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By John Higgins
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 09:52 p.m. EDT, Apr 04, 2009
Learning hip-hop and tap dance was fun.
But when LaShay McGregor, a fourth-grader at Akron's Robinson Elementary, discovered ballet in Akron's after-school program last year, a whole new world opened up.
''It was fun trying something different all the time,'' she said. ''When I tried ballet, I thought it was going to be hard, but it was easy. It was interesting. We learned French and all of that.''
Math definitely was not easy for LaShay, but the first hour and a half of Akron's after-school program provides extra help for math and reading and her grades have improved.
Success stories like LaShay's — and research showing improved math and reading scores — have made Akron's after-school program a statewide model, according the Ohio Department of Education and organizations supporting after-school programs.
Akron's program began 15 years ago in North Hill, when Desiree Bolden was a parent volunteer at Harris Elementary School.
''I was a parent there working in the PTA,'' she said. ''I quit my job to stay at home with the kids and worked as a substitute teacher.''
She saw a lot of good things going on during the day in school with the teachers, but the students needed more time for reading and math than they got during the school day.
So she started a small after-school program that soon became unwieldy because of its popularity, with more than half the school attending.
Her husband, Bruce Bolden, was on Akron City Council at the time and when Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic learned about the work she was doing at Harris, he offered city help if she could expand it to other schools.
That was in 2001.
Since then, the program has expanded to 11 elementary schools based on need because of high poverty and low test scores.
Funding sources
The city continues to contribute seed money — $190,000 last year — which has helped secure federal grants and other support totaling more than $1 million this year. Bolden now works for the district as the Akron After School project director.
The program serves 1,800 kids between 2:30 and 5 p.m. The first hour and a half, they get math and reading help.
Then they get to spend the last hour doing eight-week activities that include tennis, golf, theater, music, dance, art, ''mad science'' experiments and programs with the Akron Zoo — all provided through contracts with 80 local organizations and institutions.
''If we could find the money in the budget, we'd have it in every school. It clearly makes a difference,'' said Laraine Duncan, deputy mayor for intergovernmental relations, who oversees the city's involvement in the program.
''I was a little concerned [about funding] this year, but I don't think the mayor bends on that. We've been looking for ways to cut, but this wasn't one of them.''
Encouraging test scores
However, other funding sources are drying up as grants expire and federal funding through Summit County is reduced, Bolden said.
That's why she's excited about a study that Kent State University did on the program in the last school year. It was presented at the last regular Akron school board meeting.
Deborah D. Shama-Davis at Kent State compared the state reading and math scores of kids who regularly attended the program with kids who attended sometimes or not at all.
The group of students who didn't attend was expected to have higher scores because the after-school program serves children who are struggling academically.
But on the fourth-grade and fifth-grade reading and math tests, the kids who regularly attended the after-school program did better than peers who were not considered struggling and therefore weren't in the program.
On the fourth-grade reading test, for example, 69.5 percent of the regular participants passed, compared with 64 percent of those who did not attend the program at all and 58.3 percent of those who attended some of the time.
The fourth-grade math scores were more dramatic: 67.1 percent of the regular attendees passed the math test, compared with 50.7 percent of those who did not attend and 51.1 percent of those who attended some.
Akron Public Schools also offer after-school programs at Perkins and Riedinger middle schools through a separate program coordinated by Carla Sibley that Kent State has also evaluated.
Those results show similar gains in reading and math, plus better attendance and fewer discipline problems among students who participate regularly.
Success story
Bolden said the positive statistics will make it easier to raise the funds necessary to maintain the program's high quality.
But it was hearing LaShay and her parents talk about what the program at Robinson Elementary has meant to them that brought a tear to her eye.
LaShay has attended since she was in kindergarten and now her kindergarten-age brother is attending.
Their mother, Shayla McGregor, works in information services at Community Support Services and their father, Darryll Brooks, was manager of Champion Window in Westlake until he was laid off recently because of the economy.
Having the kids in the after-school program meant they weren't home alone watching TV all afternoon.
''Ballet is the extracurricular,'' McGregor said. ''She knows with us that school, the study, the grades, the reading, all of that comes first. That's Number One. So if you don't get these good grades, you can't have the ballet. And that's working very greatly right now.''
So with ballet in the balance, LaShay started working harder in school.
''Before, I didn't listen, but now I'm listening,'' LaShay said. ''I pay attention in class. And it's easier because when you pay attention, you get more stuff in your brain than you did before when you didn't pay attention.''
Her dance teachers also are paying attention.
Pointe West Performances Art Consortium, which provides the dance instruction at Robinson, recently selected LaShay to receive its first mentorship/scholarship award for dance studies to take her ballet lessons further. She will take one class a week at Pointe West's Copley studio and receive free dance clothing and ballet shoes.
Suzanne Winland, Pointe West's artistic director, arranged for LaShay and other ballet students at Robinson to see the Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble perform last month at the Akron Civic Theatre, Bolden said.
LaShay had never seen a professional dance company before, but now because of the after-school program, she can imagine a future with one.
''I think I could see myself on the stage,'' LaShay said.
