Recent Afterschool Snacks
APR
16
IN THE FIELD
By Erik Peterson
As summer learning program providers gear up for the summer months, now is the time to finalize arrangements for offering summer meals to participating children. The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides at least one healthy meal at no cost to children who rely on free and reduced price school meals during the academic year. While the SFSP reaches many eligible children, the need is much greater. During summer 2011, only 1 in 7 children who were eligible for free or reduced price school lunches participated in the SFSP.
In an effort to better understand how summer learning providers feed participating children, please complete a short summer food survey, available here. The survey closes April 30, and findings will be made available this summer.
It's not too late to learn how to become a Summer Food Service Program sponsor or site.
APR
10
POLICY
By Erik Peterson
Today the president released his budget request for the upcoming 2014 fiscal year, which begins this October. With regard to support for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) initiative, the president requested $1.25 billion—reflecting an increase of $100 million from FY2012 levels (pre-sequester levels). As was the case in his budget request last year, the president proposes to radically change 21st CCLC to a competitive grant at the federal level as well as prioritizing 21st CCLC grant funding for new purposes including adding time to the traditional school day or year, and for teacher planning and professional development.
In a challenging budget environment in which many programs face consolidation or elimination, the proposed increase in 21st CCLC in the budget request demonstrates the importance and value of expanded learning opportunities. Unfortunately, in the budget documents and most notably in the budget justification, the president makes the preference for expanded learning time (ELT) clear by indicating that unless ESEA is reauthorized before FY2014 begins, the Administration will request authority to use the $100 million increase for competitive grants to support ELT models.
The Afterschool Alliance supports 21st CCLC funds being directed to high-quality afterschool, before-school and summer learning programs that focus on hands-on, engaged learning that complements and enhances but does not replicate the traditional school day. While not mentioned in the president’s budget, the Afterschool Alliance feels strongly that 21st CCLC funding should continue to support the partnerships between schools and community- and faith-based organizations that help children improve academically, socially and behaviorally while parents are at work. For more information on expanded learning, see our expanded learning resource page.
Additional Education Department funding that supports afterschool and summer learning includes $14.5 billion (level with FY2012) for Title I and $300 million for Promise Neighborhoods. The Safe, Successful and Healthy Students program would consolidate safe and drug free schools activities as well as school counseling and the Physical Education Program into one $280 million program. Note that all budget request amounts in the president's 2014 budget do not reflect the sequester and assume Congress will restore the funds cut by the March 1, 2013, deadline. The Department of Education’s budget summary is online.
Other budget news for the afterschool community:
School Safety
The president has proposed a new, comprehensive plan, Now is the Time, to protect schools and communities by reducing gun violence and providing resources to schools. Approximately $112 million in new funds are targeted to help to prepare schools for emergencies, create nurturing school climates and provide intensive supports to students who are exposed to violence. Other activities include collecting data on indicators of school safety and providing guidance on school discipline policies.
High School Redesign
Another new initiative is the $300 million High School Redesign program that that promotes innovative ways to prepare youth to be college and career ready, including, “career-related experiences or competencies, obtained through organized internships and mentorships, structured work-based learning, and other related experiences.”
National Service
The budget requests $1.06 billion for the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), roughly even with the Fiscal Year 2012 enacted level. The funding level supports 82,000 AmeriCorps members, includes $49 million for the Social Innovation Fund, and creates the George H.W. Bush Volunteer Generation Fund, a $10 million program focused on improving the capacity of nonprofits to effectively manage and sustain volunteers. The CNCS AmeriCorps and VISTA programs help support afterschool programs.
Child Care Development Fund (CCDF)
The budget provides an additional $200 million in discretionary funds for states to support high-quality child care (including health and safety) in 2014 as well as a $500 million increase in mandatory funding for CCDF. Over the next 10 years, a total of $7 billion is invested to maintain the availability of child care subsidies. The budget invests $1.4 billion in new Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships to support states and communities in expanding the availability of high-quality learning opportunities for our youngest children.
Community Service Block Grant (CSBG)
The budget cuts CSBG by almost half, providing just $350 million for FY2014. The budget proposes to use competition to target the funds to high-performing agencies that are most successful in meeting important community needs.
