By Duane M. Elling
A January 2007 report indicates that communities around the U.S. must work aggressively to identify and adopt strategies for educating all students in — and beyond — the classroom.
A New Day for Learning suggests that access to high quality educational opportunities throughout the day, as well as year round, is crucial to helping school-age children — and their families and communities — succeed in an increasingly complex and global society.
The report is based on findings of the Time, Learning and Afterschool Task Force.
The Task Force, formed in 2004 with the support of a $165,000 grant by Mott to the Denver-based Education Commission of the States, is exploring how the afterschool field can help rethink issues of student time and learning. Members include policymakers, researchers and afterschool practitioners, as well as leaders from the business, education and philanthropic sectors.
Mott support for the report’s development, publication and distribution included a $150,000 grant in 2005 to the Collaborative Communications Group, located in Washington DC.
Dr. Milton Goldberg, an educational consultant and member of the Task Force, notes that children today are shaped by a world of rapidly changing technology and cultural diversity. These forces, he says, along with rising academic requirements, require that schools and communities reconsider how time and resources are used to educate youth.
Learning doesn’t begin and end at the school door, and the processes that support it must be more timeless, cutting across hours and organizations,” says Goldberg.
“The future well-being of our young people, and even our country, requires a new conception of the learning day.”
Specifically, the Task Force report calls for federal, state and local policies that support the exploration and redesign of the nation’s learning system, including the structure of the traditional school day and academic year.
A new system, the Task Force asserts, should:
- redefine — beyond the acquisition of basic skills — the meaning of student success;
- be based on research of how children most effectively learn;
- integrate various approaches to acquiring and reinforcing knowledge;
- collaborate across communities and government bodies; and
- ensure leadership roles and professional development opportunities for those involved in teaching and managing the learning system.
Goldberg believes that growing recognition of the learning crisis faced by youth around the country may help launch a nationwide conversation on the topic.
“The purpose of education is to help all children achieve their intellectual and social potential,” he said. “By developing a new learning day, we will empower our young people to reach that potential and open doors of opportunity for themselves and their families.”
The report is available online at http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/ANewDayforLearning.pdf.