Extended Learning

PAVE Extended Learning Initiative

PAVE’s Extended Learning Initiative has evolved from a pilot program in 2007 into a system for providing meaningful support to schools interested in using the summer months as a catalyst for change. This journey over the last four years has led to the development of concentrated support services for schools looking to use the summer months as part of their overall strategy to raise student achievement levels. The many lessons learned have not only served as the basis for implementing PAVE’s new strategic efforts, it has helped the Extended Learning Initiative evolve into one of the greatest value added resources PAVE has to offer its partner schools.

After years of investigation, PAVE has identified the optimal mix of support strategies that provide meaningful assistance while building the capacity of schools to develop, institute and monitor high impact summer programs. In 2010 PAVE fine-tuned its services menu to provide:

§ Financial support through summer development grants;

§ Consultation during the planning and development phases including access to best practices from other schools; and

§ Support developing systems for monitoring summer activities to help schools become better at making data informed decisions that positively impact student achievement.

Composite Reading and Math outcomes as well as other general summer outcomes from summer 2010 are presented to the right.

Quick Look

Summer 2010 Outcomes

Time on Task

List of PAVE's 2010 Summer Partners

including the number of days and total instructional hours allocated to each program.

	# of days	Total Hours of Instruction
Bruce Guadalupe Community School	24	72
Eastbrook Academy	20	70
Hmong American Peace Academy	15	53
Messmer High School	24	72
Milwaukee College Prep	15	45
St. Marcus Lutheran	24	96
Wisconsin Lutheran High School	19	76

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1,283

Number of students that participated in Summer 2010 programs

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Academic Outcomes

Percent of students who improved, maintained and decreased scores on Math and Reading Assessments

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92% and 89%

Average retention and attendace rates for Summer 2010 participants.

The Evolution of PAVE’s Extended Learning Initiative

PAVE’s evolution over the past four years has resulted in meaningful changes in how PAVE and its partner schools view the summer months. Noteworthy developments have impacted the following areas:

How Summer Months are used – Although most schools viewed summer as a way to improve student achievement in 2007, they spent the majority of their time developing the enrichment portion of the program. Schools have now shifted their focus to developing a sound academic plan for summer that connects to the regular school year. Summer is now viewed as an opportunity to help students at least maintain the academic skills they acquired in the previous school year, decreasing the need for review in the following fall. For some schools, summer classes are considered a “5^th quarter” making it an integral part of their overall educational plan.

Staffing – In the early years, the majority of schools hired summer only staff due to the fact that leadership was not able to successfully recruit regular year staff to participate. Since 2009, the majority of school’s summer staff is comprised of regular year teachers. Since this change, schools have noted that using their own staff has not only had a positive impact in the academic portion of each program, it also had a positive impact on teacher-student relationships making the transition into the fall smoother.

Program Monitoring – In 2007, majority of schools focused their monitoring on the enrichment portion of their program. Very few developed solid academic local measures to track the impact of summer resulting in limited information about student achievement. Since 2007, schools have evolved in their thinking on the Program Monitoring aspect of PAVE‘s support. They now view it as an opportunity to explore and establish data informed practices that will have the greatest impact on curriculum and instruction leading to better student outcomes in the summer and throughout the school year.

Transparency – In the beginning, schools viewed PAVE as a funder who gives you money if you “say the right things”. Because of this, schools were not always open about challenges they faced for fear that such information would ruin their chance of being funded. Most schools now view PAVE as a partner fully vested in seeing them succeed. This bond helps to facilitate a relationship which allows schools to openly and honestly discuss their challenges, which is contrary to typical fundee/funder relationship where schools work to present themselves in teh best light possible to secure support. Schools are now more willing to share critical issues and they trust that PAVE's role is to assist in the development of attack plans to address each challenge. This increased transparency and open communication has allowed PAVE to identify and support the strategies that will have the greatest impact on the school.

To learn more about PAVE’s Extended Learning Initiative contact:

Catina Harwell-Young

Director of Extended Learning

414.263.2970 phone

catina@pave.org

Expanding Excellent Educational Opportunities