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After-School Adventures 2015 – School Board of Polk County, FL
5.1 Project Abstract
After-School Adventuresat Lewis-Anna WoodburyElementary and Fred Garner Elementary promotes school improvement by serving140 students in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Lessons are DOE model-elicitingactivitiesfrom CPALMS that teach Florida Standards by collaborative creativity. Enrichment lessons teach pro-social behaviors, reasoning, and health and nutrition for families viaSkillstreaming and Take 10!. Buses take home our many students whose families lack transportation.
Family activities mirror the after-school students’ lessons in pro-social skills, emphasizing positive reinforcements. We target young parents who have been without stable role models. Weconnect families to community services and to each other,with activities at close-by community centers where our partners teachliteracy and coach parenting.
5.2 Needs Assessment
Planning Strategies - The After-School Adventures staff collaborated with community groups and parents, several agencies, and internal departments during a needs assessment to determine after-school sites likely to impact school improvement. The Superintendent's Cabinet recently analyzed student achievement, discipline, attendance, and administrator experience to assign school improvement initiatives as appropriate. These studies helped identify our sites.
The planning group considered requests from principals who asked to be included. We briefed them on program requirements and discussed best chances for success at each site.
Planning Data - The Cabinet reviewed grant requirements and thesedata:
- Recent standardized test scores , school grades, trends, and existing improvement projects
- Current-year progress monitoring scores (January administrations of FAIR tests in reading, Florida’s Item Bank Test Platform for math and science)
- Trends inreading and math report card grades over the first three grading periods this year
- Parent interest and school plans for the grant to complement school improvement
- Community-based resources that are already available, and that are lacking
Community Planning–The district Strategic Plan charges After-School Adventures tohelp increase graduation rates, enhance job readiness, boost community health and wellness, and improve local cultural and business opportunities. The School Board plan echoes Polk Vision, a diverse civic coalition that has conducted widespread public discussion and formed action groups to sponsor activities and monitor communitywide progress.[1]
After-School Adventures solicited advice from all 68 private schools listed in Polk County on the DOE web site.[2] We notified the private schools when the draft narrative appeared on the After-School Adventures web site to allow for more specific input as the proposal was finalized.
Client and School Viewpoints - After-School Adventures gathered suggestions from local parents by informal focus groups, parent interviews by various staff at school and at special events, and through written surveys. In Ft. Meade parents requested English language instruction and help for parents to assist their children with homework. Parents at Garner said they wish to have a voice in improving fair treatment at school and to feel welcomed and valued.
Risk Factors - The two schools chosen for new After-School Adventures centers both
- are designated by the state as Differentiated Accountability schools[3]
- were among Florida's 300 lowest-performing elementary schools last yearin reading[4], and
- qualify 100% of their students for free breakfast and lunch through the USDA School Lunch Program's Community Eligibility Option, based on familiesreceiving public assistance.[5]
At Garner, there is a high rate of incarcerated family members. Two-thirds of parent survey respondents said they are single. Lewis-Anna Woodbury has students from remote rural areas. Families without cars are isolated from amenities like libraries. One respondent there became a parent at age 15. At both sites, we are targeting childrenwithtoo little exposure to develop rich vocabulary, and insufficient life background to give perspective for new knowledge.
Nearly one in four local adults did not graduate from high school or earn a GED degree.
Table 1: Education Levels of Adults[6]
Florida / Polk / Zip Code 33841(Lewis-A.Woodbury) / Zip Code 33881
(Garner)
Population ages 18-24 with no diploma / 17.3% / 22.4% / 20.9% / 34.2%
Population ages 25+ with no diploma / 13.9% / 17.6% / 27.1% / 20.4%
Population ages 25+ with at least a bachelor's degree / 26.4% / 18.1% / 9.3% / 14.7%
Local Resources - In Fort Meade, After-School Adventures will partner Lewis-Anna Woodbury Elementary with HELP of Ft. Meade and READ Polk. HELP of Ft. Meade is a volunteer organization providing support services for East Area Adult School classes at the Riverside Center. The civic group enjoys strong church support and provides emergency financialassistance, a food pantry and thrift store,educational and social services.[7] READ Polk recruits and trains reading tutors and pairs them with adults who wish to learn to read well enough to function at work and in life.[8] Both HELP of Ft. Meade and the Farmworkers programs can guide eligible clients through paperwork for public assistance, including food stamps. We will help our families connect with these resources. At anotherafter-school center with a similarly disadvantaged, Hispanic-dominated population, we dealt with a boy who begged the principal not to suspend him from school because he would go hungry until he could return.
