Three nationally recognized afterschool leaders were in Washington, D.C. on Monday for a discussion on expanded learning policy at the local and federal levels. The Senate briefing, Policy Perspectives in Expanded Learning: Lessons Learned at the Local Level and Implications for Federal Policy, featured Jennifer Peck, executive director of the Partnership for Children and Youth in California; Laura Hansen, director of information management and decision support for the Metro Nashville Public Schools in Tennessee; and Christina Russell, managing director for Policy Studies Associates, Inc. in Washington, D.C. It was sponsored by the American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) and the Collaborative for Building After-School Systems (CBASS).

The briefing focused on the value of intermediary organizations, quality and accountability, and school and community partnerships. Jennifer Peck spoke about the role of intermediary organizations in supporting school and community partnerships and the implications for student achievement. Her organization, the Partnership for Children and Youth, serves as an intermediary organization for afterschool programs in California's Bay Area. She showcased impressive data demonstrating how summer learning programs significantly increased the grade-level vocabulary of students who participated. She stated that these results occurred due to strong partnerships between schools and non-profit agencies.

On May 16, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) announced newly proposed regulations for the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). Join Shannon Rudisill, director of the ACF's Office of Child Care, on June 14 at 1 p.m. EDT for a webinar where she'll present on the new rule proposal, including its potential impact on afterschool and school-age programs and providers.

According to ACF, this proposed rule would strengthen health and safety requirements for child care providers, reflect current state and local practices to improve the quality of child care, infuse new accountability for federal tax dollars, and leverage the latest knowledge and research in the field of early care and education to better serve low-income children and families. The proposed rule would only apply directly to child care providers who accept CCDF funds. More than 500,000 providers serve about 1.6 million low-income children through CCDF, including about 650,000 school-age children in afterschool and before-school settings. Many more children would benefit, however, because the providers also serve non-CCDF children.

The Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) was last authorized in 1996, and Congress continues to work on a new reauthorization bill that was introduced in the Senate earlier this week. The regulation is currently open for comment until Aug. 5, 2013.  The complete proposed rule can be accessed online. 

Register for the June 14 webinar here. 

Last week I attended the “Reimagining Education: Empowering Learning in a Connected World” summit and was inspired and moved by the dedication and passion expressed in the room to change the current educational circumstances of young people in our nation.  Everyone in attendance was focused on the goal of making sure all youth are prepared for the unique challenges of our time, equipped with the knowledge, skills and support they need to succeed.  It was impressive to hear thinking around creating a new ecosystem for learning that recognizes that learning takes place everywhere and makes it relevant to young people—drawing on their interests; connecting them to their peers and to mentors;  and linking both interests and relationships to academics, career and community.

I was blown away, and in some cases a little starstruck, listening to speakers that included astronaut Leland Melvin, NBA All-Star and afterschool advocate Chris Paul, Howard University student and afterschool program graduate Marcus Prince, and Digital Youth Network founder and DePaul University Associate Professor Nichole Pinkard.  I walked away from the two-day event excited about the possibilities and enthusiastic to further participate in reimagining education. 

June 21 is Summer Learning Day—a national advocacy day offering an opportunity to showcase your community’s out-of-school time program, as well as spread the word about the importance of summer learning.Host an event during the week of June 21 or anytime during the summer!

During this national showcase, your program will want to highlight how you work to:

• Maintain and advance participants' academic and developmental growth
• Support working families
• Keep children safe and healthy
• Send young people back to school ready to learn

Are you having a Summer Learning Day event? Visit www.summerlearningdaymap.org and promote it on the National Summer Learning Association’s event map! Make sure to list your event by June 21 and you may win one free conference registration to NSLA’s Summer Changes Everything™ national conference on summer learning.  

You can also visit NSLA’s website at www.summerlearning.org/SLD for more information and resources on Summer Learning Day.

It seems these days that if you’re keeping up with what’s happening in education, you can’t help but hear about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).  Last week, our vice president for policy and research, Jen Rinehart, wrote a stellar blog that not only walks you through what the Common Core State Standards are, but explains why they were developed, what they mean for education policy and the valuable role the afterschool field can play to support learning under the Common Core.

To keep up the Afterschool Alliance’s drumbeat of providing the afterschool field with helpful information connecting afterschool and the Common Core, I tuned in to “Leveraging Expanded Learning Opportunities to Support Common Core Implementation,” a webinar hosted by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and America’s Promise Alliance.  The webinar featured Jenell Holsted, Ph.D. of University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, who discussed a recent brief, “Making the Connection: Next Generation Learning and Expanded Learning Opportunities,” and Sarah Cruz, director of expanded learning opportunities at the Statewide Network for New Jersey’s Afterschool Communities (NJSACC), who shared information about New Jersey’s statewide pilot training program that helps providers align their programming with the Common Core State Standards.