CAN Newsletter – Welcome Back to Afterschool!
A message from CAN's Executive Director

Post

This summer was quite busy and reflective for me as my wife and I welcomed our second child into the world. 

Being a new father of a toddler and a newborn has made me reflective on how my entire adult life, my career, and now parenthood has been a series of choices to double down on my commitment to this work. Being a parent has given me a new understanding of the importance of high quality out-of-school time learning and enrichment experiences. In a recent blog I wrote for the BOOST Café (doubling down) I delve deeper into these reflections, and why in my opinion now is the time to double down once again to support policies that value children, families, and communities. CAN is currently interviewing our next Program Director for Policy and Outreach to lead CAN’s efforts to do just that.  

Join us in doubling down by:

As a Catalyst for Quality we have a lot in the hopper. Here is what you can expect from CAN in the coming year. 

  • Many of you have already attended one of the 2018 Expanded Learning Summits we have offered in partnership with the California Department of Education’s Expanded Learning Division. It’s still not too late to register for the final Summit on September 5th in Visalia, CA. The summits are free to attend but slots are limited. 
  • Registration will be opening soon for the Site Coordinator Expanded Learning Symposium to be held February 8-9 at the Queen Mary in Long Beach. 
  • CAN continues to offer training and consultation on the Continuous Quality Improvement process. If you are interested in learning more, contact our Program Director for Quality Initiatives, Tiffany Gipson at tgipson@afterschoolnetwork.org  
  • Stay tuned! This year, CAN will release a suite of tools including a new Expanded Learning Program Quality Assessment Tool that will align to the Quality Standards for Expanded Learning in California and integrate summer learning program quality elements, Social Emotional Learning (SEL). The tool will be accompanied by a new CQI Guidebook and supported through an online quality assessment system to support your Continuous Quality Improvement Process.  

Lastly, one of CAN’s goals is to be an effective communication vehicle, promoting research and data that highlight the critical importance of your programs, and their effectiveness.

  • In the coming weeks, CAN will announce the online release of the State of the State of Expanded Learning in California 2017-18.  
  • This winter, in partnership with WestED, CAN will release a document about how the high quality program environments you create are an effective vehicle to promote positive youth development, support social emotional learning, are an important support to those experiencing less-than-ideal conditions, and an effective vehicle for prevention.  

At this morning’s Expanded Learning Summit in Pomona I was inspired by Dr. Brian McDaniel, California’s Teacher of the Year. In his remarks he shared how he addressed the challenges of violence, drug abuse, and teen pregnancy in his school by working with his students, unpaid, before and after school. He shared about the transformative power of a caring and trusting relationship for students, about how much they need to be valued and loved, and how we have the power to be what they need. As we enter this school year I am mindful of our CDE Expanded Learning Division Director, Michael Funk’s challenge to our field for the year to Learn, Lead, and Love. Here at CAN, we’re doubling down on our efforts to do just that. 

We love, respect, and appreciate you. Have a great year, and keep up the great work out there!

Jeff Davis and the CAN Team.