Revolutionizing Science After School

Science, school, civic and after-school leaders from New York, Boston, Providence, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Chicago, Palm Beach County, the Bay Area and six Midwestern states gathered at the New York Hall of Science to “start a revolution” to make out-of-school time science inquiry and STEM (science-technology-engineering-math) experiences available to every child in the U.S. The national convening was organized by the Collaborative for Building After-School Systems (CBASS) and The After-School Corporation, with support from the Noyce Foundation.

Keynote speaker Michele Cahill, co-chair of the Carnegie Corporation Commission on The Opportunity Equation, noted that 40 percent of high school graduates need math remediation in college. “It’s the barrier course to success,” she said. “Students not only don’t know math, they’re not comfortable with it.”

Ms. Cahill also noted that the U.S. is losing its standing as an international leader in advanced scientific study. She called on the group to provide students both more choices in ways to engage in science “but also more challenges.”

Meeting participants reached consensus that they need to build demand for all kids to have hands-on science and math experiences beyond traditional school hours to feed their confidence, passions and interests. Ms. Cahill challenged the group to incorporate informal science learning into education reform. “None of this will be realized if school stays as a closed box on a nineteenth century model,” she said.

Teams from all CBASS partner cities attended the meeting as well as representatives from statewide after-school networks in Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Michigan and Indiana. The following day, TASC staff gave more than 100 science teachers and after-school educators from throughout New York an opportunity to try out sample informal science curricula TASC will be offering expanded learning time and after-school programs in the upcoming school year.

The Collaborative for Building After-School Systems (CBASS) is a partnership of intermediary organizations dedicated to increasing the availability of quality after-school programming by building citywide after-school systems.