tom Torlakson on Learning in Afterschool & Summer by clicking here. 

Michael Funk
Director
After School Division
CDE

Q: The new expanded learning Quality Standards have been released by CDE. How are you hoping that the field of school-based afterschool programs respond to this list of standards?

A: I have already seen a very encouraging response as I have gone out to different programs and different parts of the state over the past few months and have had conversations and conducted workshops with program leaders about the new Quality Standards. We have been clear about what the standards are and the intended use of the standards. 

Leaders who have been in this work a long time have described the new Quality Standards as affirming, validating, and exciting. Many have exclaimed, “Now we really know that what we believe is important is also important to the California Department of Education.”  What I hope for is that these standards will be embraced and they will be welcomed, not as an intimidating compliance measure but rather, as a welcome framework for continuous improvement and quality. I also hope that the way programs engage with those standards will actually be organic and from the bottom up. Whatever we can do from CDE to support and give guidance on how sites are in compliance with the continuous improvement process would be just that, guidance and encouragement, and that the real driver for adopting and embracing these Quality Standards would be at the ground level.

Q: Programs are asked to use data to develop program improvement efforts that are in line with the new Quality Standards.  What kind of data gathering tools are you hoping that programs use?

A: We’re in the midst of trying to figure that out now.  In fact, in the next couple of months we’ll be working on a draft of the guidance for implementation of SB 1221, which includes the answer to that very question.  But I can tell you that intent of the language of the bill was that local decisions, communicated to CDE staff, would be our goal. We could offer examples of tools that we feel are relevant, but there are also a variety of other approaches. One program might use a very sophisticated tool. However, another small program with a small number of students and a small amount of funding might use another less sophisticated tool. There are different ways to do surveys and focus groups with students and parents and pull together information with the standards as the framework for that conversation. And so it could range widely, but there will most likely be a process where the grantees will communicate to us in advance their plan and what data they plan to use. We’ll have a chance to see what the trends are and what tools programs are finding most helpful. 

Q: How will your department consider ensuring that there’s education opportunities for programs to learn more about these new Quality Standards and processes for data-driven assessment to help drive program alignment to these standards?

A: One of our four strategic initiatives is to overhaul the system of support, as we know it. I’m hopeful that through the process we will be able to really target experiences, ranging from workshops to onsite coaching, that really help programs to engage in an authentic and effective cycle of quality improvement. There are plans to do regional-based conferences that will be focused on the standards and the implementation of SB1221, including the continuous improvement process. We will use targeted funding and ask those in our system of support to fully address this in their work plans. Over the past couple of years our regional teams, which include County Office of Education Regional Leads and CDE staff, have developed a data-driven process to identify sites that are struggling and at risk of low attendance. Using the Quality Standards in a quality improvement process will be one of the primary technical assistance strategies that these teams will use with those sites.

Q: You have been a strong supporter of the Learning in Afterschool & Summer learning principles.  How do you see these reflected in your visits around the state and in the Quality Standards? 

A: The group that pulled together the Quality Standards, which included Temescal Associates, agreed at the onset that the LIAS principles would be embedded and foundational to these new standards.  You don’t see them listed as you see them listed on the postcard with five in a row, but they are definitely there and foundational to the standards. 

As I visit different regions and talk to large groups of grantees, I explain that the standards are not meant to replace the LIAS principles. You need to think of both of them as part of the same mosaic. In essence, the LIAS principles, the Quality Standards, the standards in action, the crosswalk, the passage of SB1221 - these are all things that are intentionally designed to fit together. There will be times when it would be much more effective and strategic to train using the five learning principles than it would to do train using the 12 Quality Standards, or vice versa. I see them interlinked by design.

Q: How have the Learning in Afterschool & Summer learning principles been accepted by the field?

A: Everywhere I go it’s becoming the common language. I was at a high school afterschool program in San Diego and I walked into a weight room where there was a group of high school kids participating in a weight lifting and wrestling program. I was introduced to the activity leader. He looked at me and said, “Have you ever heard of the Learning in Afterschool & Summer principles?”  I smiled as he described to me how he has integrated them into his program, and how every club on the campus uses them. I think that’s more the norm from what I’m seeing, than not.
______________________
Michael Funk, a practitioner and policy advocate for after-school programs in California, is the Director of the After School Division at the California Department of Education. Before joining CDE, Michael was the Founder and Director for 16 years of the Sunset Neighborhood Beacon Center in San Francisco, a program of Aspiranet, a human services and after-school provider. He was also Director of Aspiranet's After School, Youth, and Community Development Division. Funk received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education from Northwest Nazarene College in Nampa, Idaho. 