Learning hip-hop and tap dance was fun.
But when LaShay McGregor, a fourth-grader at Akron's Robinson Elementary, discovered ballet in Akron's after-school program last year, a whole new world opened up.
''It was fun trying something different all the time,'' she said. ''When I tried ballet, I thought it was going to be hard, but it was easy. It was interesting. We learned French and all of that.''
Math definitely was not easy for LaShay, but the first hour and a half of Akron's after-school program provides extra help for math and reading and her grades have improved.
Success stories like LaShay's — and research showing improved math and reading scores — have made Akron's after-school program a statewide model, according the Ohio Department of Education and organizations supporting after-school programs.
Akron's program began 15 years ago in North Hill, when Desiree Bolden was a parent volunteer at Harris Elementary School.
''I was a parent there working in the PTA,'' she said. ''I quit my job to stay at home with the kids and worked as a substitute teacher.''
She saw a lot of good things going on during the day in school with the teachers, but the students needed more time for reading and math than they got during the school day.
So she started a small after-school program that soon became unwieldy because of its popularity, with more than half the school attending.
Her husband, Bruce Bolden, was on Akron City Council at the time and when Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic learned about the work she was doing at Harris, he offered city help if she could expand it to other schools.
That was in 2001.
Since then, the program has expanded to 11 elementary schools based on need because of high poverty and low test scores.
Funding sources
The city continues to contribute seed money — $190,000 last year — which has helped secure federal grants and other support totaling more than $1 million this year. Bolden now works for the district as the Akron After School project director.
The program serves 1,800 kids between 2:30 and 5 p.m. The first hour and a half, they get math and reading help.
Then they get to spend the last hour doing eight-week activities that include tennis, golf, theater, music, dance, art, ''mad science'' experiments and programs with the Akron Zoo — all provided through contracts with 80 local organizations and institutions.
''If we could find the money in the budget, we'd have it in every school. It clearly makes a difference,'' said Laraine Duncan, deputy mayor for intergovernmental relations, who oversees the city's involvement in the program.
''I was a little concerned [about funding] this year, but I don't think the mayor bends on that. We've been looking for ways to cut, but this wasn't one of them.''
Encouraging test scores
However, other funding sources are drying up as grants expire and federal funding through Summit County is reduced, Bolden said.
That's why she's excited about a study that Kent State University did on the program in the last school year. It was presented at the last regular Akron school board meeting.
Deborah D. Shama-Davis at Kent State compared the state reading and math scores of kids who regularly attended the program with kids who attended sometimes or not at all.
The group of students who didn't attend was expected to have higher scores because the after-school program serves children who are struggling academically.
But on the fourth-grade and fifth-grade reading and math tests, the kids who regularly attended the after-school program did better than peers who were not considered struggling and therefore weren't in the program.
On the fourth-grade reading test, for example, 69.5 percent of the regular participants passed, compared with 64 percent of those who did not attend the program at all and 58.3 percent of those who attended some of the time.
The fourth-grade math scores were more dramatic: 67.1 percent of the regular attendees passed the math test, compared with 50.7 percent of those who did not attend and 51.1 percent of those who attended some.
Akron Public Schools also offer after-school programs at Perkins and Riedinger middle schools through a separate program coordinated by Carla Sibley that Kent State has also evaluated.
Those results show similar gains in reading and math, plus better attendance and fewer discipline problems among students who participate regularly.
Success story
Bolden said the positive statistics will make it easier to raise the funds necessary to maintain the program's high quality.
But it was hearing LaShay and her parents talk about what the program at Robinson Elementary has meant to them that brought a tear to her eye.
LaShay has attended since she was in kindergarten and now her kindergarten-age brother is attending.
Their mother, Shayla McGregor, works in information services at Community Support Services and their father, Darryll Brooks, was manager of Champion Window in Westlake until he was laid off recently because of the economy.
Having the kids in the after-school program meant they weren't home alone watching TV all afternoon.
''Ballet is the extracurricular,'' McGregor said. ''She knows with us that school, the study, the grades, the reading, all of that comes first. That's Number One. So if you don't get these good grades, you can't have the ballet. And that's working very greatly right now.''
So with ballet in the balance, LaShay started working harder in school.
''Before, I didn't listen, but now I'm listening,'' LaShay said. ''I pay attention in class. And it's easier because when you pay attention, you get more stuff in your brain than you did before when you didn't pay attention.''
Her dance teachers also are paying attention.
Pointe West Performances Art Consortium, which provides the dance instruction at Robinson, recently selected LaShay to receive its first mentorship/scholarship award for dance studies to take her ballet lessons further. She will take one class a week at Pointe West's Copley studio and receive free dance clothing and ballet shoes.
Suzanne Winland, Pointe West's artistic director, arranged for LaShay and other ballet students at Robinson to see the Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble perform last month at the Akron Civic Theatre, Bolden said.
LaShay had never seen a professional dance company before, but now because of the after-school program, she can imagine a future with one.
''I think I could see myself on the stage,'' LaShay said.
Comments
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akron, oh
Posted 10:28 PM, 04/10/2009
After school program a model of more pocket stuffing success.
