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At a Glance: Of the 1.1 million students who attend New York City public schools: » 85 percent of students are eligible for free lunch or subsidized meals » 40 percent live in households where a language other than English is spoken » Fewer than 60 percent graduate in four years » Fewer than 55 percent of African-American students and fewer than 51 percent of Hispanic students graduate in four years » Nine out of ten students who attend comprehensive after-school programs live in low-income families |
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After-school education plays an increasingly vital role in the lives of all kids, including those who live in low income families. The Center for After-School Excellence, founded by The After-School Corporation in 2006, is dedicated to ensuring that during the critical afternoon hours, young people are supervised and instructed by well-trained staff in high-quality after-school programs.
After-school is no longer just a way to keep kids off the street. It is a vehicle for closing the achievement and experience gaps among kids. After-school expands kids’ learning hours and their artistic, athletic, and cultural experiences. Yet most frontline after-school educators are required to have only high school diplomas. A better-trained workforce is essential if after-school programs are to live up to their full potential for young people.
Until now there have been few opportunities for after-school educators to earn credits or degrees in their field at the college level. The Center for After-School Excellence is changing that. We are partnering with the City University of New York (CUNY) to offer the dedicated staff of after-school programs a new infrastructure of courses and certificates at the community college, senior college, and graduate levels.
By offering dynamic college courses and financial assistance to after-school educators, the Center is working to radically expand opportunities for the members of this workforce, and benefits for the kids in their care. When they enroll in Center-sponsored professional certificate programs, after-school educators can advance toward college degrees and earn universally recognized credentials that will demonstrate their expertise to employers for as long as they work in the field, wherever they work.
Right now, these mostly part-time employees who want to enroll in college are up against steep barriers. The cost of earning college credits can be high, and many after-school educators struggle to fit school into schedules that feature multiple jobs, and frequently, the demands of single parenthood. A significant proportion of staff members have been out of school for years, while others are searching for help at the start of their careers. The Center taps the desire among these dedicated workers to excel with kids, while improving their own job and salary prospects.
The Center works to lower barriers to college through an innovative mix of financial assistance, counseling, academic support, flexible scheduling and salary incentives. As a first step in the 2007-08 school year, the Center is offering staff members their choice of four professional certificate programs at CUNY campuses across New York. Courses are scheduled at different times of day and on different days of the week.
Many of the largest nonprofit after-school providers in New York City have committed to offering preference in hiring to applicants who earn professional certificates through the Center.
For the after-school field to progress, critical questions must be answered: What types of programs produce the best results for kids? What are the most effective ways to train and educate staff? In what ways do young people grow socially and emotionally in after-school?
To help answer these and other questions, the Center conducts and supports robust research, assuring that this vital information gets into the hands of the program leaders who work with kids every day. Our research team also provides evaluation services to more than 100 New York City after-school programs, an important additional tool for ongoing program improvement. The work of the Center's research team is strengthening the case for after-school among policy-makers, and is helping the field gain legitimacy in academia.