Juvenile Justice
The budget renews efforts to promote juvenile justice and prevent youth violence. The budget provides $332 million for the Department of Justice's Juvenile Justice programs and includes evidence-based investments to prevent youth violence, including $25 million to fund the Community-Based Violence Prevention Initiative to provide grants to replicate successful community-based interventions to control shootings and other serious gang violence, and $4 million for the National Forum on Youth Violence Prevention, which provides assistance for selected communities across the nation to develop and implement youth violence strategies. The budget also includes $20 million for the Juvenile Justice Realignment Incentive Grants, which, in tandem with the $30 million reserved for Juvenile Accountability Block Grants, will assist states that are pursuing evidence-based, juvenile justice system alignment to foster better outcomes for young people, less costly use of incarceration and increased public safety. Further, the budget makes available $23 million for research and pilot projects focused on developing appropriate responses to youth exposed to violence.
STEM
The budget proposes a comprehensive reorganization of STEM education programs to increase the impact of federal investments in four areas: K-12 instruction, undergraduate education, graduate fellowships, and education activities that typically take place outside the classroom—all with a focus on increasing participation and opportunities for individuals from groups historically underrepresented in these fields. The reorganization involves a consolidation of nearly 90 programs across 11 different agencies. Nearly $180 million will be redirected from these consolidated programs toward the Department of Education, National Science Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution to implement core initiatives in these four priority areas.
The Department of Education will restructure its own existing efforts to lead an initiative around improving K-12 STEM education. The budget invests $150 million, redirected from within the department and from other agencies, to support STEM Innovation Networks, which would be districts or consortia of districts working in partnership with universities, science agencies, museums, businesses and other educational entities. These public-private partnerships will work to harness local, regional and national resources to dramatically transform teaching and learning by implementing research-based practices, supporting innovation and building capacity at both school and district levels.
Also included in the Department of Education budget is $80 million for STEM Teacher Pathways to offer competitive grants to recruit, train and place talented recent college graduates and mid-career professionals in the STEM fields in high-need schools and $35 million to establish a new STEM Master Teacher Corps. STEM Master Teacher Corps members would make a multi-year commitment to build a community of teaching practice where they live, help students excel in math and science while taking on leadership and mentorship roles in their schools and communities and the broader STEM field, and receive annual stipends on top of their base salaries for their service in the Corps. Recognizing many agencies currently engage in various informal education activities to get the public, students and teachers interested in their missions and research, the budget redirects $25 million from these agencies to the Smithsonian Institution to improve the reach of informal education activities by ensuring that they are aligned with state standards and are relevant to the classroom. Look for follow-up post on the STEM aspects of the budget early next week.
Take Action! The president’s budget is typically released in early February and the late release in mid-April follows the passage of separate FY2014 budget resolutions last month by both the House and the Senate. The budget request now goes to Congress, where budget and appropriations deliberations for FY2014 are underway. House and Senate appropriations committees are holding hearings this week and next week to hear details of the education budget request from Sec. Duncan. Friends of afterschool programs can contact their Members of Congress to express support for 21st CCLC and federal funding for afterschool programs.
APR
10
RESEARCH
By Nikki Yamashiro
“Perhaps the most critical decision parents make in balancing their work and home life is choosing the type of care to provide for their children while they work.” We at the Afterschool Alliance couldn’t agree more with this statement by Lynda Laughlin, author of a Census Bureau report released last week analyzing child care patterns and costs. A positive and encouraging finding of the report is that the percentage of school-age kids who have no regular child care arrangement—kids in self-care—has decreased, and this is particularly true of children with a single, employed parent.
“Who’s Minding the Kids? Child Care Arrangements: Spring 2011” examined the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) data to determine the child care arrangements of preschoolers (children under 5) and school-age kids (children ages 5 to 14) and found that between 1997 and 2011, the percentage of school-age children in self-care who lived with a single, employed parent decreased from 24 percent to 14 percent. One explanation offered for this decrease was increased investment in afterschool programs. This rationale is highly probable, given that federal funding for 21st Century Community Learning Centers—the only federal funding dedicated exclusively to before-school, afterschool and summer learning programs—was first appropriated $40 million in 1998, and has grown to $1.1 billion for FY2013 and serves approximately 1.1 million kids.
