This project relates to the following ED Priorities:

  • Turning around the lowest-performing schools
  • Identifying and scaling up innovative approaches to teaching and learning that significantly improve student outcomes

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Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) Council


Legislation passed during the 2013 regular Texas legislative session required the Commissioner of Education to establish a statewide council to study and make recommendations concerning expanded learning opportunities (ELO) for public school students. The ELO Council is statutorily required to meet three times per year and to submit a biennial statewide action plan to the governor and legislature with recommendations for improving expanded learning opportunities for public school students in Texas. TXCC will assist the Texas Education Agency staff with coordination of the council's work to inform policymakers and stakeholders about high-quality development and implementation of expanded learning opportunities for public school children, applying knowledge of research and best practices in this area.

Previous Work Updates

2016

July

In July, TXCC supported the Texas Education Agency (TEA) at the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program (CCLC) Summer Institute in Phoenix. TXCC attended sessions, debriefed learning with TEA staff, and attended planning meetings with TEA and contractors. TXCC staff continued to provide support for the ELO Council meeting on August 2. Support activities included (1) interviewing and orienting new council members, (2) securing an outside facilitator for the meeting and co-planning consensus-building activities , (3) hosting two ELO staff planning meetings (one via conference call and one in-person meeting), and (4) planning for the meeting supports.

June

In June, the TXCC conducted two workgroup staff planning meetings. Staff from the Texas Education Agency (TEA), American Institutes for Research (AIR), RMC, Texas Partnership for Out of School Time (TXPOST), and Westat met to discuss workgroup progress, council member recommendations, timelines, and plans for the August 2 Expanded Learning Opportunities Council meeting. In addition, TXCC staff conducted interviews with two council members and facilitated a meeting for the Scope, Access, and Policy workgroup.

May

TXCC staff worked with TEA to support the development of ELO council recommendations. In collaboration with TEA, TXCC worked to refine the charge and scope of ELO workgroups, develop meeting facilitation guidelines, schedule and conduct meetings and interviews with council members, and plan for the next ELO council meeting on August 2. TXCC also developed a scan of ELO policies in Texas and submitted the report to TEA.

April

TXCC staff developed guidance for the Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) Council workgroups, drafted a proposed timeline, and identified next steps for moving forward with initial recommendations. Staff also conducted a scan of state extended learning opportunity policies in Texas to help inform the work of the Scope, Access, and Policy workgroup.

March

TXCC staff facilitated a meeting with the full planning team during the Beyond School Hours Conference in Dallas. The team agreed on a strategy for council members to generate recommendations for the 2017-18 Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) Statewide Plan through four work groups, which will address the topics of Communication Strategy, Funding, Sustainability, and Geographic Reach (Equity), Data and Evaluation, and Scope, Access, and Policy.

February

TEA worked with TXCC to finalize arrangements for the March ELO Council meeting, which is planned in conjunction with the Beyond School Hours Conference in Dallas, Texas. TXCC staff agreed to outline a process by which council members will complete work on the 2017-18 Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) State Plan over the next eight months.

January

TXCC staff completed a review of all recommendations generated to date by the Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) Council in the current state plan and at two council meetings in 2015. The review identified the source of each recommendation (i.e., the plan or the specific council meeting), the nature of the recommendation (support, guidance, advocacy, education, policy, funding, and evaluation), and the organization or agency best positioned to carry out the recommendation. The ELO planning team discussed the document at its monthly meeting and suggested forming working groups of council members to review subsets of the recommendations. The team also set the date for the next council meeting in March in conjunction with the Beyond School Hours Conference, which will allow council members the opportunity to attend this event and the Texas 21st Century Community Learning Centers directors’ meeting as well.

2015

December

The Texas Education Agency lead for the Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) Council requested assistance from TXCC to identify all recommendations generated by the council to date for consideration at the next team meeting. The goal for this project will be to provide a roadmap to help council members determine the most viable recommendations for incorporation into the next ELO state plan, work on which will commence in the spring to ensure successful completion by the November 1 deadline.

November

The Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) Council met to learn about Texas’ graduation requirements and performance reporting system from TEA staff, hear an update on the Texas 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant, and refine the initial recommendations for the 2016 statewide plan that were generated at the July meeting. TXCC staff contributed by facilitating a robust discussion on statutory education requirements and the ways in which ELO can support districts and campuses in meeting those requirements. Council members were particularly interested in the connections between ELO and the high school endorsements required by House Bill 5 and how ELO programming could best support learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

October

The project planning team met to finalize the agenda for the November 4 Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) Council meeting and confirm presentations and discussion items. In particular, TXCC agreed to facilitate a discussion with council members on how state-funded ELO programming could address the career pathways required by House Bill 5, support the state’s performance indicators, and reinforce science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programming.