In Winter Haven, After-School Adventures will partner Garner Elementary with the adjacent Parent Resource Center, and with Winter Haven PEP (Public Education Partnership). A business group, PEP's mission states, "Through advocacy, community engagement, and collaborative partnerships PEP commits to assure that Winter Haven’s public schools are unequaled in quality, relevance, and student performance. [9]
Needs to be Addressed–Our identified needs are 1)improved student achievement to lessen risk of dropping out; 2) skills and motivation for healthy interpersonal behavior and to increase feelings of efficacy; and 3) a safe place to be after school for children from fragile homes due to poverty, food insecurity, family disruption, and lack of resiliency. These issues addressschool needs, family wishes, and community will for universal benefit.
In response, 1) After-School Adventures will align daily academics to Florida Standards in a format that promotes interpersonal and rational thinking skills while students more fully explore the content of their school-day instruction. Lessons will follow the same scope and sequence as the district curriculum maps thatdaytime teachers use. The program plan later in this proposal describes the evidence-based curriculums we will use to teach core subjects, and gives sample activities. The proposal’s section on goals and objectives shows varied enhancements, aligned with our students’ academic needs, that our partner organizations will contribute. Fulfilling these academic needs meets objectives of the schools and school district as well as building a foundation for future graduation and college/career readiness.
2) We will use Skillstreaming curriculum to give students explicit instruction in essential pro-social skills through modeling, role-playing, performance feedback and generalization. Home Connections in the Parenting Literacy series will guide our parents to become more effective at teaching their children—and experience greater satisfactionin parenting. These parallel activities then blend student and parent practice, including effective positive reinforcement, promising to engage our families and keep them coming back.
We will address physical health and nutrition education through the TAKE 10! program. Partners will bring in several more building blocks, including the United Way’s financial literacy classes, Youth Mental Health Awareness workshops, and the sheriff’s Internet Safety class.
3) Safety will come from supervised activities in a place free from fear that meets physical needs through consistent care and productive play, meets cognitive needs through the curriculum and pedagogy, and meets emotional needs through building socialization, affiliation, and confidence. Some lessons at Lewis-Anna Woodbury will be in both English and Spanish so students learn both languages, bridging cultures and enriching both sets of learners for life.[10]
5.3.a Program Evaluation
Independent Evaluator – After-School Adventures will contract an independent evaluator who has at least master’s degree in Measurement or similarly pertinent field, and successful experience reporting useful data and recommendations. The project director asks candidates to provide qualifications in terms of formal education, prior reports to examine for utility and clarity, experience with other grants for education and community programs, and references.
Evaluation Activities - Indicators of student achievement and behavior appear in report cards four times each school year. The district captures these in electronic student records. We will send data files containing these and all other elements requested by the evaluator at the intervals specified in the evaluation plan approved by the evaluator and the district early in the project year. The evaluation plan follows individual student progress, academic and behavior progress of demographic subgroups, and peer comparisons to control for other variables. The evaluator will create statistically valid comparison groups based on socioeconomic status, ELL and ESE status, promotion/retention, and the prior year's standardized testing results.
The evaluator also will analyze parent, teacher and student satisfaction surveys, and parent responses after each family literacy activity. He will observe each site and give feedback to the program managers and advisors, whose responsibilities include responsiveness to stakeholder needs and interests.
Efficient Data Recording - We will monitor activity and fidelity by observations at three levels. The site coordinators will compile student sign-in sheets daily and record them on spread sheets. The Program Coordinator will keep parent sign-in sheets monthly, teacher professional development sign-in sheets, and all other documents for monthly deliverables.
The evaluator will make at least three site visits during the school year to interview site coordinators, teachers, and a sample of students, observe instructional strategiesand site safety, and see student engagement, rigor of content, and teacher feedback about professional development. He will give feedback ranging from data management to policy suggestions, based on best practices from other sites and on expertise in program management and efficacy. For example, evaluator feedback last year helped the program improve management structure. The revision was adopted by the Advisory Board, and the centerssawit as an improvement.
Determining Program Impacts - The evaluator will analyze each measure described in the objectives against comparison groups for each school and each applicable grade. To isolate program effects, he will compare gains achieved by regularly attending students (30+ days) with those of comparable groups attending fewer days and thosenot in the program.
The program structure provides strong user feedback daily. The site coordinators interact daily with students, teachers and parents, and communicate several times per week with the Program Coordinator. Principals participate on the Advisory Board with major partners, at least two parents, educators, and School Advisory Council members representative of student demographics. The evaluator’s interviews with advisors and studentsyield rich and truthful communications that can be translated quickly into helpful and corrective actions.
Use of Evaluation Results - The Advisory Board will review the consultant's detailed evaluation plan early in the year, and review the overall program at least twice annually to measure progress against the best practices in the Florida After-School Network Quality Self-Assessment and Improvement Guide. The evaluator will debrief in person with the program leadership at the end of each visit to invite reflection on specific strengths and weaknesses and consider possible courses of action in response. The evaluation plan will specify that regular reports to the Advisory Board will include recommendations for program improvement.