Another noteworthy finding from the report is that the cost of child care has increased over time, although the average percentage of family income spent on child care stayed constant, hovering around 7 percent, between 1997 and 2011. The average weekly cost of child care for families with employed mothers increased from $84 in 1985 (constant 2011 dollars) to $143 in 2011. Looking specifically at school-age care costs, the report finds that the average cost for school-age care was $124 in 2011. Among families living below the poverty line, the average weekly cost for school-age child care was $88, or nearly one-third of the family’s income. Of particular concern is the fact that among families who paid for child care, those below the poverty line spent more than four times the percentage of their income on school-age child care as other families who were living at or above the poverty line (29 percent compared with 6 percent).
Based on these cost figures, it seems safe to assume that families are not getting much help with their child care costs. In fact, only 5 percent of families report receiving help paying for school-age child care and just 3 percent report that they received help from the government.
While there is some good news regarding self care in the report, it is troubling that there are 4.2 million kids, ages 5 to 14 and living with their mom, who didn’t have a regular child care arrangement. Five percent of kids ages 5 to 11 were on their own in 2011 and 27 percent of kids ages 12 to 14 were on their own. On average these kids spend 7 hours per week with no supervised care. These numbers are in line with findings from our 2009 America After 3PM report that 4 percent of kids in kindergarten through 5th grade and 30 percent of kids in 6th through 8th grade were on their own. Given the findings regarding the high cost of school-age care and the lack of assistance in paying for care, it’s not surprising that the number of kids in self-care, while on the decline, still continues to be high.
We know that the hours between 3 and 6 p.m. are the peak hours for juvenile crime and experimentation with drugs, alcohol and other risky behaviors, which is why these numbers illustrate the need for increased investment in afterschool programs to ensure that more kids have the opportunity to participate in programs that will keep them safe, provide academic enrichment and support their working parents.
How kids spend their time during the hours after school is a primary concern for the Afterschool Alliance. I’m happy to share that we’re in the middle of planning for our next round of America After 3PM, the largest national household survey that looks at what kids are doing during the afternoon. The survey provides incredibly useful and relevant data for parents, the afterschool field and policy makers. I can’t wait to see what insights we gain from the survey this time around, especially taking into account the potential impact of sequestration on families, afterschool programs and communities. Stay tuned.
APR
9
FUNDING
By Alexis Steines
In just a few short months, schools across the country will close their doors for summer break. Summer is a fun time for many kids who spend the hot, hazy days at summer camp, on a family vacation or exploring new interests in summer learning programs. For those children that rely on meals served through the federal school nutrition programs, however, summer is a time for hunger.
The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) is the federal child nutrition program that provides at least one healthy meal at no cost to children who rely on free and reduced price school meals during the academic year. While the SFSP reaches many eligible children, the need is much greater. During summer 2011, only 1 in 7 children who were eligible for free or reduced price school lunches participated in SFSP.
Last week I participated in a special Twitter town hall that focused on increasing not only the number of children participating in SFSP, but also the number of sites that offer the program. There were many great questions asked and ideas shared by participants—including questions on how summer learning programs, schools and food banks can work together to ensure children have access to healthy summer meals.
Afterschool and summer learning providers can have a direct impact on the number of students participating in the at-risk afterschool meals program. Your summer learning program can become a SFSP site. As an SFSP site, your program is only responsible for serving meals and providing educational or enrichment activities to participating students. Another entity, such as an anti-hunger organization, a local food bank or the school district food service department, serves as the SFSP sponsor. The sponsor manages the financial aspects of the programs and can provide the meals. Food banks, anti-hunger advocates and school districts are eager to work with summer learning programs and youth development organizations to expand access to SFSP. Some summer learning providers act as their own sponsor, which can be made easier by serving a pre-prepared meal as a number of Washington County, MD, schools did last summer. Organizations such as the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), Feeding America, and Share Our Strength can help point you to an organization that may be sponsoring summer meals in your area.
