The Children’s Aid Society 21 st CCLC Evaluation Report 2013-2014 1 The Children’s Aid Society Twenty-First Century Community Learning Center Grant Evaluation Report (2013-2014) Prepared by Muamer Rasic and Heléne Clark November, 2014 ActKnowledge 365 Fifth Avenue, 6th Floor New York, NY 10016 Telephone 212.817.1906 www.actknowledge.org
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The Children’s Aid Society...The Children’s Aid Society 21st CCLC Evaluation Report 2013-2014 5 1. Introduction This is a report of the hildrens Aid Society (AS) community schools
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The Children’s Aid Society 21st CCLC Evaluation Report 2013-2014
1
The Children’s Aid Society
Twenty-First Century Community
Learning Center Grant
Evaluation Report (2013-2014)
Prepared by
Muamer Rasic and Heléne Clark
November, 2014
ActKnowledge 365 Fifth Avenue, 6th Floor New York, NY 10016 Telephone 212.817.1906
4.1 Implementation of CAS Community School Programs and Services ........................................... 12
4.1.1 Afterschool alignment with regular school day ............................................................... 12
4.1.2 Afterschool Program Schedule and Observation at CAS Community Schools ................ 14
4.2 Educational Family Supports and Parent Involvement ....................................................... 18
4.3 Health Supports ................................................................................................................... 18
4.4 New York State Afterschool Network (NYSAN) Quality Self-Assessment (QSA) Results .... 19
4.5 Youth Development ............................................................................................................ 21
5. Challenges and Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 26
The Children’s Aid Society 21st CCLC Evaluation Report 2013-2014
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Executive Summary
This is a report of the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) community schools for the 2013-2014 school
year, and is the first report of the multi-year evaluation of 21st Century Community Learning
Center grant, which began in September 2013. The report focuses on clarifying the Children’s
Aid Society Community School model, programs and activities offered to students, families and
community and their implementation fidelity at five of the CAS community schools (IS 218, IS
50, FLH MS, CS 211, and CS61) during Year One of the grant1.
The Children’s Aid Society Community Schools continues to provide variety of programs and
services to students, families and to the whole community. The programs and services include:
The afterschool program that focuses on a whole child for instance on their academic needs
and youth development. The afterschool program consists of literacy, social-emotional
learning, STEM, arts and self-expression and fitness and nutrition. Activities for each
component are informed by a new curriculum designed by CAS.
Mental and health services offered in school and nearby CAS Family Centers. Two of the five
CAS community schools have school-based health centers providing medical and dental
services and the other three CAS community schools link the school to the nearby CAS
Bronx Family Center that offers pediatric and adolescent health services.
Parent engagement and family support which includes adult education programs (ESL,
computer and citizenship), health programs (healthy family development, sex education
and relationship), and social and cultural events (cultural festivals and holidays).
The CAS community schools receive support from the School Age division’s Vice President and
the Regional Deputy Directors. They ensure that certain structural elements are consistent
across all sites. They also receive support from the School Age division’s educational support
team such as the Educational Directors and the Educational Coordinators that provide program
assistance.
The results of the Quality Self-Assessment (QSA) were positive. The CAS average performance
level was above 3 from a scale 1-4, on all ten elements of an effective afterschool program. The
environment/climate, administration/organization, relationships, and linkages between day
and afterschool had the highest average performance level of 3.6.
1 This report includes two grants, a grant for CAS CS 61 and a grant for four CAS schools IS 218, IS 50, FLH MS, and
CS 211. The report combines two grants because presenting a school separate is less powerful.
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Many CAS afterschool students had positive perception of the afterschool program on their
academics, community involvement, life skills, positive core values, positive life, sense of self,
sense of future, and opportunity.
ActKnowledge staff observed afterschool activities such as test-preparation, homework help,
cooking, film making, and archery. At the time of our observation some CAS community schools
organized test-preparation in a fun environment because students were overwhelmed
preparing for the exam during the day time hours while other schools organized it in a very
disciplined and focused manner. Cooking was an activity that the majority of the CAS
community schools were conducting as an enrichment activity. Cooking culminates in an end of
the year Go Iron Chef competition and is a very popular activity amongst CAS community school
students. Students participating in a cooking class learn how to cook a variety of foods and also
learn the importance of healthy eating.
CAS staff expressed challenges in implementing programs and services. For instance:
Services are sometimes limited to a few students due to budget constraints. Services are on
a first-come-first serve basis and they can’t reach every child. Also the number of hours and
days services are offered are decreasing.
Space is always a challenge, and CAS community schools struggle to find space for in-school
health clinics, family resource room and even for CAS staff members.
There are also challenges in navigating the politics and culture of each school and
sometimes it’s hard to deal with these challenges and get things done.
