For many years, it has been common for a district’s expanded learning program to piece together funding from different sources like 21st century and ASES. The historic Expanded Learning initiative now provides sufficient and well-deserved funding for out-of-school time programming and operations. Its goal is to close the glaring opportunity gap and provide enriching learning for all students. This fundamental shift multiplies the scope of expanded learning efforts by many folds and pushes us to rethink, re-imagine, and re-wire our expanded learning operations to achieve its promise and impact.
Many districts consist of families of a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds. Some families can pay for expanded learning programs, especially enrichment programs. Some families cannot afford any. It is imperative that we take steps to ensure that access to all programs be offered to all students, regardless of who pays for the program.
Some districts have provided special programming for gifted students only. Physicist and Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman famously said that “I was an ordinary person who studied hard. There’s no miracle people! It just happens they got interested in this thing and they learned all this stuff. They’re just people. There’s no talent, a special miracle ability to understand quantum mechanics or a miracle ability to imagine electromagnetic fields that comes without practice, reading, learning and study.” Expanded Learning can now enable us to offer the same learning opportunities to all our students to get interested and engaged on a wide variety of topics.
Expanded Learning is a historic moment for us to make an impact on our students’ abilities to broaden their horizons, discover their passion, and foster their life-long love for learning. It is paramount to ensure that an expanded learning program is accessible for all.
If you are in the process of reimagining an expanded learning experience, we at 6crickets are ready and able to help!
If your expanded learning program is already offering many enriching programs but you are challenged with the logistics of enrollment, taking attendance, managing multiple programs and vendors, or the data not synching with your Student Information System, we have a solution for you as well.
Expanded learning is half of K-12 education. In this season of Thanksgiving, we give thanks for your tremendous work in providing meaningful out-of-school time to our students!
Happy Thanksgiving!
The 6crickets team
Solutions | info@6crickets.com | Schedule a meeting
