Grade Level reading

10– 11 a.m., 430 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Presenters:

Margaret Grioli, Vice President of Corporate Communications for Macy’s United Way National Women’s Leadership Council, Early Grade Reading Taskforce Chair

Dr. John T. Guthrie, Professor Emeritus,Department of Human Development, University of Maryland

Debbie Hunsaker, Instructional Innovations, Director, Montana State Department of Education

Mel Riddile, Associate Director, High School Services, National Association of Secondary School Principals

RSVP to Ellen Fern efern@wpllc.net
Wednesday, January 18

In a time of declining fiscal resources and greater demand for public services, districts with fewer resources to spread around are focusing on partnerships that leverage the strengths of multiple organizations to improve student outcomes. Such partnerships form the basis for community schools, which provide an integrated approach to academics, youth development, family support, health and social services, and community development.As important as partnerships may be, however, they are not always easy to build and sustain over time.

Join this  conversation with community school, district, and union leaders to discuss their strategies for building and maintaining strong relationships with partners. We will launch the conversation with a paper by the Coalition for Community Schools that examines the coalition-building approaches undertaken by seven different community school initiatives around the country. We will continue and expand on the discussion with a panel of distinguished community school experts.

For those that aren’t able to attend the presentation in person can stream it live online at:  http://www.americanprogress.org/events/2012/01/partnerships.html/streaming.html

To be held from 9:30 to 11:00 AM at the Center for American Progress, 1333 H Street, NW, 10th Floor.
Space is extremely limited. RSVP required at

The Coalition for Community Schools and guest presenters in a webinar discussion exploring how the strategy of expanding learning time is a central component of their comprehensive community schools strategy. For both strategies, the school is the primary place for more learning time, more engagement, and more opportunities to improve life outcomes. However, in community schools, learning is linked to the community as well.  Schools and their community partners collaborate to expand learning time and opportunities as part of the community school strategy to ensure that students are ready for college, career, and citizenship, and to strengthen families and the community.

During the webinar you will get a chance to hear first-hand from three community school initiative leaders from Chicago, Cincinnati, and Tulsa, about how they, in partnership with their school district and community partners, are integrating expanded learning time into community schools.

Tulsa community schools are implementing expanded learning to address summer learning loss,  creating more opportunities for students, by adding twenty additional days of instruction for participating students during the inter-sessions, with an additional sixteen days for those who also participate in summer school. Cincinnati’s Community Learning Centers have an extended school year to include a 5th Quarter, allowing learning to continue right after the regular school year ends. Students will be in their same schools, with their same teachers, so the transition will be seamless. Chicago’s community schools’ parents decided that they wanted the school to become a Track E school, meaning, the school year would start earlier in the summer, that there would be a two-week intersession in fall, and longer winter and spring breaks.

Register to learn more about how these communities are providing expanded learning opportunities through the community schools strategy.

Jan Creveling, Senior Planner, Tulsa Area Community Schools Initiative

Rebecca Kelly, Group Vice President, Community Services, YMCA of Greater Cincinnati (a partner of the Cincinnati Community Learning Centers Initiative)

Adeline Ray, Sr. Manager, Chicago Public Schools, Community Schools Initiative

You will receive participation instructions after you have registered. There is no fee to participate, but due to capacity restrictions, please limit registrations to one per organization.

Managed by: The Hatcher Group