The DELTAS Change Agent

Economic Impacts?

2008-11-03T16:40:00.004-05:00

Whether it is called a recession or not, many of us are struggling under the weight of our current economic condition. Throughout the presidential election we heard a great deal about how the average citizen is being impacted, however, what about the institutions that care for the average citizen?

Many out-of-school time (OST) programs are having a very difficult time continuing to meet the needs of children and families. I can see this in the type of phone calls DELTAS is receiving. We are a source of information for many parents, and it is normal to get several calls a week from parents looking for a program. However, this year, we were unprepared for the number of calls from parents who have found a program for their child but cannot afford it. I can only imagine the number of families that have had to make adjustments because they can no longer afford child care.

This economic downturn is not only affecting individuals, but also the systems that stabilize our society. I think more attention needs to be given to this problem, but what do you think? How has the current economic climate affected your organization? Have you had to make cut backs? How will you be affected in the long-term? What are the solutions?

Equal Partnerships with Families?

2007-02-21T15:49:00.000-05:00

We often hear programs and schools say they want to form an equal partnership with parents, however is this really true? As service providers, do we really want parents as equal partners in the education of students? “Equal partner” is a very demanding term. It means that family engagement can not be an “add-on” – something nice to do when all the “real work” is done. Rather, it must be part of our core mission.

If we want to truly make families equal partners, we must move past the events-focused mentality. Some programs think that family engagement is having an open house twice a year. Those that can make it will be engaged. Conversely, if a caregiver can not come to the program, there are few ways for him/her engage. This dynamic does not fit the reality of many of our families. Instead, programs should focus first on the context of their families to derive their engagement strategies. This is very challenging, however, the benefits to our students are worth it. To me, the process of effective family engagement looks like this:
1. Adopt family engagement and support as a critical success factor of your program.
2. Through focus groups, surveys, and/or other means, hear from families ways in which they want to be involved in your program, their needs, and assets.
3. Develop a family engagement and support strategy with multiple levels of engagement – ways to engage at home, in the program, and in the community-at-large.
4. Clearly articulate to staff and families roles, responsibilities, and expectations of both the parents and the program.
5. Ensure that staff receive training and resources enabling them to support and effectively communicate with families.
6. Create a mechanism for continuous information sharing and family input.
7. Repeat steps regularly – family engagement is mostly a process of relationship-building

What do you think about family engagement? How is it working in your program/school?

Introducing DELTAS

2006-04-27T14:42:00.000-05:00

Think for a moment about how much time our children and youth spend outside of school. Weekends. Before and after school. Holidays. Summers. When you total up that time, children and youth spend about 80% of their waking hours outside of school. It may be hard to believe, but do the math – 80% of their waking hours is spent outside of school! That means that if a child’s 80% is filled with trauma and danger, it will most likely overshadow whatever happens during the 20%, no matter the quality of the instruction. This also means that if the majority of a child’s free time is spent constructively, the excellent work of teachers is amplified.

Since August 2000, the Boston Public Schools (BPS) has dedicated full-time staff to address the critical need of students to have productive, enriching out-of-school time (OST) experiences. From within the Office of Curriculum and Instructional Practices, this team helped schools start and improve their afterschool programs, served as a liaison to community agencies seeking to work with schools, supported the link between what happens in the classroom and what happens during OST, and managed the BPS involvement in the OST sector. I am proud to announce that these efforts have culminated in the formation of a new BPS department – the Department of Extended Learning Time, Afterschool, and Services (DELTAS). The mission of DELTAS is to ensure that every student in the Boston Public Schools has access to quality out-of-school time activities and extended services. DELTAS helps remove barriers to learning and promotes well-rounded, successful students through collaborations with community agencies, health organizations, higher education institutions, families, and other government agencies.

While DELTAS is technically not “new,” its establishment does exemplify an important shift in BPS philosophy. Historically, community-based organizations have been the ones ensuring that OST was safe and edifying for children and youth with the passive endorsement of BPS. Given the academic, social, emotional, and physical challenges facing our students, the BPS perceived it could no longer afford not to be actively engaged in OST and steadily increased its involvement over the past 7 years. DELTAS represents the renewed commitment of the BPS to caring for the “whole child” and its acknowledgment of the inability of schools to prepare students for the world-to-come in isolation. Put simply, DELTAS enables the BPS, in concert with families and community-based organizations, to take full advantage of a student’s time.

If you are still reading this article, you are probably now wondering, “What, if anything, can DELTAS do for me?” Hopefully, this blog will answer that question. In addition to being shameless propaganda, it will contain information on the services we provide, resources available to you, and some strategies that have proven effective. It is our hope that in some way it will help you provide a better experience for the children and families you serve. I hope you enjoy this inaugural edition of the DELTAS blog (an instant collector’s item). Until next time, make every moment count.