Be sure to visit our Active Hours Afterschool webpage for more information on the SFSP and At-Risk Afterschool Meals Program regulations and ideas for getting your afterschool or summer learning program involved. And don’t forget to celebrate Summer Food Service Week June 10 – 14, 2013!
MAR
27
FUNDING
By Sarah Simpson
We all know that after school and during the summer are a perfect time to get kids active and teach them healthy habits for life. Afterschool and summer learning programs offer a perfect complement to the school day and allow for creative partnerships between schools and community-based organizations to help improve the health of our communities.
Kaiser Permanente is offering a new tool, Thriving Schools, to help communities get active—it’s a great instrument that afterschool programs can adopt to help strengthen their partnership with schools, or to complement the physical activity programming they’re already doing. Thriving Schools is a comprehensive effort focused on creating a culture of health for K-12 students, staff and educators both during the school day and after. By promoting workforce health and student-focused interventions—such as improving snacks and meals and increasing opportunities for physical activity—Kaiser Permanente and its partners are working to fulfill the Institute of Medicine’s call for schools and afterschool programs to be “the heart of health.” Out-of-school-time providers will find it easy to adapt and use these tools in their own programs.
Kaiser Permanente has plenty of free ready-to-use tools and resources available on their website. One of our favorites is the Fire Up Your Feetinitiative, a partnership with Safe Routes to School National Partnership and the National PTA. Fire Up Your Feet encourages educators, students and their families to walk or bike to and from school—or on their way to a before- or afterschool program! Afterschool programs can use the initiative as a fundraiser—think about incorporating Fire Up Your Feet into your Lights On Afterschool celebration in October!
In addition to programming ideas like Fire Up Your Feet, Thriving Schools also offers concrete, simple ideas for small changes you can make in your program to promote healthy eating, encourage physical activity and to create a healthy learning environment. For example:
- To minimize the number of birthday celebrations with unhealthy treats, consider celebrating all students birthdays for that month on one day
- Develop and post walking maps of the neighborhood around your program
- Identify a wellness champion at each site who can share information and identify opportunities to promote healthy behaviors and can bring site-specific needs back to the organization
MAR
27
RESEARCH
By Nikki Yamashiro
We know, based on numerous evaluations of 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC), that children who participate in these afterschool programs, especially children who regularly attend the programs, show improvement in their academic performance, engagement in school and overall behavior. The recently released report by American Institutes for Research (AIR), Texas 21st Century Community Learning Centers: Year 2 Evaluation Report, adds to the body of evidence that shows afterschool programs are making a positive impact on children’s school day performance.
AIR’s evaluation found that students participating in the Texas 21st CCLC program—also known as Afterschool Centers on Education (ACE)—saw improvements in their Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) reading and math scores, fewer disciplinary incidents than non-participating students, fewer school absences, and an increased likelihood of being promoted to the next grade. One statistic I found to be especially impressive was regardless if a student regularly attended the ACE program, participants in 9th grade through 11th grade were significantly more likely to be promoted to the next grade. The report found that for students who attended the program 30 to 59 days, the likelihood of being promoted to the next grade increased by 79 percent. For students who attended the program 60 days or more, the likelihood of being promoted to the next grade increased by 97 percent.
The above statistic transitions nicely to another key finding of the study: regular attendance in the ACE program matters. Students who attended the ACE program for 60 days or more demonstrated better outcomes than their peers who participated in the program for 30 to 59 days. Students who attended the ACE program more frequently showed greater improvement in their TAKS reading and math scores, lower disciplinary incidents, fewer absences from school and a higher rate of grade promotion. AIR reported that when compared to students who attended the program for 30 to 59 days, the grade promotion rate for students who participated in the ACE program for 60 days or more was 23 percent to 40 percent higher.
Key findings from the report include:
- Students in grades 4 through 11 participating in the ACE program were less likely to have disciplinary incidents compared to non-participants. Compared to non-participants, attending the ACE program for less than 30 days decreased the rate of disciplinary incidents by 6 percent, and attending the program for at least 60 days decreased the rate of disciplinary incidents by 11 percent.
