In ExpandED Schools—public elementary and middle schools that work with TASC to expand the time and ways kids learn—our goal is to help all kids develop into adults who can innovate, create and think for a living.
TASC provides ExpandED Schools with funding, professional development, technical assistance and a model for an active, balanced learning day that gives students approximately 35 percent more learning time at 10 percent of the cost of the school day. We advocate for funding and policy change to support expanded learning opportunities.
Building from the evidence base of high quality after-school programs and successful schools with a longer learning day, we re-engineer schools to give students more time and opportunities to learn, and to fortify them against lives often marked by stress and hardship. ExpandED Schools offer an expanded learning day delivered by a new kind of blended school-and-community workforce.
The Core Elements
1. More Learning Time for a Balanced Curriculum: Schools partner with community organizations to re-engineer the school day to deliver at least 1,600 hours of learning time, an increase of more than 35 percent compared to the average American school.
2. School-Community Partnership and Staffing: The principal, teachers and other school staff join forces with community educators from a lead partnering organization. They operate from a common set of goals and share accountability for student outcomes. With support from TASC, teachers and community educators engage in joint professional development annually and community educators participate in school faculty meetings.
3. Engaging and Personalized Instruction: Students benefit from individualized instruction in small groups facilitated by a blended staff of teachers and community educators who are deployed across the longer learning day.
4. Sustainable Cost Model: In order to achieve cost-effective, sustainable reform, ExpandED Schools adhere to a scalable cost model, using an incremental cost of $1,600 per student in kindergarten-through-eighth grade.