WEBVTT

00:00:00.516 --> 00:00:04.546
[Music]

00:00:05.046 --> 00:00:06.606
Desiree Bolden: I
am Desiree Bolden.

00:00:06.606 --> 00:00:09.936
I am the afterschool coordinator
for the Akron Public Schools,

00:00:09.936 --> 00:00:11.896
and we are located
in Akron, Ohio.

00:00:11.896 --> 00:00:13.666
Teacher, to students:
What digraph does it make?

00:00:13.876 --> 00:00:14.846
Student: Nothing.

00:00:14.956 --> 00:00:17.296
Teacher: Oh, okay,
well take me to a word

00:00:17.296 --> 00:00:17.976
that has a digraph
in it, please.

00:00:19.046 --> 00:00:20.726
Bolden: We are very
classic urban.

00:00:20.856 --> 00:00:24.476
We have all the categories
that fit under urban.

00:00:24.476 --> 00:00:25.676
We have high poverty.

00:00:25.676 --> 00:00:27.106
We have low income.

00:00:27.106 --> 00:00:28.816
We have transitional
neighborhoods.

00:00:29.416 --> 00:00:31.516
We have urban flight.

00:00:31.756 --> 00:00:35.566
We have all those components
that impact academics,

00:00:35.566 --> 00:00:38.096
and it impacts families
and their children

00:00:38.176 --> 00:00:40.406
and their test scores
and the challenges

00:00:40.406 --> 00:00:43.166
that come with all of that.

00:00:43.266 --> 00:00:48.106
And as a school district, we
see the data on state tests,

00:00:48.106 --> 00:00:51.816
we see the data on
district assessments.

00:00:52.206 --> 00:00:55.936
We know our kids and
we know what they need.

00:00:57.046 --> 00:00:59.786
So that's the easy part
because we are data driven.

00:00:59.786 --> 00:01:02.916
We know where the
gaps are and that's

00:01:02.916 --> 00:01:03.916
where after-school comes in,

00:01:04.346 --> 00:01:06.106
that's where extended
learning comes in,

00:01:06.106 --> 00:01:07.616
the intervention
and the enrichment.

00:01:08.006 --> 00:01:12.826
2002 was the first round of
evaluation, and it was kind

00:01:12.826 --> 00:01:18.716
of a rudimentary snapshot of
this is how many kids attended.

00:01:18.716 --> 00:01:21.866
And I didn't have
a lot of money,

00:01:21.936 --> 00:01:25.476
so I couldn't support big,
full, blown-out evaluation.

00:01:25.476 --> 00:01:29.666
But I wanted a foundation
because at the time,

00:01:29.666 --> 00:01:32.156
I knew that if I
didn't have a qualifier,

00:01:32.156 --> 00:01:34.596
if I didn't have
something that said

00:01:34.596 --> 00:01:37.106
that I was impacting
kids academically,

00:01:37.576 --> 00:01:40.586
I totally firmly
believed at the time

00:01:40.586 --> 00:01:42.076
that I would not be successful.

00:01:42.146 --> 00:01:45.716
So I did everything I
could to secure funding

00:01:45.716 --> 00:01:47.996
to pay an outside evaluator.

00:01:48.266 --> 00:01:50.636
And then, the next year,
I got more funding.

00:01:51.176 --> 00:01:54.336
So then I was able to
increase what they did,

00:01:54.336 --> 00:01:57.386
and that's when they
took all the assessments,

00:01:57.386 --> 00:01:59.956
the state tests, the district
assessments, their attendance,

00:02:00.796 --> 00:02:03.626
building by building,
and looked at,

00:02:03.846 --> 00:02:07.516
versus kids who did not
attend, how they fared.

00:02:07.516 --> 00:02:10.056
And what we showed
that first year

00:02:10.056 --> 00:02:13.166
when we did all the
assessments was so exciting.

00:02:13.166 --> 00:02:14.756
I was just like, "Oh my gosh."

00:02:14.836 --> 00:02:18.146
It showed that after-school
kids did better on state tests

00:02:18.146 --> 00:02:19.716
than non-after-school kids.

00:02:20.236 --> 00:02:22.936
In extended learning in the
Akron after-school program

00:02:24.086 --> 00:02:30.476
where we had observation
groups, we had interviews,

00:02:31.196 --> 00:02:33.566
we did satisfaction surveys.

00:02:33.826 --> 00:02:36.476
They were able to offer
input on their experience

00:02:36.476 --> 00:02:38.456
in the program-whether
they worked in it

00:02:38.456 --> 00:02:40.616
or whether they were parents.

00:02:41.146 --> 00:02:43.356
The students themselves
were surveyed

00:02:43.466 --> 00:02:47.016
and we designed surveys,
obviously, to fit the age group.

00:02:47.616 --> 00:02:52.386
And those came back and
all part of the picture

00:02:52.386 --> 00:02:56.366
of what after-school looks
like, what we say we are doing,

00:02:56.366 --> 00:03:00.786
is it really happening based on
their responses to the program.

00:03:01.406 --> 00:03:03.936
One of things that parent
surveys came back with [was]

00:03:03.936 --> 00:03:05.616
that kids still had homework.

00:03:06.636 --> 00:03:10.876
So they couldn't understand
why their child who stayed

00:03:10.876 --> 00:03:13.746
after school was still
coming home with homework.

00:03:14.166 --> 00:03:18.166
And so what I realized
is that as an outreach

00:03:18.596 --> 00:03:20.236
that we didn't communicate
to parents

00:03:20.236 --> 00:03:22.216
that intervention is
not doing homework,

00:03:22.896 --> 00:03:25.256
and so there was a whole
education piece of parents

00:03:25.256 --> 00:03:30.216
that I had never even, I mean,
I thought I had communicated,

00:03:30.216 --> 00:03:33.566
but obviously by the surveys
that I got back that I didn't.

00:03:33.956 --> 00:03:37.376
And that here was a piece,
an opportunity to share

00:03:37.376 --> 00:03:38.776
with them what intervention
meant.

00:03:39.416 --> 00:03:44.076
And then what I did is I
instituted homework clubs

00:03:44.476 --> 00:03:48.766
so that during the enrichment
time, parents who were concerned

00:03:48.766 --> 00:03:51.996
that their children were still
bringing home homework could opt

00:03:51.996 --> 00:03:55.346
out of enrichment and
choose homework club.

00:03:55.426 --> 00:03:58.686
In our system, we have been
tracking the last five years

00:03:59.216 --> 00:04:04.036
of students who attended Akron
after-school, and their length

00:04:04.286 --> 00:04:10.856
and time, and what grade
level they were in each year

00:04:10.856 --> 00:04:11.926
that they are in tracking.

00:04:11.926 --> 00:04:14.646
So I am very excited about
that so that at some point,

00:04:14.646 --> 00:04:18.176
we are going to have a
long history and can look

00:04:18.176 --> 00:04:20.685
at a longitudinal study
and see where they are

00:04:20.685 --> 00:04:21.976
at and see the impact.

00:04:23.516 --> 00:04:28.500
[Music]