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1. Introduction
This is a report of the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) community schools for the 2013-2014 school
year, and is the first report of the multi-year evaluation of 21st Century Community Learning
Center grant, which began in September 2013. The report focuses on clarifying the Children’s
Aid Society Community School model, programs and activities offered to students, families and
community, and forms a baseline for understanding implementation and evaluating fidelity to
implementation quality standards at five of the CAS community schools (IS 218, IS 50, FLH MS,
CS 211, and CS61) during Year One of the grant.
The community schools operate within a strategy and philosophy, which is the basis for
programming decisions. The context of CAS community schools within the CAS mission can be
summarized as follows:
Under the new organizational wide strategy called “Keeping the Promise”, Children’s Aid
Society serves as an anti-poverty agent and believes that college education is the most
reliable path out of poverty.
Part of the Keeping the Promise strategy is the restructuring of the Children’s Aid Society
Divisions. The CAS is reorganized into five divisions; Early Childhood Division (ages 0 to 5),
School-Age Division (ages 6 to 13) and Adolescence Division (ages 14 and up), and these
three divisions are organized by key stages in a child’s life. The other two divisions are
Health and Wellness, and Child Welfare and Family Services, and they are organized by
service areas.
The Vice Presidents of each division oversees all aspects of management and program
delivery. Each division provides administrative and program support to the community
schools by ongoing supervision provided by Regional Deputy Directors (one in Washington
Heights and one in the Bronx), program assistance provided by Education Director, program
management and contract compliance provided by the Director of Quality and Outcomes,
and fiscal oversight provided by the Deputy Director for Operations.
The CAS Community School program management structure is hierarchical. Staffing will vary
from site to site but generally the Community School Director and Assistant Community
School Director sites have Program Directors and Coordinators. The Community School
Directors and staff attend monthly meetings called School-Age Division Directors’ Meetings
with the Vice-President of the division where information is shared and lessons are learned.
CAS uses what it calls ‘tight’ and ‘loose’ implementation. A ‘tight’ implementation for
example is having a structure and a plan in place, and it is consistent across all sites. A
‘loose’ implementation is the way the structure and plan are implemented and it is up to
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the Community School Director and staff adapting to the school culture, environment, and
needs.
CAS has developed a new curriculum for the afterschool program. The new curriculum is
designed to align with the regular school day and the education coordinator is to act as a
liaison between the traditional school day and the afterschool program, and oversee that
the curriculum is implemented properly.
The CAS afterschool program components consist of Literacy, Social-Emotional Learning,
STEM, Arts and Self-Expression, and Fitness and Nutrition.
CAS community schools continue to provide adult education programs, health programs,
and social and cultural events for parents and families. In addition, emergency assistance is
also provided through the New York Times Neediest Fund.
Two of the five CAS community schools under the current evaluation have school-based
health centers providing medical and dental services while the other three CAS community
schools link the school to the nearby CAS Bronx Family Center which offers pediatric and
adolescent health services.
1.1 Methodology
For the evaluation report, a mixed-method approach was employed. The methods include2:
Interview with Vice President of the School Age Division on the CAS model and its implementation.
Site visits at each of the five CAS community schools which were undertaken in May and
June 2014 using interview protocols, focus group protocols, and observational protocols
designed to elicit the views of stakeholders on developments and achievements of
community school programming.
o On-site interviews with Community School Directors and Program Staff at all five CAS community schools.
o Observations of afterschool activities with the OST instruments in all five CAS community schools.
o Focus group with parents at I.S. 218.
o Focus group with students at I.S. 218.
Student Outcomes survey analyzed which have been developed by the Colorado Trust and
adopted by Research Works (NY State Evaluator of the 21st CCLC Grant) for the 2013-2016
21st CCLC grant.
2 NYC DOE Academic Data for the 2013-14 school year was not available at the time of writing the report.
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o CAS staff administered the student outcomes surveys at three of the five schools to their afterschool participants before end of the program year.
o The student outcomes survey was analyzed based on student’s perception of how the afterschool program affects their academics, community involvement, life skills, positive core values, positive life, sense of self, sense of future, and opportunity.
o A total of 184 students responded to the survey.
The New York State Afterschool Network (NYSAN) Quality Self-Assessment (QSA) Tool was
used by the CAS staff at all five CAS schools and the results were analyzed. The NYSAN QSA
is designed to provide an understanding of the overall quality of the program, how it has
evolved, and where it needs to go.
2. Brief Description of Participating Community Schools
Five community schools are participating in the current three-year evaluation of the 21st CCLC
grant. They are as follows:
Salomé Ureña de Henríquez Campus
In 1992, The Children’s Aid Society joined in an unprecedented partnership with the New York
City Board of Education, Community School District Six and other community-based partners to
open the Salomé Ureña Middle Academies (SUMA IS 218) as a full-service community school. In
2004 it was divided into 3 schools; I.S. 218 Salomé Ureña de Henríquez, M.S. 293 City College
Academy of the Arts, and M.S. 322. From its inception the school has served as a prototype for
hundreds of community schools in the United States and abroad.
