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Background
In 2002, Boston’s After-School for All Partnership commissioned research to identify best practices in integrating high-impact learning activities into after-school programming. The research concluded that high-impact learning activities are most likely to occur in after-school and summer programs when program staff receive on-site technical assistance from education experts. The Partnership created Boston’s After-School Literacy Coaching Initiative (LCI) to enable the delivery of this training and technical assistance in one academic area – literacy.
In addition to enhancing the work of individual programs, the LCI is also structured specifically to address a fundamental challenge facing the out-of-school time sector, at large. While funders and educators have increasingly come to expect that after-school programs should reinforce and enhance a child’s formal education in measurable ways, the capacity of programs to provide such enhancement is often limited by a number of factors, including the educational background of staff and high staff turnover. As much as programs seek to prove their viability as promoters of learning, most find that they simply cannot elevate student learning as much as they would like. The LCI was launched to bridge the gap between expectations and reality by directly building the skills of after-school staff through intensive coaching and by structuring program practices around proven learning activities.
Initiative Design
Through the LCI, after-school program staff across Boston are given the opportunity to receive literacy training, on-site coaching from literacy experts, curriculum materials and book collections over the course of a full school year through a collaboration of ReadBoston, Boston Plan for Excellence and Boston Public Schools. LCI sites also participate in a comprehensive evaluation measuring the impact of the coaching on after-school staff capacity and, in turn, on children’s engagement in learning and academic performance. This initiative is supporting 21 programs in the 2005-2006 school year. A list of grantees follows.
Evaluation
Findings from the evaluation demonstrate significant improvements in staff capacity to conduct “read alouds” and guide independent reading, programs’ increased emphasis on “read alouds” and other literacy-based activities, and an increase in students’ volume, stamina, fluency and interest in reading. The evaluation is being conducted by a team led by Dr. Beth Miller of Miller Midzik Research Associates.
Click here for a report outlining the findings from the first year of the evaluation.
Current Grantees
|
PROVIDER |
LOCATION OF PROGRAM |
|
Boston Catholic Schools CONNECT |
St. Columbkille School |
|
Federated Dorchester Neighborhood Houses, Inc. |
Little House After School Program |
|
Federated Dorchester Neighborhood House |
Dorchester Place School Age Program |
| Harvard/Kent Community Learning Center |
Harvard Kent Elementary School |
|
Hyde Square Task Force |
Kennedy Elementary School |
|
Hyde Square Task Force |
Mary E. Curley Middle School |
|
Jackson/Mann Community School and Council, Inc. |
Jackson Mann Elementary School |
|
Mattapan Community Center |
Mattapan Community Center |
|
Mildred Ave. Community Center |
Mildred Ave. Middle School |
|
Ohrenberger Community Center |
Ohrenberger Elementary School |
|
St. Katherine Drexel Parish |
St. Katherine After-School Program |
|
United South End Settlement |
USES After-school Program |
|
YMCA – East Boston |
McKay Elementary School |
|
YMCA – East Boston |
Umana/Barnes Middle School |
|
YMCA – West Roxbury |
West Roxbury YMCA |
