Georgia Leads the Way
Implementation of First National Afterschool Academies
at State Level
Over
100 afterschool leaders came together last week at the
University of Georgia for the first state pilot of the
Georgia Afterschool Institute (GAI). In this
first statewide rollout, GAIC brought together 20 afterschool
local trainers, 50 afterschool providers from across Georgia,
along with representatives from Arkansas, Connecticut,
Maryland, and Ohio's statewide afterschool networks, for three
days of in- depth hands-on training with national experts
learning afterschool-style, experiential learning techniques
from youth development and leadership training to
project-based learning.
GAIC is using the Afterschool Institute as a vehicle
for building high-quality in afterschool programs across the
state. GAIC believes the Institute can be a primary
driver in bringing about the needed change in afterschool
programs in Georgia by institutionalizing a professional
development effort that acknowledges multiple intelligences
and the importance of afterschool style education.
Tremendous excitement and momentum is behind this exciting
initiative, as displayed by the incredible turnout at last
week's event. Legislators, University of Georgia leaders,
funders, national trainers and local afterschool heroes were
all present to support this important work. Collectively,
Georgia is well- positioned to raise the bar for the
afterschool professional development field.
Moving forward, some of the key elements of the
Institute quality-building strategy that will be
developed and implemented in the next phases of this exciting
initiative are:
- Focusing on improving middle and high school afterschool
education,
- Intentionally connecting with high-level evaluation
programs to tailor future Institute's to the specific needs
of afterschool providers in Georgia,
- Developing regional support networks for providers,
- Implementing a high-level, innovative evaluation plan to
ensure skills gained at the Institute are reaching Georgia's
kids,
- Taking the Institute model to scale and sustaining it
across the state.
The Georgia Afterschool Institute was generously funded by
the Georgia Department of Human Resources, the Community
Foundation for Greater Atlanta, the Georgia Office of Children
and Families, the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, and
McKenna, Long, and Aldridge, LLC. The next Institute will take
place in the spring of
2009.
