[ ED Homepage ] Last Updated -- February 27, 1998, (sjl)
It seems like such a simple concept, but for any of us who are or hope to be parents, we know this is an issue of extreme urgency. There are not enough after-school and summer programs to serve our school-age kids. Bringing quality programs to every community is a very high priority for American families.
My boss, Education Secretary Riley, understands this. He believes that quality after-school programs are an essential component of a strong school -- a strong community. The school-community partnerships that are included in any after-school program are good for building better schools and better neighborhoods ...and that builds a better America.
That is why President Clinton has proposed an historic and comprehensive $21 billion child-care initiative. One part of this proposal includes a dramatic expansion of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program to provide funds to school-community partnerships to start up or expand after-school, extended learning programs for school-age children.
The program will increase the supply of high-quality extended-learning programming in a cost-effective manner, primarily by funding programs that use public schools and their existing infrastructure and by building partnerships with community-based and youth organizations. Community-based organizations can bring to an after-school program their youth development experience. Community coalitions will have the flexibility to decide, with the school, what their extended learning priorities are -- before-school programming, after-school learning opportunities, weekend activities, or summer enrichment programs.
Our communities are hungry for these types of after-school partnerships. With generous support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, which has pledged up to $55 million to provide technical assistance for the multi-year expansion of 21st Century Community Learning Centers, 11 regional technical assistance workshops were held earlier this month across our country to provide information to potential applicants about how to run a high quality program and compete for grants. Attendance at these workshops was overwhelming.
From Seattle and Los Angeles, to St. Louis and Dallas, to Boston and Atlanta, more than 5,000 community representatives from families, schools, community and civic organizations, local governments, foundations, religious faiths, and businesses came together to find out what quality, extended learning programming is, how to collaborate, and what are some models of best practice. In three short months, in addition to the 16,000 application packages we sent out to every school district in the country, we have fulfilled 15,000 additional requests for applications. Many, many more have been down-loaded off the Internet.
Why is there such an outpouring of interest? While there has been a growth in the availability of after-school care programs for children over the last 20 years, relatively few organized, extended learning opportunities exist when compared to need. Let me share with you what we know about who participates in after-school programs and the overwhelming need to keep our young people productively involved in the after-school hours.
In 1991, there were 35.9 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 living in the U.S. Approximately 24 million of these school-age children needed child care because of working parents or parents seeking employment. However, only about 1.7 million children from kindergarten through grade 8 were enrolled in 49,500 formal before- and after-school programs.
Extended learning programs in schools are even more scarce, especially for older children and youth.
The Administration's proposed expansion of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program will bring much-needed attention to the provision of supplementary learning activities in interesting and engaging ways, with activities addressing the needs of young adolescents and the problems of drug use, gang involvement, and violence.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, recent studies show that adolescents who are unsupervised after school are more likely to use alcohol and other drugs. Studies by the FBI and youth-advocacy groups have found that the peak hours for juvenile crime and victimization are from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. -- hours when youth are most often without supervision.
Community learning centers can provide a safe haven for youth, supervised activities, and services focusing on learning enhancement as well as on preventing crime, violence, and substance abuse.
By locating 21st Century Community Learning Centers within schools we can ensure that students receive educational services directly linked to their classroom needs. Centers can enhance educational opportunities in numerous ways that address what mainstream America wants in better schools.
Centers can offer tutoring to help students master basic skills. Centers can provide middle school students with more opportunities to do hands-on math and science, as well as homework help in these key subjects which are gateway courses to college -- and good careers.
After-school is an excellent time to help middle school kids see the possibilities of going to college. Centers can provide mentoring by caring adults and college students to encourage students to set higher academic and career goals. College visits, mentoring, and learning about preparing for college, academically and financially, must start in middle schools if all students, especially low-income and disadvantaged students, have a realistic chance to go to college - because college is what gives all kids a shot at the American Dream.
Centers can provide opportunities for children to learn to use technology. Centers can also make core subjects more relevant and exciting by linking up with local museums, libraries, youth groups, businesses, universities, art centers, and other educational or career-related activities. Many low-income children don't have access to computers at home. Keeping schools open can help them gain access to this essential learning resource.
Centers can provide enrichment opportunities in art, drama, and music which unfortunately are often the last courses funded during the regular school day. Centers can serve as a base for community service and service-learning opportunities. In fact, many before- and after-school programs operate with the help of AmeriCorps volunteers who mentor, tutor, and work with children.
Survey data clearly indicate the demand for after-school programs. A 1997 survey of both elementary and middle school parents shows that 90 percent of parents want after-school programs.
This same survey asked parents what kind of activities they would like their children to be involved in and found that:
Principals have long seen a need for extended learning programs; in a 1989 survey, 84 percent of school principals agreed that there is a need for before- and after-school programs. In 1993, the National Association of Elementary Principals printed a book for their membership on quality standards for after-school programs.
Last summer, the Secretary of Education and the First Lady released a guidebook under the auspices of the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education on implementing school-based after-school programs. The Partnership, a 4,000 member coalition comprised of organizations representing families, schools, communities, religious institutions, and employers, was founded by Secretary Riley in 1994. The Partnership seeks to provide parents and local communities with the information they need to improve schools and help children learn more.
Keeping Schools Open as Community Learning Centers: Extending Learning in a Safe, Drug-free Environment Before and After School is a step-by-step guidebook for families and community members to work with the local schools to implement a safe extended-learning program. The guidebook has been a "best seller" for the Department. So much so, that we included this useful information in the 21st Century Community Learning Center application package.
With all of this strong parental and public support for after-school programs, you might be asking what the effects of after school programs are on learning. Research shows that students in quality after-school programs demonstrate higher academic achievement and have better attitudes toward school than children left alone or under the care of siblings.
Participation in extended learning programs can be particularly beneficial to disadvantaged or low-achieving students. Children from low-income families often lack the resources that more affluent families can spend on improving the quality of their children's education, both in and out of school. Parents who are moving off welfare and into the workforce are a major source of the demand for high-quality academic programs after school.
For all these reasons and more, the Administration is requesting, in its Fiscal Year 1999 budget before Congress, $200 million for Community Learning Centers, and a total of $1 billion over 5 years, which will fund competitive grants to approximately 4,000 centers, including continuation grants to the centers funded in 1998.
If Congress supports expanding the program from its current $40 million in 1998 to $200 million in 1999, it will provide extended-hour school services for approximately 500,000 children per year, with a local 1 to 1 match.
Vice President Gore was absolutely on the mark when he said at a recent press conference on the proposed 21st Century Community Learning Centers expansion,
So what will it take to make families feel secure in the knowledge that their children are not only safe, but filled with the wonder and excitement of learning?
As Secretary Riley said last week in his State of American Education speech in Seattle, "This is an extraordinary and demanding time for our nation's schools and I ask all Americans to pitch in."
By providing safe and enriching high-quality after-school programs, like those available through the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, we can all "pitch in" for our kids.
Let me again thank you for holding these hearings on the importance of high-quality before- and after-school programs.
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