Date: Wednesday, February 26, 2020
Time: 2:00 p.m. (ET)
Presenters: Christine Baines, Senior Manager Professional Development & Quality and Bryan Hall, Senior Director, Evaluation, BellXcel
Description: Research demonstrates that adults learn best when able to test and apply new strategies in real-world environments. Summer affords teachers the opportunity to engage in concrete experiences, try out new approaches and techniques, and reflect with peers to develop insights into what works (The Aspen Institute, 2018; Schonert-Reichl, 2017). A recent study suggests that BellXcel Summer educators believe that the professional learning they engage in as part of BellXcel Summer is influencing their confidence and attitudes toward the school year, and their practice in key areas such as growth mindset and promoting positive behavior (Bellwether Education Partners, 2018). In this webinar, we’ll explore how best to leverage summer environments to advance teacher development and SEL skills, as these results suggest that summer may be under-utilized as a learning lab for educators.
Date: Wednesday, February 19, 2020
Time: 2:00 p.m. (ET)
Presenter: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Report Committee
Description: With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Wallace Foundation, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine convened a committee of experts in 2018 to study and prepare a report on the state of the sciences, and how summertime experiences affect school age children across education, health, and safety. Released in late 2019, the report put forth a number of recommendations to inform federal, state, local, and organizational decision-makers on developing programs and policies to support the healthy development and learning of all children during the summer months. Committee members will join the webinar to speak about some of the recommendations, what action practitioners can take, and areas for future research.
Watch the Webinar Recording Download the Slides
Date: Thursday, February 6, 2020
Time: 1:00 p.m. (ET)
Presenter: Jose Oromí, Executive Vice President, Horizons National
Description: Using strategies that are focused on partnerships and long-term success has allowed Horizons to expand in cities across the country, including Atlanta, Bridgeport, and Chicago where several other organizations are doing amazing work to address the significant needs of students living in poverty. Through lessons learned in each city, leaders from Horizons National will present the strategies and tactics ensuring a program is ready to embark on growth and sustainability; board development; fundraising; identification of new partners; learning from best practices from existing sites/programs; establishing and facilitating operational goals; and identifying local champions.
Watch the Webinar Recording Download the Slides
Date: Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Presenters: Rachel Gwaltney, VP of Policy and Partnerships, NSLA, Crystal Brown, National VP of Youth Development, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Jennifer McCombs, Director, Behavioral and Policy Sciences Department and Senior Policy Researcher, RAND Corporation, Emily Richmond, Public Editor, Education Writers Association – moderator
Description:
Summer and afterschool programs are core to the 2020 presidential candidates’ education agendas with continued investments needed to improve the conditions for children and families during the critical summer months. This briefing aims to increase your knowledge on the role of summer learning and afterschool programs in advancing educational outcomes and healthy development for our nation’s young people with highlights that include:
* Discussion of why summer matters to children, families, schools, and communities
* Recommendations from the new National Academies of Sciences report: Shaping Summertime Experiences
* Funding implications for summer and afterschool programs within the recent 1.3 trillion FY20 budget deal by the House and the Senate
* National models of summer success stories
Watch the Webinar Recording Download the Slides
Date: Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Presenter: Beth Duda, Director, Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading at The Patterson Foundation
Description: During the webinar, Beth Duda will discuss how the Suncoast Campaign for Grade-level Reading’s (SCGLR) Suncoast Summer Reading Challenge brought five sectors: individuals, nonprofits, businesses, government and the media together to transform summer into a time of learning gain and how other communities can experience that same level of success.
The presentation also features the Harwood Institute’s time-tested principles and techniques, which complement principles from Creating the Future, an organization co-founded by social scientist Hildy Gottlieb. These insights will help participants understand that how we work together can be as important as what we do. Effective collaboration requires hyper-attention to communications with internal and external stakeholders. Examples of SCGLR communications alignment will be shared.
View the Webinar Recording Download the Slides
Part I – Getting to Work on Summer Learning & Summer Learning Toolkit
Date: Wednesday, February 27, 2019
This exciting webinar series covered Getting to Work on Summer Learning, Second Edition, by the Rand Corporation and the accompanying online Summer Learning Toolkit, with over 50 practical tools and planning resources to help school districts and their partners design and deliver high-quality summer programs. The report and toolkit draw on lessons from the National Summer Learning Project, launched in 2011 by The Wallace Foundation.
Watch the Recording Download the Slides
Part II – Summer Learning Toolkit, A Deeper Dive: Keys to Staffing & Professional Development
Date: Thursday, March 28, 2019
In this second webinar, we highlighted The Wallace Foundation’s new Summer Learning Toolkit—a great resource to use for whatever stage of planning you are in with your summer programming! We also took a closer look at staffing and professional development to examine how to hire and train the best possible staff that suits the specific climate, culture, and goals of your summer program.
Part III – Summer Learning Toolkit–A Deeper Dive: Creating Site Climate and Culture
Date: Thursday, April 11, 2019
Summer learning programs offer the chance for kids to stay safe and remain engaged during the out-of-school-time months and build both academic and social and emotional skills, as they explore all that your program has to offer. This third and final webinar showed participants how to establish and foster a positive site climate that creates the foundation on which successful youth and staff experiences are built. Participants explored tip sheets, sample handbooks, and other materials housed in the Summer learning Toolkit.