The Learning Agenda

Philly’s onto something BIG! Community leaders envisioned PARKS, GROCERY STORES, BUSES, BARBER SHOPS, and LAUNDROMATS as perfect spots to create fun, interactive, LITERACY-BOOSTING spaces for families. A new brief from The Learning Agenda will help you consider who to include and how to collaboratively TRANSFORM EVERYDAY SPACES in your community: https://lnkd.in/gF7JedNV

Over the past 5 years, The Learning Agenda has partnered with Barr Foundation to lead a learning community with high schools interested in #DoingHSdifferently—starting with deep community engagement to define the purpose of education and goals for graduates. Schools in the “Portrait of a Graduate” cohort recognize the need for intentionally designed environments - that place students at the center - to engage, challenge, and support all learners. Now, they’re entering a new phase to better understand the current state of teaching and learning, refining their instructional vision and strengthening their strategies. Earlier this week, our team convened the Community to develop and share their evolving theory of change aimed at enhancing classroom rigor and purpose, helping all students reach their full potential. Special thanks to Lowell High School, Margarita Muñiz Academy, and Boston Prep for hosting visits to explore these principles in action. Needless to say, we left inspired! 🚀 Thanks to our colleagues Michele Phillips, Matthew Pilarski, Xochitl Garcia, Reed Dyer, Stephanie Moore, Lauren Calevich, and Liz Scott for their thoughtful work and creativity in leading this group. #PortraitOfAGraduate #Education #YouthDevelopment #InnovationInEducation #StudentVoice #CommunitiesOfPractice #LearningCommunity #SchoolDesign

In 2019, our team had an incredible opportunity to expand our partnership with The Wallace Foundation in support of a burgeoning and ambitious new effort with the Texas Education Agency. With a new public funding source, TEA created a new Planning and Execution Program to support district and school leaders in applying evidence-based practices to run effective summer learning programs. With the later onset of COVID 19 and related learning loss, awareness has grown around the importance of a wide array of expanded learning programs, including comprehensive summer learning for elementary age children. This week, we were honored to join a wide array of partners who we have collaborated with in support of the ADSY Planning and Execution Program, Texas ACE (21st CCLC), and the state’s Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) Council. We celebrated the impressive evidence of the program’s effectiveness through compelling TEA student data and American Institutes for Research’s recently released brief, “Applying Summer Learning Evidence: How Texas State Policy Supports Strong Programming.” And importantly, we heard strong support from members of the state legislature and Council for policy adjustments to expand ADSY and make progress toward a statewide vision for access to quality expanded learning programs and models. AIR Report - https://lnkd.in/g4_7AYea ELO Council Report to the 89th Texas Legislature - https://lnkd.in/gkSHQKud Thank you to the members of The Learning Agenda team tagged here (+Liz Scott and Joe Bertoletti) who led the translation of the National Summer Learning Project evidence with ADSY requirements within the strategic plan and related tools, reviewer feedback process, learning community, coaching, and sustainability strategies/gradual release in partnership with the state’s Education Service Centers. We’re honored and thankful to continue to lead this important work with SEAs and the National Comprehensive Center.

We’re excited for the next 5 years! Congratulations to our partners at Westat who will continue to lead the National Comprehensive Center in the next round of the Comprehensive Center Network program. We are energized by this work and inspired by all of you.

How can funders help transform their community spaces and settings to promote literacy? Recommendations from Philadelphia’s #LiteracyRichEnvironments practitioners and researchers, include the need for multiyear commitments that allow for community-centered design, planning, and evaluation. Access the full list of reflections for projects and funding in a new brief from The Learning Agenda: https://lnkd.in/gF7JedNV #InvestInKids #PlayfulLearning #Philadelphia #EarlyLiteracy #LearnHow

What does it take to transform a community to promote literacy?  Philadelphia’s #LiteracyRichEnvironments partners share their experience and lay out 5 conditions for reshaping cities to promote reading, including opportunities to co-create with families and to embrace a broad set of outcomes. Get inspiration from a new The Learning Agenda brief: https://lnkd.in/gF7JedNV

What does it take to transform a community to promote literacy?  Philadelphia’s #LiteracyRichEnvironments partners share their experience and lay out 5 conditions for reshaping cities to promote reading, including opportunities to co-create with families and to embrace a broad set of outcomes. Get inspiration from a new The Learning Agenda brief: https://lnkd.in/gF7JedNV

Thanks to our partners in Hawai’i for inviting us to join your annual conference and help local providers #BuildBetterSummers for all.

At the Hawaii Afterschool Conference? Find Brenda McLaughlin to focus on Building Better Summers!

Children's Funding Project has updated its Federal Funding Streams for Children and Youth Services database to include more than 320 federal funding programs from 20 different federal agencies that support cradle-to-career initiatives. Data from these programs will help states, Native nations, counties, cities, towns, school districts, and local nonprofit organizations support #preK, #childcare, #ECE, #youth, #OST, and more.   https://lnkd.in/exWn4CAS