- ACE program low attendees—students who participated in the program at least 30 days—in the 4th through 11th grades saw a 14 percent decrease in the rate of being absent and high attendees—students who participated in the program for at least 60 days—saw a 15 percent decrease in absences when compared to non-participants. Both low- and high-attending students in the 9th through 11th grades saw a greater reduction in absences, 19 percent and 18 percent respectively.
- Both low and high attendees of the ACE program saw a significant increase in likelihood of being promoted to the next grade. For grades 4-5 and 7-11, low attendees were 43 percent more likely to be promoted to the next grade compared to non-attendees, and high attendees were 47 percent more likely to be promoted to the next grade.
- Among low attendees in 9th grade through 11th grade, the likelihood of being promoted to the next grade increased by 79 percent. Among high-attending high school students, the likelihood of being promoted to the next grade increased by 97 percent when compared to students not participating in the program.
- ACE programs characterized as having a high point of service (POS) quality had a greater effect in terms of supporting a decrease in disciplinary incidents and supporting student grade promotion.
Another important aspect of the study is the discussion surrounding the types of instructional approaches associated with high-quality activities. In addition to finding that high program quality was related to better student outcomes, the report outlined that a program’s clarity of purpose, the intentional use of time, and an active and interactive instructor were the three types of approaches associated with high-quality activities. Quality improvement is an ongoing and iterative process, and these tools can help afterschool programs continue to provide the best programming and support to ensure their students’ future success.
Despite the evidence demonstrating that 21st CCLC programs have a positive effect on children’s academics, behavior and school attendance, the House budget currently extends the 5 percent sequestration cuts, reducing funding for the 21st CCLC program by approximately $57.9 million. This cut will mean that close to 58,000 kids will lose the ability to participate in an afterschool or summer learning program. If you’re interested in learning what you can do to help take action against these cuts, visit our Policy & Action Center.
MAR
25
POLICY
By Erik Peterson
For the first time in more than four years, both the Senate and the House have passed budget resolutions. While budget resolutions in Congress don't have the force of law and largely serve as visionary documents or blueprints, they do determine the amount of money the appropriations committees will have to spend on discretionary budget items for the upcoming 2014 fiscal year that begins on October 1.
The budgets that passed are a study in contrasts. The House budget represents a significant cut to non-defense discretionary programs like education funding, while the Senate version has some cuts but also prioritizes some discretionary funding like child care and education, which is offset in part by new revenue. Crucial discretionary investments include things like afterschool and summer learning through the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative, child care assistance, special education services and help for low income students through Title I. From 2010 to 2012 discretionary investments for children have already been cut by $2 billion dollars, and they are expected to drop further in 2013.
The House budget extends harmful sequestration cuts that could cut investments to kids by more than $40 billion over 11 years. These cuts fall heavily on investments in education, early childhood and children’s housing. It also cuts non-defense discretionary spending by an additional $650 billion over 10 years by shifting all the scheduled cuts in defense spending onto non-defense areas. Applied proportionally, these additional cuts could cost kids another $72 billion. Finally, the House version cuts all non-defense discretionary investments by nearly $1 trillion.
The Senate budget resolution eliminates sequestration and restores all cuts currently in effect. This alone would restore more than $4 billion in investments for children and youth for Fiscal Year 2013 including restoring afterschool supports to the 56,000 children slated to lose those programs this fall. The Senate version further lowers non-defense discretionary spending caps by $150 billion. Applying this reduction proportionally, this would result in a $17 billion reduction in funding for children’s initiatives. However, the budget proposal emphasizes the importance of early education, child care, child nutrition, as well as other areas suggesting the intent to protect critical investments in children. During the budget debate on the Senate side, Sen. Boxer sent a strong signal on the importance of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative by authoring an amendment in support of this valuable afterschool and summer learning program. While the amendment was not voted upon due to procedural issues with the budget process, the Senate remains in strong support of afterschool programs, with Sens. Murray and Harkin expressing their support for the amendment as well.
The president is expected to release his budget on April 8.
MAR
22
IN THE FIELD
By Sarah Simpson
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