Bridging After-School Programs and the Community: The Bridges After-School Program

What makes the San Juan Unified School District’s Bridges After-School Program model so distinct? Could it be that the San Juan Unified School District has combined all of the extended learning opportunities for district students into one Extended Learning Department to maximize resources offered to students without duplication? Perhaps it is their partnership with diverse community organizations to provide multiple services and maintain low student to adult ratios that allow inclusion of special education, English learning students and families into the program. Maybe it is their program’s direct connection with the regular school day, or an intensive 9-day training program with a major emphasis on safety and skills building for staff to keep students safe and work toward closing the achievement gap in their district. It is likely that it is all of these factors that make the Bridges After-School Program a successful model to learn from.

The Bridges After-School Program is an attendance-based after-school program that has 3 components: homework assistance, enrichment, and structured recreation. There are 33 programs under the Bridges umbrella serving 4,000 1st – 12th graders in the San Juan Unified School District. Staff in the program work in grade-specific teams and work directly with teachers from the regular school day in order to reinforce the subject matter taught in the classroom. The program is able to keep a strong connection to the regular school day in part through full-time site coordinators that are present on the school site during regular school hours daily. Site Coordinators are on site for school meetings, are familiar with the school climate and safety plan. A stipend is also offered to a schoolteacher from each site that meets with site supervisors twice a week to discuss lesson planning and relevant issues from the school community. The middle and high school programs utilize a credentialed teacher from the school day for one hour of homework assistance every program day. These programs focus on homework assistance, youth driven club activities, and vocational/life skills.

The Bridges collaborative approach is illustrated in its diversity of funding. The program is mainly ASES funded, has retained some of its 21st CCLC funding and has one high school funded through 21st CCLC ASSETs. They have accessed state intervention funding, general funds from the district to pay custodians after hours, and city grants. Some schools in the program receive support through Title 1 funding, as well as school improvement funding. There are many in-kind resources that the program is able to utilize as well. The Bridges program has partnerships with five city Parks and Rec Departments to employ staff in their programs. Under this arrangement, Parks and Rec departments are providing some of the Bridges program staff and picking up the payroll expenses for those staff.

Creative partnerships have been formed through the school district’s Extended Learning Department to staff the program. 40% of the Bridges staff are employed by the school district while 60% of the staff come from the Parks and Rec Department. These staff combined offer a 1:15 ratio of staff to students. The Bridges program also partners with the Americorps program and local colleges to incorporate Americorps volunteers as well as offer student volunteers internships and work-study opportunities. Bridges works to maintain the 1:15 staff to student ratio without accounting for their Americorps partnership. The Americorps partnership brings the staff-to-student ratio down even further. The program has also partnered with local Universities to utilize Masters in nursing students (who are fingerprinted and trained) to teach students about health, nutrition, and physical education. All of the above-mentioned staff go through an intensive 9 day training with workshops on topics such as lesson planning, role modeling/boundaries, parent relations, multicultural lessons, special needs students, planning, group facilitation, assessment data collection, and computer skills. Workshops are offered not only by the school district and Bridges staff, but also through partnership with leading organizations in the after-school field.

With low staff to student ratios and high levels of staff training, the Bridges program has been successful in special education and English learner inclusion. According to Nicole Craine, Senior Supervisor of the Bridges After-School Program, as many as 15-20% of the students in the Bridges program have learning disabilities and/or are considered emotionally disturbed or autistic. The Bridges After-School Program is a CDE/West Ed sponsored Project Access program. In 2006 Bridges-After School staff teamed with specialized trainers from West Ed to begin the formal development of best practices that could be shared across the state related to the inclusion of students with special needs in mainstream afterschool programs. This partnership was formed because of the extensive work Bridges After-School Program staff have been involved with for the past six years surrounding the inclusion of students with special needs in afterschool programs. Bridges After-School has successfully partnered with the SJUSD Special Education department, as well as the CA Alta Regional Center to provide afterschool staff with specialized training and strategies for modifications and accommodations to ensure a universal design for accessibility. In addition CA Alta Regional Center has provided funds for after hours parental assistance including qualified care providers for families in need, and when needed they provide one on one aides for special needs students in the afterschool program. One-on-one aides have not been greatly needed in the Bridges program. Senior Supervisor Nicole Craine attributes this to low staff to student ratios and a high level of staff training. The Bridges program has also partnered with the districts ELL department to provide curriculum for working with language learners. In addition the Bridges staff have been able to offer Family Literacy nights with translations in Spanish, Russian, and Hmong.

Safety is the number one priority for the Bridges After-School Program. Many of the program sites are in neighborhoods with high crime risk. The Bridges program has worked hard to partner with local law enforcement and make them aware of the presence of youth in the after-school program. To keep students in the after-school program safe partnerships have been formed with surrounding police departments and county sheriff’s offices to extend the safe-schools hours. This has allowed after-school programs to keep campuses closed during their hours of operation. As part of this program, a sheriff officer is available for rapid response until 7:30 p.m. When not on call, law enforcement officers come into the program to communicate personally with after-school program staff and interact with the students in the program. Bridges staff have seen student safety and positive student attitudes toward law enforcement increase since this partnership has begun.

The Bridges program illustrates a well-established after-school model that has demonstrated effectiveness. Teachers at Bridges sites have noticed improvement. According to Bridges assessment data, “84% of site staff surveyed reported that Bridges After-School Program helped students complete more or better quality homework assignments and 94% reported that they felt the program helped to improve student connectedness to school.” Many parents and families have also noticed a positive impact. One parent said, “I cannot begin to explain how important Bridges is to our family. This program has allowed our family to spend evenings together playing games and talking. We no longer fight over homework and school projects.” The Bridges program currently has an impact on 4,000 students. One student said, “Bridges has helped me make friends and it makes school fun.” Another stated, “When I started coming to Bridges I had bad grades, but now I have good grades.” Teachers, parents, and students seem to agree that the Bridges program is improving student academic and social life, but it also is a place where students enjoy being. Another Bridges student enjoyed the program enough to say, “I would rather be in Bridges than at home watching TV after school.”

Through multiple funding and staffing sources that allow low ratios and student inclusion, high quality staff training, community partnerships, and an emphasis on safety that connects the educational and law enforcement community, the Bridges After-School Program offers an inspiring model that bridges the community and student success.

Information for this story was derived from an interview with Nicole Craine, Bridges Assessment Data, and the Bridges After-School Program Website. With questions about the Bridges After-School Program visit http://www.sanjuan.edu/programs/osapp/programs/bridges/ or contact Nicole Craine: Senior Supervisor at ncraine@sanjuan.edu.