A crucial, positive role for out-of-school programs
and activities

Whether it’s sports, the arts or church, there is compelling evidence that organized, structured activities during out-of-school hours play a important role in the lives and education of young people. Youngsters and their parents believe that kids are better off when their plates are full and they don’t have too much time to just hang out.

Low-income and minority families, however, are far more likely to be dissatisfied with the quality, affordability and availability of out-of-school activities in their communities.

These are among the major findings in “All Work and No Play? Listening to What Kids and Parents Really Want from Out-of-School Time,” a joint project of the Wallace Foundation and Public Agenda that explores how young people spend time when they are not in school.

The study seeks to find out what parents and students are looking for in out-of-school activities and programs, and to what extent families rely on these programs to enhance academic learning.

More than half of the students surveyed (57 percent) say they participate in some kind of out-of-school activity or program every day or almost every day. Almost eight in 10 (79 percent) say they do things both on school days and on weekends.

The kinds of activities students participate in break out this way: sports (66 percent), school clubs or extracurricular activities (62 percent), volunteer work (60 percent), church or religious instruction (54 percent) and dance, music or art (52 percent).

Kids say these programs give them an opportunity to make friends, learn, have fun and be around adults who care about them.

Despite increased pressures on students to reach high academic standards, relatively small numbers of parents are looking for greater emphasis on academics in their child’s out-of-school activities, according to the study. Only 15 percent of the parent respondents say the best reason for children to participate in these organized activities is to improve academic performance, 41 percent say it’s to develop interests and hobbies, and 27 percent say it’s to keep youngsters busy and out of trouble.

The exception is low-income and minority parents, who are considerably more likely to want out-of-school activities and programs that emphasize academics. However, low-income parents are considerably less likely than higher-income parents (30 percent and 65 percent respectively) to say it’s easy to find affordable out-of-school programs.

The full report is available at www.publicagenda.org/research/pdfs/all_work_no_play.pdf.

Be good to your mother—Earth, that is

April 22 marks the 35th anniversary of Earth Day, and Earth Day Network (EDN) has lessons plans and resources to help move environmental issues into the spotlight in classrooms at all grade levels. The materials are designed to promote positive attitudes and behaviors toward the environment, and encourage students to engage in civic activities that promote environmental issues.

“The goal of EDN’s environmental education program is to encourage teachers in all subject areas to incorporate environmental issues into their classroom lessons on a regular basis—in addition to Earth Day,” says Eric Rubin, the network’s director of education.

EDN was established in 1970 by Sen. Gaylord Nelson, the founder of the first Earth Day. Today, more than 500 million people in 174 countries celebrate the day, according to EDN, whose mission is to build broad-based citizen support for sound, workable and effective environmental policies.

To obtain free teacher resources and lesson plans for Earth Day and other environmental issues, visit the teachers’ corner of the EDN Web site at www.earthday.net. The theme of Earth Day 2005 is “Healthy Environments for Children.”

Four decades later, benefits of preschool still are apparent

The positive effects of a high-quality early childhood education continue for a group of adults who have been the subject of a landmark education study. The latest findings from the High/Scope Perry Preschool study find that participants who were enrolled in a high-quality preschool program as children (and who are now age 40) continue to have higher earnings, are more likely to have a job, have committed fewer crimes and are more likely to have graduated from high school than a control group not enrolled in the preschool program.

Among the highlights:

• More of the group that received a high-quality early education graduated from high school (65 percent vs. 45 percent). The difference among females was especially striking—84 percent vs. 32 percent.
• The employment rate at age 40 for the preschool group was 76 percent vs. 62 percent for the control group, and the median annual earnings for the preschool group were about $5,000 higher.
• The control group had significantly higher arrest rates for violent crimes, property crimes and drug crimes.

“These findings can be expected of any Head Start, state preschool or child care program similar to the program High/Scope coordinated and then studied,” says Larry Schweinert, president of the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation.

The original study began in 1962 with 123 African-American children in Ypsilanti, Mich., who lived in poverty and were identified as being at high risk of school failure. About half received the high-quality early childhood program, while the others received no preschool.

More information about the study is available at www.highscope.org.

Go abroad this summer to study the Holocaust

Secondary school teachers who teach about the Holocaust as part of their curriculum have a unique opportunity to apply for a three-week seminar on the Holocaust and Jewish Resistance. The program, to be held July 6-27, 2005, includes visits to Poland, the Czech Republic and the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. Participants will hear from prominent scholars from Israel’s Yad Vashem Center and the Ghetto Fighters’ House.

Participants pay $2,000, which covers round-trip airfare from New York City, trips to historic sites, hotels (double occupancy) and two meals daily. The program is sponsored by the AFT, the Educators’ Chapter of the Jewish Labor Committee and the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors.

For more details and an application form, write to Holocaust Study Summer Seminar, Jewish Labor Committee, 25 East 21st St., New York, NY 10010 or call 212/477-0707.

Application deadline is April 1, 2005.