September

In response to a request from TEA for the Texas 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant program, TXCC analyzed current federal and state grantee requirements, routine administrative supports, and unique needs that could be addressed through targeted technical assistance. TEA staff will use the information to review contracted services in support of the program and identify potential changes to provide more differentiated services to grantees. TXCC staff also met with the Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) Council planning team to draft an agenda for the November council meeting and discuss strategies for developing recommendations related to the council’s four priority areas (HB 5 and ELO, ELO metrics, extended day blueprints, and unmet needs for ELO programming). TXCC agreed to facilitate part of the meeting and present information researched by staff on each of the priority areas.

August

The Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) Council planning team met to follow up on the July 23 ELO Council meeting and confirm work tasks for the 2015–2016 project year. The team agreed to present information at the fall council meeting on each of the four activities identified by members in July for the coming year: educate and advocate on ELO, quantify unmet need, develop blueprints and prototypes, and identify meaningful metrics. In particular, TXCC will examine unmet need for ELO programming that focuses on academic outcomes in high poverty areas of the state, research linkages between ELO and the career pathways and endorsements required by House Bill 5, identification of models of extended day and extended year programs, and the determination of metrics for assessing ELO quality. TXCC also agreed to analyze current federal and state grantee requirements for the Texas 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, administrative supports, and needs that could be addressed through targeted technical assistance contracts offered by TEA.

June

The Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) planning team met to discuss next steps in supporting the ELO Council following the 84th regular session of the Texas State Legislature, which did not approve funding for an ELO pilot program. In preparation for the July 23 meeting of the Council, TXCC staff continued developing a matrix of ELO programs in the state based on phone interviews with program coordinators. The prior version of the matrix was updated to include 34 programs, which reflect a diverse range of program types, content, funding, and grade spans. The team agreed to present this information to the Council in a several formats with a request for additional input and direction for future work. TXCC staff also supported the Texas Education Agency by attending the Texas Out-of-School Time Initiatives Conference (OSTI-CON). The conference included multiple sessions for Texas grantees of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program and one session with a member of the ELO Council on ELO business partnerships.

May

Members of the TEA and TXCC project team reviewed information from the recent Best of Out-of-School-Time (BOOST) conference, which included a newly released update to the California Expanded Learning Strategic Plan and preliminary results from a survey of technical assistance providers by regions of the state. Based on data gathered to date, team members also decided to modify the proposed case studies of expanded learning opportunity (ELO) programs in Texas into a guidebook of ELO practices to be shared with the ELO Council at its July meeting. The TXCC will continue gathering information from additional sites to ensure that the Council will receive as much data as possible to inform its work later this year.

April

TXCC staff attended the Best of Out-of-School-Time (BOOST) Conference on behalf of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) Council. Staff gathered information on strategic planning processes used by the California Department of Education’s After School Division to support the introduction of ELO quality standards in the state and the use of related assessment tools to improve program quality.

March

TXCC staff participated in two conference calls to discuss conducting case studies of innovative Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) programs in Texas as a way to inform the ELO Council and TEA about promising practices in after school, extended day, and summer programming. The project team agreed to request assistance from the Texas Partnership for Out of School Time in soliciting nominations from prospective sites and to focus the studies on programs across diverse grade spans and geographic regions where at least 60 percent of students are eligible for free and reduced-price lunches. Once initial nominations are secured, staff will conduct follow-up phone interviews to gather additional information, which will be used to select the final five to six sites to study.

February

Members of the Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) Council met on February 26 prior to participating in the Expanded Learning Opportunities Day at the state capitol with support from the Texas Partnership for Out of School Time (TXPOST). The Council learned about the status of the legislative request embedded in its statewide plan and heard from Andy Roddick, founder of his eponymous foundation, about the importance of out-of-school time programming for students in need. TXCC staff assisted TEA in planning this meeting and documenting Council member comments and observations. To assist the Agency in supporting the Council’s ongoing work, the TXCC initiated discussions with its partner, RMC Research Corporation on ways to highlight ELO programs in Texas with available impact data. RMC drafted a proposal for case studies of five to six programs, which staff reviewed and discussed with TEA. A final decision on the proposal is expected in March.

