Reimagining Education through Summer Learning Partnerships
as our students head returning to school, we are reflecting on initiatives we saw this summer that may invigorate student engagement and learning year spherical. as a part of along for tomorrow –our effort to strengthen partnerships among schools, families, and communities — we visited summer learning initiatives within the south bronx, pittsburgh, and chicago. director on your center for faith-based and neighborhood partnerships brenda girton-mitchell and that i led discussions in these communities to share promising practices and offer feedback to form the u. s. department of education’s community and family engagement efforts.
these discussions too extended work the department began earlier this year, along in the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, on reimagining education. every place we visited is home to your hive learning network – a collective of organizations, created doable through macarthur foundation support, where young folks will pursue a diversity of learning experiences in his or her community. the summer initiatives we explored were anchored by sturdy collaboration among schools, families, and community-based organizations ( cbos ).
within the south bronx, we visited summer quest, that brought along new york town schools, and cbos offer learning and enrichment activities for nearly 1, 800 elementary and middle school students from low-income families. in preparation for summer quest, teachers and cbo staff participated in joint professional development around project-based learning and co-facilitation. program organizers observed from their experience in 2012 that the deeper level of collaboration between schools and cbos needed by summer quest resulted in better-aligned and impactful programming throughout the regular school year.
we too saw summer programming in action at iridescent, a science-education nonprofit that uses a significant specialize in parent engagement and support. their curiosity machine website inspired me and my 7-year-old son to try and do their stomp rockets activity along and then we even compiled a video as a part of the project.
in pittsburgh, the sprout fund and native community and school pioneer shared with us summer programming due to pittsburgh kids+creativity network, a learning initiative joining a little over 100 organizations, as well as schools, museums, libraries, afterschool programs, community centers, higher education establishments, the private sector, and of course the philanthropic community.
we talked with staff and visitors with the pittsburgh children’s museum makeshop where youth and also their oldsters learn along through designing and creating tangible objects. we too saw firsthand how the community robotics, education and technology empowerment lab ( produce lab ) at carnegie mellon university is partaking youth in learning experiences through programs like hear me where students learn regarding community problems that affect them and make use of technology tools to possess their voices heard.
with summer coming to an finish, we visited chicago to explore the chicago summer of learning where a far-reaching collaboration engaged a little over 210, 000 young folks in learning opportunities provided by a little over 100 organizations. nearly 100, 000 badges were awarded to students engaged utilizing a plethora of on-line and on-site learning opportunities across the town.
in every of such cities we discovered inspiring learning opportunities created doable through partnerships between schools, families, and community organizations.
we searched for promising practices in summer learning that might increase student engagement and learning year spherical. a few common approaches among initiatives matched up closely with the tasks from our reimagining education convening :
providing inspiring learning opportunities that connect students for their passions, peers, communities, and careers ;
allowing students to form and navigate learning pathways that blur the lines between learning in schools, homes, and communities ;
serving to oldsters that should be learning coaches and co-learners regarding their kids ;
recognizing learning and achievement through competency-based ways like badges ;
combining online and in-person experiences and using technology for collaboration ; and
building community partnerships and integrated supports to guarantee that all students succeed.
i’m eager to view how the south bronx, pittsburgh, chicago, and different communities build upon their summer programming to incorporate these practices into your regular school year.
michael robbins is senior advisor for nonprofit partnerships with the u. s. department of education
