Levers of Change: Creating Equitable Conditions for Learning at Scale
by Priscilla Little, Forum for Youth Investment
This blog is the sixth, and final, in a series aimed at introducing community-based practitioners and K-12 educators to some of the key concepts described in Design Principles for Community-based Settings: Putting the Science of Learning and Development into Action. It tackles the question: What will it take to create equitable conditions for learning at scale in a community?
As we take action to create more equitable conditions for learning we should certainly consider how to build and strengthen adults’ capacity to implement science-informed approaches to teaching and learning. Indeed, many efforts to support whole child education elevate the importance of training and supporting student support staff, training teachers to better utilize non-academic instructional time, or bringing trained personnel into the schools from other youth serving organizations. And both the K-12 and Community-Based Settings Playbooks offer many concrete examples of each of these.
But the power to transform learning settings and achieve equitable conditions for learning at scale rests on the ability of communities to embrace and deliver integrated, cross-setting approaches to science-aligned transformation.
We offer five levers of change to support this.
Recognize community-based settings as an essential part of the learning ecosystem.
For this to happen, schools and community partners need to co-create a vision of youth success that reflects the values and culture of the community’s young people and their families and is fully supported by science-aligned approaches. The sheer diversity of community-based settings means that they do not always present a visible, coordinated force in their communities, yet we know that for many young people community programs allow them to thrive. Vision setting requires a shared understanding of where and when learning happens, acknowledging all the settings where young people spend their time, not just K-12 classrooms.
Prioritize and improve coordination throughout the learning ecosystem.
In some communities local infrastructures exist that support more and better coordination to ensure that regardless of the setting, young people have access to and are experiencing consistently supportive and engaging learning experiences. National youth serving organizations with affiliate models, afterschool and summer learning intermediaries, and local children’s cabinets play a critical role in taking science-aligned approaches to scale in community programs. Working through their affiliates and networks, these organizations support professional development, program quality assessment, and effective use of data aimed at increasing access to quality youth development experiences and improving the capacity of adults across diverse community settings to implement science-informed practices. Further, local coordination of community programs paves the way for school-community partnerships because it can provide the district with a single-entry point for tapping into the diversity of learning settings in a community. But this kind of coordination does not happen without care and feeding nor is it the norm in many communities. Districts and community partners need to dedicate resources specifically to improving partnerships and coordination. This means fully-funded, staff time dedicated to partnership across all the settings and sectors that comprise the learning and development ecosystem — district offices, city agencies, public and private community institutions, and local community non-profits.
Prioritize Strategic Partnerships.
Partnership needs to be a top priority for schools and community partners alike. Prioritizing partnerships requires an intentional district outreach and engagement strategy, with resources dedicated to nurturing and maintaining community partnerships. Even when schools have community partners and programs, they typically operate in silos and are not well-aligned with the school’s academic plans and goals. Community schools are one approach to aligned partnerships where coordinators facilitate and provide leadership for the collaborative process and development of a continuum of services for children, families, and community members within a school neighborhood. In some instances, partnerships are coordinated by a family resource center or an afterschool site coordinator. Regardless of who coordinates the partnerships, they need to be strategic and data driven. All partners need access to the information and data collected about youth so they can better align supports across settings.
“The sheer diversity of youth development organizations means that they do not always serve as a visible and coordinated force in their communities. The research on how [young people] learn has brought new credence to the adage that schools can’t do it alone. School leaders committed to galvanizing community commitment to a whole child, whole community approach to learning can accelerate this work by partnering with [community learning and development] organizations and networks in their communities and inviting [community partner] leaders to join them in setting community-wide goals.” Building Partnerships to Support Where, When, and How Learning Happens (2018)
Strengthen and expand cross-setting adult capacity building.
Joint capacity building across settings should be the norm so that all adults have access to and engage in common professional development based on the science of learning and development. Many efforts exist to co-train educators and youth development professionals, however these efforts are primarily school-driven, designed, and delivered. Youth development and other community learning settings have a history of supporting aspects of whole child design, namely: building relationships with caring adults and fostering supportive learning environments. There is mutual benefit in sharing professional expertise and content. Schools and community partners should seek ways to design and deliver trainings jointly, and open up any and all relevant professional development and training opportunities to all adults across the learning and development ecosystem that are striving to support the whole child.
Increase and stabilize funding for community programs.
Community partners bring unique assets to the ecosystem including alternative spaces for teaching and learning, experimentation with a variety of pedagogies aimed at fostering inquiry based-learning, and service as the bridge between schools and families. Yet historically, community programs have been substantially under-funded, relying primarily on short-term, unstable resources. Stable funding would allow community programs to deepen their practice and improve quality by accessing critical professional development supports to help them implement science-aligned practices alongside school day professionals. More funding would also allow programs to serve more students.
Advocates need to continue to push for equitable and dedicated local, state, and national funding, including expansion of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Initiative, the largest federal funding stream to support afterschool, before school, and summer learning. Locally, educators and community practitioners need to band together to help local philanthropy and the business community understand why investing in community learning and development opportunities will contribute to a healthy, productive workforce. In 2022 there is an unprecedented opportunity to use Federal recovery funding to stabilize the youth sector and put it on even footing with K-12 education.
