  The Engage Every Student Today Bulletin is a source of support for afterschool and summer learning programs, school districts, cities, and states as they answer U.S. Secretary Cardona's bold call to action for universal out-of-school time learning opportunities for every child who wants to participate nationwide. This bi-monthly bulletin will share timely resources and strategies to expand access to engage every student in high-quality afterschool and summer learning opportunities.
Federal Pandemic Relief Funds: City, State, and School District Investments in Afterschool and Summer Learning
To help students recover from the pandemic, the Biden Administration has made available approximately $130 billion in COVID-19 relief funds to school districts, states, and local governments. Many are investing in afterschool and summer learning programs as a key strategy to support student well-being and academic growth. The Afterschool Alliance and the National League of Cities partnered to develop a tracker and interactive map showcasing how cities, states and school districts across the country are using their CARES and American Rescue Plan Act funds to support afterschool and summer learning programs. You can click on each location on the map to gain ideas on how your community may invest these critical dollars to support young people.
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5 Ways Cities Can Gear Up for Back-to-School Season
In this new guest blog for the National League of Cities' Cities Speak, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona outlines 5 ways that cities can support the children, youth and families in their communities this upcoming school year.
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Campaign for Grade Level Reading Learning Tuesdays Webinar: Engage Every Student, Building Community Connections to Expand OST Access
In this GLR Learning Tuesdays webinar “Engage Every Student, Building Community Connections to Expand OST Access,” we gain an early briefing on the Engage Every Student, a new federal initiative that aims to provide high-quality out-of-school time (OST) learning opportunities for every child who wants to participate. Webinar speakers were representative of the U.S. Department of Education; the National Summer Learning Association; AASA, The School Superintendents Association; the National League of Cities; Beyond School Bells in Lincoln, Nebraska; the Alexandria, Virginia City Council; Foundations, Inc.; and Washington Elementary School District in Glendale, Arizona.
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YOU Belong in STEM
In October 2022, Deputy Secretary Marten gave a speech previewing the YOU Belong in STEM initiative. This initiative aims to improve STEM education outcomes by advancing a sense of inclusion and belonging in STEM for all students and teachers. You can follow YOU Belong in STEM activities and updates at www.ed.gov/stem.
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Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) Supplemental Funds can Support Comprehensive Afterschool Programs
The $15 billion allocation of Child Care Supplemental funds, provided in the American Rescue Plan, creates an enormous opportunity to support afterschool and summer learning programs. While ARP Child Care Stabilization funds had to be obligated by September 2022, the Supplemental funds can be obligated through September 2023 and can be braided with other federal and state funding to provide afterschool and summer learning. Now is a great time to offer ideas to state childcare agencies on how to support families with school-age youth by using these funds for afterschool and summer learning programs. These funds are enormously flexible and intended to support increasing the supply and quality of childcare for all CCDF eligible families. To read more, click here.
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Strategic Use of Summer & Afterschool Set Asides Community of Practice
On September 20, 2022 the National Comprehensive Center hosted the final meeting of its inaugural Strategic Use of Summer & Afterschool Set-Asides Community of Practice (CoP). This CoP is comprised of state teams that are committed to demonstrating the lasting benefits of summer and afterschool stimulus funding for youth, families, and out-of-school time systems. Participating states in the inaugural cohort were: Florida, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Virginia, and Wyoming. State team leaders from state education agencies and state afterschool networks also convened a broader group of local education agencies and community partners to address problems of practice by identifying, testing, and reflecting on strategies to promote strategic and sustainable use of set aside funding. Access the final meeting recording here. The Summer and Afterschool Community will recommence on November 16, 2022 and continue through September 2023.
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Afterschool: A Bipartisan Solution to Help Young People Thrive
A new brief by the Afterschool Alliance, “Afterschool: A Bipartisan Solution to Help Young People Thrive,” finds that an overwhelming majority of parents agree that all young people deserve access to quality afterschool and summer programs and view afterschool programs as providing positive supports for children and youth. This brief is a resource that can help you make the case for federal, state and local funding for afterschool by demonstrating the broad political support for programs.
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Meeting the Moment: Cities Increase Investments in Young People to Support Pandemic Recovery and Beyond
This report and accompanying interactive data dashboard from The National League of Cities’ Education and Expanded Learning team outlines the results of their National Municipal Afterschool and Summer Learning Survey. The report reveals how local governments have been prioritizing afterschool and summer learning during the pandemic, and demonstrates the key role that cities, towns, and villages play in the pandemic recovery. The report includes ten action steps for city leaders to consider as they work to enhance their afterschool and summer programming.
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Supporting Learning Acceleration with American Rescue Plan Funds
Check out this U.S. Department of Education Fact Sheet which shares examples of how states, districts and schools can use ARP ESSER funds to accelerate learning - through programming to address lost instructional time and the social, emotional, and other academic needs. Some examples include:
- Provide students with tailored learning acceleration opportunities
- Implement high-quality and effective tutoring
- Use high-quality diagnostic and formative assessments to inform and personalize instruction
- Integrate and prioritize the social, emotional, and academic needs of all students
- Support the successful transitions of students from preschool to elementary school, elementary school to middle school, middle school to high school, and high school to postsecondary education and the workforce
- Use high-quality out-of-school time (OST) learning experiences to support students' social, emotional, and academic needs.
Additionally, the Department's COVID-19 Handbook outlines evidence-based criteria for high-quality Out-of-School Time to best accelerate learning with criteria recommendations like engaging students in using experiential instruction that incorporates hands-on activities, project-based learning, enrichment and field trips.
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Building, Sustaining and Improving: Using Federal Funds for Summer Learning and Afterschool
This guide by the Education Counsel and the Wallace Foundation can help district leaders, out-of-school time providers and intermediaries identify federal funding streams to support summer and afterschool learning.
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Access to Afterschool Programs Remains a Challenge for Many Families
In this brief by the Afterschool Alliance, a survey of approximately 1,500 parents or guardians of school-age children, conducted May 22-June 28, 2022, provides a snapshot of the current afterschool program landscape during the pandemic. The brief documents that while children and families who are able to access afterschool programs report high levels of satisfaction, for every child in an afterschool program, there are four more who are waiting to get in.
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The City of Kalamazoo, MI has partnered with the Kalamazoo Community Foundation and United Way of Battle Creek and Kalamazoo to invest $550,000 of the City's ARPA funds into a grant program for community-based organizations that serve youth. Some of the organizations funded through this program include: The Boys & Girls Club, Community Healing Centers, Jennings Development Interplex, New Genesis, Inc., Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative, and the WMU Homer Strykler M.D. School of Medicine.
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The Idaho State Department of Education awarded eight school districts and three community-based organizations $1.8 million to support afterschool programs. Each grantee received between $98,000 and $175,000 to serve the needs of the local districts and CBO’s and to reduce the achievement gaps of students. Three of the grantees were renewing districts, allowing them to continue serving the students they had been supporting.
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The Des Moines School District is using a portion of their ESSER III funds to address learning loss/unfinished learning, which includes comprehensive afterschool programs, summer learning or summer enrichment, tutoring, and more. The district released a survey to the public for feedback on how to invest federal pandemic relief funds, and afterschool and summer learning were listed as priority areas.
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Engage Every Student Webinar Series
Beginning in January 2023, Engage Every Student will launch a Webinar Series on a range of topics to support engagement in high-quality afterschool and summer learning opportunities for every student. We want to hear from you, as to what topics we should cover to support your efforts! Please take a few minutes to provide us with your feedback!
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