January

TXCC staff facilitated a webinar on January 23 for TEA and the Texas Partnership for Out of School Time (TXPOST) to provide professional development to Council members on the recently released report, Texas Standards of High Quality Afterschool, Summer and Expanded Learning Programs. The session also highlighted TXPOST’s support for key aspects of the Council’s 2016–2017 Statewide Strategic Plan, most notably the recommendation to fund an Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) pilot program across the state. Staff also helped plan the February 26 ELO Council meeting and arranged for TEA professional development through two upcoming conferences.

2014

December

TXCC staff met with the TEA lead to debrief participation at the National Summer Learning Conference in San Antonio in November and to determine ways to apply knowledge from conference sessions to the upcoming work of the ELO Council. As a follow-up to this discussion, TEA held a conference call with members of the project planning team later in the month to draft an agenda for the next ELO Council meeting in February, initiate planning for a webinar in March on STEM in out-of-school time settings, and set up a webinar for January on the new Texas Standards of High-Quality Afterschool, Summer, and Expanded Learning Programs.

November

TXCC staff assisted TEA in confirming final edits to the ELO State Plan, which was posted to the Agency’s newly revised website in early November. Staff also joined the TEA project lead at the National Summer Learning Conference in San Antonio, where they collaboratively and strategically attended workshops and sessions to increase professional development and build capacity at the Agency for the ELO Council project. Attendance at the conference also allowed for networking with experts and policy specialists and additional planning time for key members of the project team.

October

TXCC staff met with members of the project team to review stakeholder and Council member feedback on the draft version of the state plan and report, which was reviewed at the September 29 meeting of the ELO Council. TEA requested and received assistance from the TXCC to edit and design the final document, which was posted to the Agency’s website on October 21, 2014, in accordance with the requirements of Senate Bill 503.

August

During the past month, the project team successfully incorporated the Council’s recommendations from the July 24 meeting into a first draft of the required report on expanded learning opportunities for review and further editing by the Texas Education Agency(TEA). TXCC staff also supported TEA in considering adjustments to the project plan to ensure timely completion of deliverables in conjunctions with the November 1 report.

July

TXCC staff facilitated meetings for the Council’s three working committees, (Scope and Access, Resources and Support, and Programs and Services) and led members through a process to generate initial recommendations in response to problem statements by topic as defined by the Council and by its authorizing statute. The full Council met on July 24 and used a process developed by TXCC, TEA, and TXPOST to review the committees’ 43 recommendations, clarify issues, and come to consensus around a set of 12 consolidated recommendations that will be incorporated into the first draft of the report. TXCC staff also conducted a webinar on behalf of TEA for Council members on extended learning time, which included presentations from the National Center on Time and Learning and the National Summer Learning Association.

June

TXCC staff hosted a webinar on June 4, 2014 to conduct a working session for Council members. They provided input on possible solutions to problem statements and reviewed a framework for developing recommendations for their first report to the legislature (due November 1). Staff subsequently worked with project team members from TEA and the Texas Partnership for Out of School Time (TXPOST) to develop and refine a template for aligning topics, problem statements, potential solutions, and recommendations for each committee. The TXCC also facilitated, hosted, and recorded meetings of the three committees (Scope and Access, Resources and Support, and Programs and Services) to archive and analyze the work on behalf of TEA and the Council.

May

The TXCC helped plan and facilitate the first meeting of the Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) Council on May 2, 2014. TXCC staff assisted the Texas Education Agency (TEA) by developing and implementing a process to help Council members create a work plan and confirm key topics and issues to be addressed. In the weeks following the meeting, TXCC staff worked with project team members from TEA and the Texas Partnership for Out of School Time (TXPOST) to establish and refine processes for committee work, track and monitor team progress, and plan for a Council webinar on June 4, which will be hosted by the TXCC.

April

TEA contacted the TXCC to request assistance in preparing for the first meeting of the Expanded Learning Opportunities Council on May 2, 2014. TXCC staff participated in two meetings and several phone calls with project team members from TEA and the Texas Partnership for Out of School Time (TXPOST) to support the event, craft an agenda, and identify preliminary resources. In particular, TXCC staff supported the Agency by volunteering to develop and lead a session during the meeting to assist council members in outlining a committee structure and developing a work plan.