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Building Smart Education Systems |
Voices in Urban Education
Archives
Extending Learning
VUE Number 16, Summer 2007
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EXCERPT:
Volunteers in Service to Youth: Citizen Schools
By Heather Harding, Ned Rimer, and Camrin Fredrick
Heather Harding is a principal associate at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform.
> Author's biography
Ned Rimer is co-founder of Citizen Schools.
> Author bio
Camrin Fredrick is director of curriculum and instruction for Citizen Schools.
> Author bio
An after-school program that started in Boston enlists volunteers from throughout the community to teach and nurture children.
Students like Nakisha are often on the wrong side of the academic achievement gap. School reform efforts have focused a host of programmatic and accountability strategies aimed at addressing the underperformance of adolescent urban youth. After more than a decade of standards-based reforms, school-based educators are beginning to recognize the need for a more comprehensive approach to bridging the gap. Supplemental and out-of-school time services must be a part of addressing the gap in achievements and, more important, the persistent gap in opportunity in low-income communities of color. Citizen Schools, a network of after-school programs that operates at thirty sites in five states, has emerged as a leader in these efforts, based on their programmatic innovation and the skill with which they have learned to develop cross-sector partnerships and advocate for definitions of education and teacher that enhance the possibilities for providing quality instruction.
Citizen Schools emerged from a simple idea: to involve all adults in a community, not just school teachers, to teach and nurture its children. Citizen Schools takes advantage of two important and largely untapped resources: out-of-school time, which accounts for 80 percent of a child’s waking hours; and the diverse talents of diverse adults. Currently serving over 3,000 middle school students and engaging 2,400 volunteers annually, Citizen Schools provides a promising model of how out-of-school time can be harnessed to re-imagine learning. By connecting adult volunteers to young people in handson learning projects, Citizen Schools helps to develop students’ academic and leadership skills and puts them on a pathway toward high school graduation, college attainment, and positions of leadership in their careers and in their communities.
Citizen Schools is an attractive partner for individual schools, school districts, and community-based organizations based on two important features. First, the Citizen Schools model was nurtured and developed through a dynamic, ten-year history in one local context. This allowed the organization to learn and respond to important lessons about urban school reform and both the importance and the nature of authentic community engagement in program development. Second, Citizen Schools’ long-term commitment to engaging external and internal evaluations provides an important link between out-of-school programming and academic achievement.
FOOTNOTE
1 All names in the vignettes are pseudonyms. The vignettes are based on interviews and observations of real students and staff in the Citizen Schools program.
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Archives
Extending Learning
VUE Number 16, Summer 2007
| VUE Home | Archives | Order Print Copy |
EXCERPT:
Volunteers in Service to Youth: Citizen Schools
By Heather Harding, Ned Rimer, and Camrin Fredrick
Heather Harding is a principal associate at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform.
> Author's biography
Ned Rimer is co-founder of Citizen Schools.
> Author bio
Camrin Fredrick is director of curriculum and instruction for Citizen Schools.
> Author bio
An after-school program that started in Boston enlists volunteers from throughout the community to teach and nurture children.
Nakisha Taylor1 is a gangly thirteenyear- old girl who lives in Dorchester, an inner-city neighborhood of Boston. Approaching the end of her eighthgrade year, Nakisha is facing one of the most important decisions in her life: selecting a high school. “I guess I could have gone to Metco [the local desegregation busing program], but I wasn’t trying to get on a bus at five in the morning,” she says emphatically. “But now I want to make the right choice.”
Sitting in a semicircle with a group of her peers at the Citizen Schools after-school program, Nakisha turns to listen to her team leader, Jocelyn, who describes the various high school options in Boston.
Nakisha perks up when she hears Jocelyn mention a neighborhood charter school.“I know people who go there,” she says.“I’m putting my name in their lottery.” Across the room, a group of adults in business attire congregate. They are writing coaches who work at a local law firm and volunteer to work one-on-one with Citizen Schools’ students throughout the year. Nakisha leans over and whispers to a friend. They giggle while packing up their belongings. It’s time to work on the personal statement that can be used in high school applications. Nakisha is practicing what it will take to get into college. High school is simply one leg in a longer journey.
Students like Nakisha are often on the wrong side of the academic achievement gap. School reform efforts have focused a host of programmatic and accountability strategies aimed at addressing the underperformance of adolescent urban youth. After more than a decade of standards-based reforms, school-based educators are beginning to recognize the need for a more comprehensive approach to bridging the gap. Supplemental and out-of-school time services must be a part of addressing the gap in achievements and, more important, the persistent gap in opportunity in low-income communities of color. Citizen Schools, a network of after-school programs that operates at thirty sites in five states, has emerged as a leader in these efforts, based on their programmatic innovation and the skill with which they have learned to develop cross-sector partnerships and advocate for definitions of education and teacher that enhance the possibilities for providing quality instruction.
Citizen Schools emerged from a simple idea: to involve all adults in a community, not just school teachers, to teach and nurture its children. Citizen Schools takes advantage of two important and largely untapped resources: out-of-school time, which accounts for 80 percent of a child’s waking hours; and the diverse talents of diverse adults. Currently serving over 3,000 middle school students and engaging 2,400 volunteers annually, Citizen Schools provides a promising model of how out-of-school time can be harnessed to re-imagine learning. By connecting adult volunteers to young people in handson learning projects, Citizen Schools helps to develop students’ academic and leadership skills and puts them on a pathway toward high school graduation, college attainment, and positions of leadership in their careers and in their communities.
Citizen Schools is an attractive partner for individual schools, school districts, and community-based organizations based on two important features. First, the Citizen Schools model was nurtured and developed through a dynamic, ten-year history in one local context. This allowed the organization to learn and respond to important lessons about urban school reform and both the importance and the nature of authentic community engagement in program development. Second, Citizen Schools’ long-term commitment to engaging external and internal evaluations provides an important link between out-of-school programming and academic achievement.
FOOTNOTE
1 All names in the vignettes are pseudonyms. The vignettes are based on interviews and observations of real students and staff in the Citizen Schools program.
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