Mayor Menino today announced a major new initiative aimed at better coordinating the school day to link in-school and out-of-supports for students in the Boston Public Schools.
"All of Boston's students, especially those who are struggling to reach proficiency, need a strong school - and excellent teachers," said Mayor Thomas M. Menino. "But they also need quality after-school programs, tutoring, health and mental health services, and engaged families. Boston has been a leader in expanding after-school opportunities and in improving public education. Now we aim to be a leader in integrating these two approaches to benefit kids. Together we can do more for our children."
The initiative, dubbed Partners for Student Success will work initially with five city schools that need to accelerate their rate of improvement academically. The initiative will work to better coordinate in school efforts with other supports such as after-school programming, tutoring, family outreach, mental health services and enrichment activities such as sports, arts and music. The initiative was developed by a working group comprised of representatives of: Boston Public Schools, Boston After School & Beyond Massachusetts 2020, Barr Foundation, Full-Service Schools Roundtable, Harvard University, Nellie Mae Education Foundation, The Boston Foundation, United Way of Mass. Bay and Boston Centers for Youth and Families.
"The City of Boston offers a wonderful array of supports for our students and their families," Superintendent Thomas W. Payzant said. "This new collaboration will allow the district to better communicate those opportunities to students and build a more seamless school day where students are getting the support they need to be successful."
Partners for Student Success is the first major initiative to be launched by Boston After School &Beyond (www.bostonbeyond.org), a public-private partnership formed in 2004 to be the permanent successor to the Mayor's 2:00-to-6:00 After-School Initiative and Boston's After-School for All Partnership.
The mission of Boston Beyond is to ensure the availability of high quality out-of-school time opportunities for all of Boston's children and youth. Earlier today, Mayor Menino presided over the inaugural board meeting of Boston Beyond in the Eagle Room at City Hall. (See below for a list of Board Members).
At that meeting, the Board voted to proceed with the initiative and to make it the focus of a multimillion dollar application to the Wallace Foundation which had identified Boston as one of three cities with the potential to build national models for youth programming.
"Children spend 80% of their time outside of school," said Chris Gabrieli, the Chair of Boston Beyond. "Partners for Student Success is based on the belief that schools are best positioned to help all students succeed when there is strong coordination among academic instruction and out-of-school programming".
Partners for Student Success will work with selected schools over a period of three years providing both financial assistance for staff and programming, as well as technical assistance. Specifically, pilot grants will provide support for schools to hire a staff person who can oversee the integration and coordination of in-school curricula and out-of-school time programming for children. Pilot grants will also support the expansion of out-of-school time programs to serve more students who are struggling academically and to connect this programming with existing Supplemental Education Services (SES) tutoring that takes place at the school.
The initiative is funded by Boston After School & Beyond and its funding partners in collaboration with Boston Public Schools, the Full service Schools Roundtable and Harvard's Program in Education After-School and Resiliency (PEAR).
The initiative grew out of the School Sites Initiative (SSI) of Boston's After-School for All Partnership, which seeks to expand school-based after-school programs. SSI which was launched in the Fall of 2002 and funded by 11 partners of the After-School for All Partnership (See attached list) has surpassed its initial goal expanding after-school program participation to over 700 students at 17 school sites.
Boston After-School and Beyond Board of Directors
Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Honorary Chair
Chris Gabrieli, Chair
Marjorie Bakken
Past President, Wheelock College
Roger Brown
President, Berklee College of Music
Lou Casagrande
President, Children's Museum
Jennifer Davis
President, Massachusetts 2020
Marion Kane
President, Barr Foundation
Ted Kelly
CEO, Liberty Mutual
Larry Mayes
Chief of Human Services, City of Boston
Claudio Martinez
Director, Hyde Square Task Force
Kathleen O'Toole
Police Commissioner
Thomas Payzant
Superintendent of Schools
Kathy Plazak
Plazak Associates
Ned Rimer
Co-Founder, Citizen Schools
Nick Stavropolous
President, Keyspan
Linda Whitlock
CEO, Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston
Blenda Wilson
President, Nellie Mae Education Foundation