The White House formally announced yesterday at the Next Generation High School Summit a five-year initiative to partner with twenty education organizations. The partnership will raise public and private funding of $620 million to improve learning opportunities for the nation’s students in grades 5-8.
“Dubbed the Expanded Learning Middle School Initiative, the program aims to reach more than 1.3 million students and is organized by Citizen Schools, a nonprofit that partners with public schools through apprenticeships and academic support,” said THEJournal.com.
The initiative will impact over 1 million students in the country and will aim to expand learning opportunities through “multiple, evidence-based models and practices,” said participant Classroom, inc. in a statement.
The initiative is a federal effort to help best prepare America’s students for career and college readiness later down the road.
""Engaging middle school students and helping them see the connection between their school work and the real world can make all the difference in their successful transition to high school and beyond. In our games, students play the role of boss in different careers, as they face reading and writing challenges, solve problems, and think critically. And the impact is transformational,” said Classroom, Inc.’s president Lisa Holton.
The initiative’s partners include organizations that are respectively involved all aspects in education.
Partner Afterschool Alliance will be specifically working to help provide more middle school students with after school opportunities.
Partner ExpandED Schools closes opportunity gaps by increasing access to enriched education experiences. ExpandED Schools has helped more than 800,000 students to date in underserved schools through its cost-effective model that "expands the school day by 2.5 hours; engages the community to bring additional talent and child development expertise into the classroom; and enhances the learning by balancing curriculum with the arts, sports and hands-on, personalized instruction.”
Further notable partnerships include STEMconnector and Million Women Mentors, two nationwide efforts to increase STEM education and benefit women in education, respectively.
Read the full list of partners and read more about the Expanded Learning Middle School Initiative here.
Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor
11/12/2015