We received word last week that a grant application for wraparound programming from the 21st Century Community Learning Centers was approved for Lumberg Elementary, Stevens Elementary and Jefferson Jr/Sr High! Special thanks to current 21st Century staff members Weston Scott and Julian Martinez for their hard work on this grant application. This is a five year grant which provides financial resources for before and after school programming as well as educational opportunities for families. Without this grant, our area students miss out on excellent enrichment activities.  Jefferson High and Wheat Ridge 5-8 currently receive funding from 21st Century Community Learning Centers but the grant ends this June. We assisted Jeffco Schools staff in writing this grant and included Stevens and Lumberg to the application. Even though Stevens Elementary is not one of our focus schools, it is in need of enhanced resources to drive student achievement and enrichment. Molholm Elementary already receives funds from this grant but their grant will end in June 2016. Edgewater Elementary was not eligible to apply for the grant because of their increases in student achievement.

Based on the success of Open World Learning‘s after school technology programming at Edgewater Elementary, we strongly encouraged Jeffco Schools staff to scale up these excellent programs to Lumberg, Stevens and Jefferson Junior High. Edgewater Elementary has seen an increase in math scores and school attendance from those who attend Open World Learning programs. With the approval of this grant, Open World Learning will have sites at Lumberg, Stevens and Jefferson Junior High in the fall as well as continuing to serve Edgewater Elementary. This provides an excellent pathway for students to learn computer programming and robotics through elementary school and into middle school.

We are also assisting Jeffco Schools staff as they search for excellent after school partners as well as volunteers to assist the programs. This week some of our Community Partners are going through evaluation training from JVA Consulting in an effort to develop processes for evaluating success in the after school programs. Our hope is that we can assist our Community Partners in driving student success through these after school enrichment activities. Programs will be aligned to our pathway goals and indicators over the next three years.

We are so excited for the fall and the opportunity for enrichment activities and added resources to drive student success through great after school programming!

Keep an eye on this website through the summer as we add volunteer opportunities for these great after school programs that will start in the fall.