In Nebraska, 76.7% of families have all available parents working, according to the American Community Survey. With every adult on call to make ends meet, out-of-school care is a major challenge in Nebraska. In fact, it’s the reason many community-based…
Blog Archives
ELOs improve quality of life for working families
Tagged with: afterschool, afterschool program, beyond school bells, CLC, elo
Posted in Middle Childhood
Posted in Middle Childhood
ELOs put STEM learning front and center
In order for the Nebraska economy to grow and thrive, today’s students need to be prepared to develop the high-tech agriculture, software and advanced manufacturing skills that will attract businesses to the state and keep them here. And in the 8-3 school day, there is…
Want smarter students? Expand their opportunities to learn
Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELOs) are high-quality afterschool or summer educational experiences that take place outside the context of the regular school day. These hands-on, experiential, enriching chances to learn that build on, but don’t duplicate, what students are learning during the school day, and allow new and…
Why ELOs matter: Community crime rates
We talked in a recent post about how violent juvenile crime spikes at 3 pm. Other high-risk behaviors among tweens and teens flourish in the afterschool hours and summer months as well. We’ve also already talked about how Expanded Learning Opportunities…
Why ELOs matter: Reducing the risk from 3-6 pm
The hours between 3 and 6 pm are a time of opportunity for students. But if they’re not involved in structured, supervised learning, there’s plenty of opportunity for high-risk behavior. Nationally, juvenile violent crimes triple during the 3-6 pm window. During these…
Tagged with: afterschool, CLC, elo, summer learning, summer learning loss
Posted in Middle Childhood
Posted in Middle Childhood
Why ELOs matter: Closing the opportunity gap
Call it the achievement gap or the opportunity gap, it adds up to the same thing. Kids from low-income families perform at a lower level in school than their more affluent peers—and much of this gap has nothing to do with their school day…
Tagged with: achievement gap, after school program, afterschool, CLC, elo, summer learning, summer learning loss
Posted in Middle Childhood
Posted in Middle Childhood
Why ELOs matter: The 6,000-Hour Learning Gap
An Expanded Learning Opportunity—or ELO—is a high-quality afterschool or summer educational experience that takes place outside the context of the regular school day. These hands-on, experiential, enriching chances to learn that build on, but don’t duplicate, what students are learning during the…
Tagged with: after school programs, afterschool, beyond school bells, CLC, elo, summer learning, summer learning loss
Posted in Middle Childhood
Posted in Middle Childhood
ELOs: Looking outside the school day for a transformation in education
What if the biggest opportunity for improvement in education happens outside of the school day? National Education reform discussions focus on a search for an elusive magic bullet that will somehow transform the traditional 8am–3pm school day—and eliminate our educational achievement gaps. Decades of experience…
Tagged with: after school programs, afterschool, beyond school bells, CLC, elo
Posted in Middle Childhood
Posted in Middle Childhood
Statewide Coalition of Citywide ELO Systems kicks off
On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, statewide leaders and advocates for Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELOs) met in Lincoln to kick off plans for the next year. ELOs refer to the high-quality after-school, before-school and summer learning opportunities that…
Expanded Learning Opportunities Week in Nebraska
By Jeff Cole, Beyond School Bells Network Lead At a ceremony in the Capitol last Thursday, Governor Heineman signed a proclamation identifying the week of January 20 – 24th as Expanded Learning Opportunity Awareness week across Nebraska. At the ceremony,…
Growing the Good Life 