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Professional Considerations
After-Hours Academic and Enrichment Programs
Adapted from Taking Center Stage, California Department of Education, 2001, p. 195.
- Has your school implemented after-hours academic and enrichment programs? If so, how do you rate the level of cooperation between program staff and the staff of the regular school program? What factors have contributed to effective cooperation? What suggestions can you offer for improvement? Share the information with others.
- After-hours academic and enrichment programs require the same kind of rigorous attention to planning, management, and supervision as that required for the regular day program. Are after-hours academic programs at your school the product of a carefully developed consensus involving school staff, parents, and partner organizations? How can consensus building and shared decision making be strengthened? Can your ideas influence the process? What might you do next?
- After-hours academic and enrichment programs require the availability of transportation, library/media centers, and trained professionals. Are the students who are most in need of remediation able to attend the enrichment center? If not, is transportation a problem? Work with the district to remedy transportation problems. Also, work with the principal and library/media center staff to ensure that the center is open for academic enrichment during the after-school program hours. Finally, have all of the after-school staff received training required to fulfill their responsibilities?
- After-hours academic and enrichment programs fill a critical void in the day of an average young adolescent student and provide specific support. If your school has after-hours academic programs, do the students, the regular teachers, the after-hours staff, and the parents understand the purpose of the programs? If so, how is that purpose apparent? If not, what specifically can be done to improve the chances that students will benefit from the programs? How are these programs advertised and promoted?
- After-hours academic and enrichment programs can be very effective in extending the regular school day. The programs are also viewed as a potent response to threats of failure and grade retention. If your school offers after-hours academic programs, are students actively recruited and enrolled? Are content and performance standards for the regular classroom linked with the instructional support available in the after-hours programs? If so, what has contributed most to your school’s success in realizing those goals? If not, what can be done to improve those critical connections?
- If your school does not offer after-hours academic programs or lacks careful planning, management, or supervision for the programs you do offer, can you provide leadership to improve the situation? Do you know of colleagues who might help?