Connecticut may rethink school calendar
To catch students up on missed classroom time, Connecticut educators are getting creative with summer and after-school programs this year. But could a greater emphasis on learning outside school hours continue after the pandemic?
Some state officials are exploring the idea.
Gov. Ned Lamont announced last week up to $11 million in grants to expand and innovate summer learning and enrichment, particularly focused on children who fell behind during the COVID-19 pandemic. Connecticut is also getting an additional $11 million earmarked for after-school from the federal American Rescue Plan.
Summer and after-school programs had long been a source of inequity pre-pandemic — some families could afford state-of-theart learning experiences, while others could not. Proponents of the new funding say it could not only catch students up following school years disrupted by COVID-19, but also help close opportunity gaps.
“I think we’ve got to rethink the 12 months,” Gov. Ned Lamont said at a roundtable last month to discuss the future of education and plans to use pandemic-relief funds. “I think it could make a big difference, and I hope this is a year we can experiment.”
Year-round learning in Connecticut likely wouldn’t look like the traditional academic year, according to the governor’s office, but expanded access and selection of enrichment opportunities during the summer months.
“We learned so much about health disparities and education disparities over the pandemic, and we’re definitely open to taking those lessons and making them permanent solutions going forward,” a spokesperson for Lamont’s office told Hearst Connecticut Media.
High-quality summer programs will often take different approaches to learning than schools can, spending more time outside the classroom or focused on a niche like sports, arts or job opportunities.
“The reason why we care about summer is it’s the most inequitable time of education,” said Aaron Dworkin, CEO of National Summer Learning Association, which focuses on closing achievement and opportunity gaps by increasing access to high-quality summer programs. “It’s also the most entrepreneurial time in education. You can be more creative with things you don’t have time to get up to in the school year.”
The Connecticut Education Association, the statewide educators union, also supports summer learning but stopped short of calling for year-round, full-day classroom time, which CEA president Jeff Leake said neither teachers nor students likely want.
“We are all in favor of those kinds of activities that give kids an opportunity to expand what they’re able to do — visits to the zoo, to museums, going to a play,” said Leake. “And yes, if we can sneak it in, some addressing of academics as well.”
Likewise, after-school programs provide children with exposure to activities outside the traditional school day, which can spark lifelong passions, hobbies and careers. But not all students will have access to drama clubs or robotics teams, to discover their love of theater or engineering.
“Wealthy families invest in enrichment opportunities outside of school every day,” said Michelle Cunningham, the executive director of the Connecticut After School Network. “Not every family can afford to do those things.”
But targeted federal relief dollars, meant to expand and raise the bar for these programs, could change that long-term, advocates say.
Congress allocated $1.22 billion of the American Rescue Plan to summer enrichment programs and another $1.22 billion for afterschool programs that address students’ academic, social and emotional needs. They’re also requiring districts to spend 20 percent of funds on mitigating learning loss, which could include summer and after-school opportunities.
“(Lamont) and I talked early on about the importance of serving kids 12 months of the year, not just the nine or 10 months that they’re in formal schooling,” said U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who was one of two senators to push for summer-program funds in the federal plan, at a recent news conference announcing the grants.
Proponents of the funds have also pointed to the child care these programs provide, at a time when many parents are going back to work.
“Our education system was set up to match an agricultural model, so we know that the model is outdated,” said Cunningham, who added the result is a broken system of child care. “It’s this patchwork of care. It’s always really complicated and very expensive.”
Cunningham and other advocates for extended-day and year-long learning said they hope to demonstrate the value of these programs over the next few years before funds expire.
“I know this is just one- and two-year money,” Lamont said when he announced the new summer program grants. “Let’s show the feds we can make a difference. This can be transformative in their lives, to make this something that we can continue for the long term.”
The state education department, too, is looking at summer enrichment opportunities to supplement student learning and development outside the traditional classroom setting, a spokesperson told Hearst Connecticut Media, and assessing next steps with Connecticut’s superintendents association, teachers’ unions and other educational partners.
“Now it’s time to be bold, to challenge the current structures we have in place and to stretch our creativity,” Acting Education Commissioner Charlene RussellTucker said last month.