IS 218 had 305 students enrolled and 96% qualified for free lunch in 2012-2013. Out of the 305
students, 96.2% are Latino and 20.1% are English Language Learners (ELL).
P.S. 50/I.S. 50 Vito Marcantonio
In 2000 The Children’s Aid Society established a full-service community school at P.S. 50, in
partnership with Mount Sinai Children’s Community Health (MSCCH) and the New York City
Department of Education. From the beginning the main focus was health, in response to
disproportionately large percentage of serious medical and emotional conditions presented by
P.S. 50 students.
P.S.50/I.S 50 had 330 students enrolled and 84% qualified for free lunch in 2012-2013. Out of
330 students, 57.4% are Latino and 38.3% are Black, and only 10% are English Language
Learners (ELL).
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C.S. 61 The Francisco Oller Campus
The Children’s Aid Society began its partnership with C.S. 61 in Spring, 2002. Soon after, this K-8
school was divided into two schools: C.S. 61, serving grades PreK-5, and I.S. 190, The School of
Environmental Science, Mathematics and Technology, serving grades 6-8.
In 2012-2013, C.S. 61 had 374 students enrolled and 79% qualified for free lunch. Out of 374
students, 73% are Latino and 26.1% are Black, and only 7% are English Language Learners (ELL).
Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom Middle School
The partnership between The Children’s Aid Society and Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High
School and Middle School started in 2006. At both schools CAS provides Mental Health
services, emergency relief (through the New York Times Neediest Fund) and preventive services
–including Pregnancy Prevention; as well as After School, Holiday, Saturday, Summer and Youth
Leadership opportunities. There are College Readiness and Freshman Seminars at the high
school level.
In 2012-2013, FLH MS had 249 students enrolled and 97% qualified for free lunch. Out of 249
students, 73.7% are Latino and 23.3% are Black, and 14% are English Language Learners (ELL).
C.S. 211 The Bilingual Magnet School
The Children’s Aid Society (CAS) started collaborating with PS 211 in 2009, with an afterschool
program, for approximately 120 students in the 5th thru 8th grades. The partnership grew and
became stronger in August 2012; CAS now provides a robust afterschool program to
approximately 300 K thru 8th grade from C.S. 211 as well as from CAS Prep Charter School and
I.S. 318 which are both housed in the same building. CAS also provides a Head Start Program.
In 2012-2013, CS 211 had 632 students enrolled and 88% qualified for free lunch. Out of 632
students, 98.8% are Black or Hispanic and 33.3% are English Language Learners (ELL).
3. The Children’s Aid Society Community Schools Model and Theory of
Change
Community schools have been described as a “strategy for organizing the resources of the
community around student success” 3. Through extended hours, services and––crucially––the
building of relationships and effective partnerships, the community school model conceives of
education as a coordinated, child-centered effort in which schools, families and communities
3 Cited in the National Center for Community Schools provides a very comprehensive conceptual definition and
outline of the community school model in its publication Building Community School: A Guide for Action, 2011.
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work together to support student’s educational success, build stronger families and improve
communities.
This holistic approach has been shown to be particularly important to children living in poverty,
who need a variety of family and community resources, including intellectual, social, physical,
and emotional support, to have the opportunity to attain academic success. As noted by the
U.S. Department of Education:
“Many children live in communities that lack not only high-performing schools,
but also the support needed to be ready and able to learn when they start
school. School-community partnerships can be key strategies for providing
resources to these individual students. A variety of organizations can help
provide the missing resources for children living in poverty and, therefore, begin
to transform struggling schools and communities”.4
A key premise of the community school model is that a whole set of ‘preconditions’ or
intermediate outcomes, will need to be met before student success outcomes (that embrace
academic progress but also social, emotional and health development) can be achieved. These
preconditions have been elaborated in Children’s Aid Society (CAS) Community Schools Theory
of Change which was developed in 2011 by a broad range of stakeholders. The CAS Community
Schools Theory of Change was created in a series of participatory meetings and is the basis for
CAS evaluation efforts. It serves as a good model of Community School components in general.
The theory is a good starting point for any initiative, although each should reflect its particular
context, needs and priorities.
The CAS Community Schools Theory of Change has three outcome pathways to achieve its long-
term outcome of “Youth have opportunities for positive engagement after high school.” The
three outcome pathways consist of Youth Outcomes, Parent and Family Outcomes, and
Institutional Outcomes.
Youth Outcomes Pathway
A key precondition to the long-term outcome ‘Youth have opportunities for positive
engagement after high school,’ as articulated in the Theory of Change, is ‘Young people succeed
academically’ – i.e., students are earning good grades in class, passing state exams, and
graduating. For young people to succeed academically they have to have ‘high attendance.’
They must be present in school to keep up with class materials and homework. A precondition
to regular attendance is good health – i.e., students are not out sick on a regular basis. Also, a
4 U.S. Department of Education. https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2014/05/06/2014-10361/applications-for-new-awards-full-service-community-schools-program#h-4