Paige Discusses After-School Programs
By Tom Kertes

(Exclusive to Education Update)

President George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” initiative has a quartet of major components: accountability for results; flexibility and local control; expanded parental options and doing what works in the classroom. “And these points apply equally to after-school and summer programs, whether they’re provided in or out of the classroom,” Secretary of Education Rod Paige said recently at a Satellite Town Meeting.

According to Secretary Paige, after-school and summer programs are extremely important. “The parents of more than 28 million school age children work outside the home and as many as 15 million “latch-key” children return to an empty house on any given afternoon,” he said. “All studies have shown that after the schoolbell rings, too many children without adequate supervision may neglect necessary school-work or, worse, fall prey to negative influences. In fact, children are at a greater risk of being involved in crime, substance abuse, and teenage pregnancy in the hours after-school – peaking between 3-4 p.m.”

“Yet, since, in spite of all this, after-school programs are so inadequately funded, creating local partnerships with corporations, faith-based organizations, and the community is extremely important,” said Michael LeFlore, the Director of IMPACT Afterschool Program in Phoenix, Arizona. “Our success in doing that has allowed us to keep our programs in line with state standards and provide a diverse outlook on education that has led to higher grades and greater parent participation.”

Variety in quality programming is also of the essence. “In the INTEL Computer Clubhouse, we really try to keep a club atmosphere – it seems to inspire children,” said Roma Avellano, Education Manager on INTEL Corporation. “The computers are organized in clusters, they are not facing the wall. The students learn skills that people use as professionals – so we use the very highest technology available in our music studio and video editing centers. And the students’ creativity is further encouraged and enhanced by the presence of adult and older student mentors.”

“We did this because we felt that society has developed a technology gap between children of different backgrounds,” Avellano added. “And we could not allow this technology gap become first a skills gap, and then an achievement gap.”

Carla Sanger, Executive Director of LA’S BEST, one of the nation’s most outstanding afterschool programs, spoke of accountability and results. “We must work within articulated high standards,” she said. “We have 17,500 kids coming to work with us each and every day. And the outcome measures are sometimes surprising: among others, one that made us feel good was that children have reported greater confidence in going to adults in problem-solving situations after working with us.”

LA’S BEST has also shown positive results in reading ability, increase of self-esteem, and pride in learning. According to one of the high school mentors “this is great; when I have children I’ll be able to teach them myself about a whole variety of different things.”

All participants agreed that the No. 1 key to a quality afterschool or summer program is involvement in the school, talking to teachers, talking to parents, talking to kids. “We have to find out what’s real to the children, we must have adult mentors who really, really listen,” Sanger said.#

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