Expanded Learning, SB 1221, and More: An Interview with Michael Funk, California After School Division Director (Part 1)

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

California's afterschool and summer learning movement has evolved under the new leadership of Tom Torlakson, California Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Michael Funk, Director of the After School Division. Below is part 1 of an interview we conducted with Michael Funk. You can read part 2 of this interview on the LIAS website/blog.

You can view a brief video of Michael's remarks at the recent How Kids Learn IV conference by clicking here. You can also view a video of an interview with Tom Torlakson on Learning in Afterschool & Summer by clicking here. 

Michael Funk, Director
After School Division, CDE

Q: The term “expanded learning” is used differently by different people in different parts of the country. Can you give your definition of “expanded learning time and programs”?

A: The California Department of Education defines expanded learning as "Before and after school, summer, and intersession learning programs that develop the academic, social, emotional, and physical needs and interests of students. Expanded learning opportunities should be hands-on, engaging, student-centered, results-driven, involve community partners, and complement learning activities in the regular school day/year."

Q: In your mind what is the difference between the terms “expanded learning” and “extended learning”?

A: This is a discussion that continually takes place because for those of us in the expanded learning movement, we see a large difference between those two. Extended learning is sometimes viewed in a negative way because it typically refers to doing more of what the students have been experiencing all day, more time in traditional classroom settings.

Expanded learning really means expanding the opportunities and the way kids learn, not just more of what they’re experiencing for most of the day. Even if what they’re experiencing during the school day is high quality and kids are learning, that doesn’t mean more of it in a longer day is effective. We all know that kids and adults need the type of learning experiences described by the Learning in Afterschool & Summer (LIAS) learning principles and demonstrated in quality expanded learning programs - learning that also complements what happens during the school day.

Q: Are you hoping that the field begins using "expanded learning" programs to replace "afterschool and summer" programs?

A: Yes. You’ll see that in our statewide strategic plan it is an expanded learning plan, and in our vision statement it talks about California’s expanded learning programs.  So to the extent that it’s helpful, we are trying to use that phrase.  But we also have to be mindful that if we’re trying to communicate to parents or people who are not familiar with the term "expanded learning," the brand that is recognizable is still afterschool and summer programs.

Q: The California legislature recently passed SB 1221, which focuses on ASES, ASSETs, and California’s 21st Century Learning Centers.  What do you believe are the most important changes as a result of this passage?

A: I think there are two significant shifts. The first is that SB 1221 takes out some accountability language for outcomes that were not really effective in driving or even measuring quality for expanded learning programs. This bill replaces the old accountability outcomes with a requirement that every program conduct an annual, data driven, quality improvement process based on California’s newly-released Quality Standards for expanded learning. For those of us that have been afterschool practitioners for decades we know the incredible value of the cycle of quality improvement as one of the characteristics of a high quality program. In essence SB 1221 is laying the groundwork for programs to do this across the state. Many high quality programs already do this in some way. This emphasis on the Quality Standards and emerging and existing tools can help them think of a way to do this process with more intent and even better results.  

The second important change is that SB 1221 really incentivizes year-round programming in a variety of ways. 

The mechanics of both of these changes are in the process of being worked out, but those are the primary features.  There are some other features that deal with data collection and a biennial report to the legislature. There are also some very specific, targeted pieces to benefit very remote, rural programs related to minimum grant size and transportation funding assistance.

______________________

Michael Funk, a practitioner and policy advocate for after-school programs in California, is the Director of the After School Division at the California Department of Education. Before joining CDE, Michael was the Founder and Director for 16 years of the Sunset Neighborhood Beacon Center in San Francisco, a program of Aspiranet, a human services and after-school provider. He was also Director of Aspiranet's After School, Youth, and Community Development Division. Funk received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education from Northwest Nazarene College in Nampa, Idaho.