Research
- The tough reality is that many middle grades students say they are bored and disengaged in school, often losing interest and falling behind just as they should be preparing for the rigor of the high school curriculum. (Southern Regional Education Board, 2009)
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Over one million students who enter ninth grade each year fail to graduate with their peers four years later because they drop out of school. Seven thousand students drop out of school every day, and each year roughly 1.2 million students fail to graduate from high school. More than half of these students are from minority groups. Afterschool programs are a proven way to address the issues and risk factors that lead to dropout and provide a path to graduation and beyond. (Afterschool Alliance, 2009)
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One result of [formal education] is that students graduate without learning how to think in whole systems, how to find connections, how to ask big questions, and how to separate the trivial from the important. Now more than ever, however, we need people who think broadly and who understand systems, connections, patterns and root causes. (David Orr, Ecological Literacy, 1992)
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Curriculum standards are typically grounded in the academic disciplines, though research on how people learn provides evidence that people learn best when their learning is grounded in big ideas or concepts, contrary to a “traditional” focus on learning isolated facts, figures, and names… Integrated curriculum, which crosses subject boundaries, connects school learning to the real world, and allows for student voice in what is learned and how it is learned, has particular value for young adolescents, given their need for authentic learning experiences and participation in decisions. (National Middle School Association, Characteristics of Exemplary Schools)
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Hands-on and learning by experience are powerful ideas, and we know that engaging students actively and thoughtfully in their studies pays off in better learning. (SREB, 2009)
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Among the skills considered by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills as needed by all students to succeed in a 21st Century world and economy are environmental literacy, critical thinking and problem solving skills, global literacy and awareness, financial business and entrepreneurial literacy, and information, media, and technology skills. (Partnership for 21st Century Skills)
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Children gain weight two or three times faster during summer vacation than during the school year. So … it makes sense that the right kinds of summer programs will help if they provide structure, limit opportunities to eat, schedule time for exercise, and make sure children aren’t unsupervised for long stretches of the day. (National Summer Learning Association, 2009)
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About two-thirds of the ninth-grade academic achievement gap between disadvantaged youngsters and their more advantaged peers can be explained by what happens over the summer … During the summer months, disadvantaged children tread water at best or even fall behind … We need to provide children with strategically planned, structured summer experiences, and that’s especially true for those who don’t have access to enriching, home-based learning. (National Summer Learning Association, 2009)
- The potential impact of middle school afterschool programs goes far beyond the recognized benefit of providing safe, supervised environments in the hours after school. In addition to facing more demanding academics, middle school students are dealing with the challenge of meeting social and developmental benchmarks as they transition from elementary to middle and middle to high school. Afterschool programs can provide an avenue for helping those students successfully navigate these challenges while building skills necessary for academic success, learning to get along with others, and fostering positive attitudes toward community and school. (SEDL, Making the Most of Middle School, 2008)
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Participants in afterschool programs benefit from personal skill building, academic enrichment, family outreach, engaging extracurricular activities and, in some cases, opportunities to earn income, all within a safe environment and positive peer group. Afterschool programs can prevent students from falling through the cracks, ensuring that they receive the appropriate level of attention, instruction, engagement and support to graduate from high school prepared for college, the modern workforce and life. (Afterschool Alliance Issue Brief, July 2009)
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