21st CCLLC Summer Institute

Throughout the 21st CCLC Summer Institute this week there has been lots of discussion around the convergence of afterschool programs and extended learning initiatives, in parallel with the government's efforts to address ESEA. There are several key issues that remain at the core of these discussions:

• The need for schools and community-based organizations to effectively partner so students can experience more learning but not more of the same.


• The need to leverage the power of communities to bring additional talented, caring, and committed adults into our schools and supporting our youth


• The need to ensure that afterschool or extended supports meet the needs and demands of individual students and don't force families and youth into programs they don't want or need.


• The need to look creatively at funding sources, both public and private, so that schools and CBOs can weave together dollars and programs that reach every student


• The need to continue driving school improvement through high-quality support programs, and ensuring that student performance data is shared with all partners toward that end.

Follow us at @higherachieve for more thoughts and dispatches from the conference.

Rachel Gwaltney, Chief of Programs