Community Dissemination–We share reports from the third-party evaluatoron the program website, as well as aggregate data gathered by the Program Coordinator. We also post reports shared with the Advisory Board, and email them to district administrators who make up the Superintendent’s Executive Committee. The Grants Director provides updates through participation in several community groups listed below under “Community Notice.”All feedback goes to the Advisory Board to inform program modifications.
5.3.b Measureable Objectives (Online form completed)
After-School Adventures addresses student needs with aligned objectives to 1) improve student achievement through all aspects of the program, 2) teach pro-social skills through explicit instruction and practice; and increase personal resiliency and motivation through fitness/nutrition and high-interest, collegialphysical activity, and 3) build family capacity to provide stable, secure homes and healthy parental support.
Our goal for academics is to reverse the existing trend at both schools in which targeted students’ grades decline rather than improve over time.The low rate of improvement in English/Language Arts, detailed across both schools below, means having 40% of targeted students improve would be a gain of 14-18% (the range being for grades 2, 3, 4 and 5). For mathematics, the 40% benchmark is 15%better. For science, a benchmark of 60% predicts improvement of 12-18%.
Table 2, below,lists the project objectives aligned with needs, and shows how project activities will support the objectives. It divides activities by those that are grant-supported and those contributed by business, civic, and nonprofit partnerships.
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Need / Objectives / Activities provided by Grant / Activities provided by Partnerships- Improved student achievement to lessen risk of dropping out
Student Achievement: 40% of regularly participating students will improve to a satisfactory Mathematics grade or above, or maintain a high grade
Student Achievement: 60% of regularly participating students will improve to a satisfactory Science grade or above, or maintain a high grade across the program year. /
- Daily small-group instruction using STEM-infused, project-based model-eliciting activities from CPALMS, with differentiated extension projects
- Homework supervision
- Take 10! kinesthetic lesson enhancements with differentiated expressive activities
- Weekly Books Bridge mobile library lessons with monthly take-home books to build home libraries
- Dialogic reading instruction for parents to help children with vocabulary development
- Daily adult education classes for enrolled parents to increase literacy and capacity to help their children
- Family subscriptions to highly engaging, online learning games
- Volunteer tutors and mentors
- Access to parent portals for online student assignments and records
- Skills for healthy interpersonal behavior and motivation to increase feelings of efficacy.
Personal health and nutrition: 50% of participating students will increase their activity levels as measured by perceptual survey /
- Skillstreaming curriculum with corresponding family series and take-home exercises
- Take 10! Curriculum with fitness practice and infused with information about healthy nutrition
- Community speakers for students to explore interests and affiliations
- Social family events to promote belonging and celebrate local cultures
- 5-2-1-0 lessons, materials,incentives for eating fruits/vegetables, increase physical activity, lessen “screen time” and eliminate sugary drinks
- A safe place to be after school for children from fragile homes due to poverty, food insecurity, family disruption, and lack of resiliency.
- Supervised after-school recreation
- Transportation home
- Pro-social skills to boost resiliency against stresses and for gang resistance
- Daily nutritious snacks
- Relationships with caring adults
- Youth Mental Health First Aid
- Skillstreaming pro-social skills training for parents in positive reinforcement
- Financial literacy classes for parents
- Emergency financial assistance
- Public assistance access
Table 2: Alignment of Needs, Objectives, Grant Activities and Partner Activities
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5.4 Applicant’s Experience and Capacity
Program Experience- After-School Adventures is completing its second successful year of operating two 21stCCLCcenters. Regularly participating students achieved greater state FCAT Developmental Scale Score gainsin reading[11] and mathematics[12]than their peers. Similar trends presented in FAIR data (mean reading ability score growth) and FCAT Science.
Parent surveys in 2014 indicated 100% overall program satisfaction, and 81% reported being “very satisfied” with the program as a whole. These programs serve mostlyPuerto Rican, Mexican, and Colombian Hispanics at one site and a rural ranching community at another, both economically and geographically challenged. Despite these hard-to-reach clients, we have had93% attendance thanks to busing, translators, and homework help.
Partners’ Capacity - The United Way was recognized as the district’s Outstanding Business Partner in 2013 for contributing $3 million to education initiatives. Executive Director Penny Borgia is an early childhood expert who originated the local Success by 6 program and Master Teacher for child development at day care operators. This year United Way won a national grant to pilot a public school Early Warning and Response System.
HELP of Ft. Meade is a longtime United Way member agency. It wins continued funding by measurable community impacts. Its web site is hosted by the town government. Elementary Principal Sue Bizerra and County Commissioner Melony Bell are two of its board members.