Send a Note to a 6th Grader, Impact a Future!
Tuesday, August 1, 2017
If you could go back in time, what would you say to your adolescent self? Now you’ve got that chance! Not to time travel, but to impart words of wisdom and encouragement to a 6th grader on his or her first days of middle school. In 45 seconds, you can customize a simple message to a student in one of our middle schools. Read full post
What's Lucy Reading?
Thursday, July 27, 2017
I'm reading articles on how art education is depleting for kids in poverty, a historical fiction novel, and a new SEL study from Princeton-Brookings. Read full post
House Appropriations Committee Cuts and Next Steps
Monday, July 24, 2017
While the House bill improved on the Trump Administration proposal by rejecting its shortsighted attempt to completely eliminate the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) Program, it still results in a $191 million cut from the previous year. Ultimately, the House bill falls short in providing the critical support needed to provide high-quality and evidence-based after-school programming for 1.6 million children in families in high-need communities across the country. Read full post
One in a Million: Fashion Design, Protecting Your Heart, and Having Fun
Friday, July 21, 2017
We reached our 1 millionth student this school year! This blog is part of a series where we journey throughout our expanded learning schools network and get to know some of our students. Meet Bianca, who just finished 6th grade in Queens. She’s 1 in a million! Read full post
Introducing 'ExpandED Pathways: Computer Science'
Thursday, July 13, 2017
Thanks to generous funding from the Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation and Google.org, ExpandED Schools is launching ExpandED Pathways: Computer Science, an initiative designed with a dual purpose to strengthen and grow both the pipeline of individuals prepared and qualified to teach in NYC public schools and the supply of effective computer science (CS) specialists working in after-school and expanded learning programs. Read full post
Motivating Middle-School 'Market Makers'
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Sarah Levitt, Vice President and Counsel at Deutsche Bank (and sister of our own Daniel Levitt, Program Manager), volunteered at East Flatbush Community Research School. There, she worked with community educators from University Settlement to support students as they started their custom-designed phone case company, I-See-You. Here’s what Sarah had to say about her experience as a Market Makers volunteer. Read full post
Let's Tackle the Summer Slide: Part 2! | LiteracyConnections
Thursday, July 6, 2017
The summer slide is well documented. Our own Katie Brohawn, Senior Director of Research, summarized this research in a post last August highlighting a study showing that students in low-income neighborhoods can lose two months of reading achievement over the course of a single summer. Luckily, we also know a wide range of strategies for keeping kids engaged in joyful literacy learning during the months off of school. Our LiteracyConnections blog series will share several of these strategies over the next several weeks. Read full post
Pathways to the Future
Friday, June 30, 2017
This week, ExpandED Schools celebrated its first cohort of Pathways graduates. Eighteen men of color took part in a year-long exploration of the education field, receiving not only a field placement in an ExpandED Schools program, but also intensive professional development and mentorship from our team—and from each other. Read full post
Want to bring quality SEL to more to kids? Start with staff. We did!
Thursday, June 29, 2017
ExpandED Schools recently had Paul Griffin, Founder and President of The Possibility Project, come and offer a social-emotional learning (SEL) training to our staff. His company brings together vastly diverse groups of teenagers who meet 6-7 hours weekly for nine months. They engage in an SEL experience focused on social justice that uses the performing arts to examine and address the personal and social forces that shape their lives and identities. Read full post
The ExpandED Schools Volunteer Program turns 1!
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Judging debate tournaments, building stage sets, writing letters to high schoolers, reading with elementary-aged kids, doing arts and crafts, coaching budding entrepreneurs, creating picture books and answering middle schoolers’ burning technological questions … as we celebrate the first anniversary of the ExpandED Schools Volunteer Program, let’s take a look back at all we accomplished in just one year! Read full post
