AISR Speaks Out: Commentary on Urban Education
Beyond the Classroom: A Broader View of Learning
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Warren Simmons offered testimony last evening on extended learning to the Providence City Council Education Subcommittee as part of a public hearing on the Providence Teachers’ Contract. Both President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have consistently called for expanded learning time as part of their ambitious effort to reform the nation’s schools; some citizens are opposed due to its increased costs. There is evidence, however, that union support for it is growing. Dr. Simmons addressed this topic last night at Providence City Hall.
I had the privilege to serve on the C. S. Mott Foundation’s Time, Learning, and Afterschool Task Force, which issued its report in January 2007 calling for a fundamental redesign of the education system in the United States. In the words of the Task Force:
| While almost everything touching children’s lives today has changed dramatically, from how we work, live, and organize family life to the availability of remarkable technology, we cling to an agrarian calendar for defining how children spend their time. We want them to achieve at higher levels, but we continue to isolate and fragment learning so that millions of students struggle to find learning relevant.... At the same time, enormous investments in a variety of interventions to improve achievement for all children seem only minimally effective. We are not getting very far, very fast because we persist in placing all the responsibility for teaching on the schools and on a short school day. Without a broader view of learning, all American school-age children will be denied access to experiences that will help them be successful lifelong learners. — from A New Day for Learning: A Report from the Time, Learning, and Afterschool Task Force, C. S. Mott Foundation |
What does this broader view of learning entail? First, young people today live in a world where technology is used on a regular basis to communicate and learn, and to create and share ideas. This is a stark reality in almost every arena of their lives except school. Moreover, for over thirty years now, schools have struggled to incorporate research on learning and thinking that demonstrates that children and youth learn best when tasks are relevant and meaningful to their own lives, when their teachers build on students’ prior knowledge and experiences, and when students have opportunities to apply the knowledge and skills they are acquiring to perform activities that mirror those found in the settings of family, community (e.g., arts, cultural, civic, and faith institutions/organizations), and business and postsecondary learning (colleges, universities, career and technical programs). Student learning is also enhanced and reinforced when learning is supported and motivated by peers, near-peers (older siblings and youth), and important adults in their lives (ministers, mentors, coaches, role models, etc.)
While K-12 schools should lie at the center of an expanded learning network for children and youth, schools must be designed to complement and reinforce learning activities found in home, community, and business settings so that they combine to:
- enhance students’ motivation and engagement;
- reinforce the importance of problem-solving and critical thinking;
- strengthen productive attachments to peers and adults; and
- help students see the connections between the academic skills and knowledge they acquire in schools and their ability to perform activities that catapult them forward in fulfilling their educational, career, and personal objectives.
Providence has been recognized as a leader in building this new system, as evidenced by grants the school department and its community partners such as the Providence After School Alliance, the John Hope Settlement House, and others have received from the Annie E. Casey, C. S. Mott, Rhode Island, and Wallace foundations, among others.
Governor Carcieri’s Urban Education Task Force also recognized the importance of creating state support for extended learning in Providence and other urban communities by encouraging Rhode Island to launch an expanded learning time initiative that would support sustainable school/community partnerships grounded in the following principles:
- a shared vision for learning and success, including academic, social, and emotional success;
- blended staffing models that enable crossover among school and afterschool/summer partnerships;
- regular and reciprocal collection, sharing, and communication about information on student progress;
- a wide range of services and activities, particularly hands-on learning and enrichment and arts activities that are not available during the school day;
- support for transitions from middle to high school;
- support for students who struggle with classroom instruction by offering alternative ways to learn and interact with educators and peers.
Providence’s efforts to create a twenty-first-century education system that supports the social, civic, cultural, and economic development of children, youth, families, and the city itself will depend on furthering the city’s leadership in nurturing the kinds of school/community partnerships that provide systemic supports for learning and development. While these supports have been incubated by generous grants that funded foundational programs and services, the city must find creative ways to support this work so that it doesn't rely on local and national philanthropies and their three- to five-year funding cycles. I urge the City Council to monitor and support the work of the Mayor’s Children and Youth Cabinet, as well as the K-12 school reforms now under way in the Providence School Department that are building links with key afterschool partner organizations and institutions. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.
PREPARED BY
Warren Simmons
Executive Director,
Annenberg Institute for School Reform
Warren_Simmons@brown.edu 