Public Policy Initiatives

Citizen Schools aims to influence public policy at the city, state, and federal levels to strengthen the after-school and out-of-school-time sector. Collaboration with other sectors is vital, and partnerships with organizations committed to community building, social capital, school-to-work, service learning and national service help to build a powerful movement for systemic change. 

• Expanded Learning Time
• The Teaching Fellows for Expanded Service and After-School (T-FELAS) Act
• Massachusetts Commonwealth Corps
• State Support of Citizen Schools
• Re-Imagining After-School Symposium 

Expanding the learning day is a growing movement in education reform, and Citizen Schools is on the leading edge.

NEW! ELT programs are showing strong results, as announced at a Capitol Hill Briefing in April 2008. Read more about the promising partnership between Citizen Schools and Edwards Middle School in our white paper, Expanding Learning Time.

NEW! A Boston Globe column calls Expanded Learning Time at the Edwards Middle School "the school experiment that's paying off."

NEW! Read about Citizen Schools' national educational policy priorities, including a federal demonstration program to support ELT schools.

Learn more about ELT in Massachusetts.

What is ELT?

Schools that adopt expanded learning time expand their schedules for all students significantly by lengthening the school day, lengthening the school year, or both. As schools respond to the demand that all students reach high standards, ELT has a growing profile as an education reform. 

In partnership with the non-profit organization Massachusetts 2020, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts created an ELT pilot program in 2006. Schools participating in the ELT initiative agreed to increase learning time for their students by at least 30% in exchange for an increase in their state per-pupil funding. In 2006-07, 10 schools across five districts participated. In 2007-08, nine new schools in four additional districts joined the ELT pilot.

How is Citizen Schools involved?

Since 2006, Citizen Schools has been the lead non-profit partner at three of the 10 schools in Massachusetts that piloted Expanded Learning Time (ELT) for all of their students – the Edwards Middle School and Mario Umana Middle School Academy in Boston, and the Salemwood School in Malden. 

We work with each school differently. At the Umana, Citizen Schools serves 110 6th, 7th and 8th graders (far more than the 50 to 80 students at other Citizen Schools campuses) for the latter part of the day, and offer daily homework time, volunteer-led apprenticeships, a study skills class, and experiential field trips. At the Edwards, Citizen Schools serves the entire sixth grade, more than 100 students. Here, in addition to our model, Citizen Schools staff facilitates Math League, a school-wide initiative to boost math skills through a combination of collaborative math games and time for math homework completion.

What is T-FELAS?

Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) introduced the Teaching Fellows for Expanded Learning and After-School (T-FELAS) Act in the United States Senate. The bill would create a 10,000-member national corps of recent college graduates who would lead after-school programs, working in schools in the morning. It is co-sponsored by Senators Richard Burr (R-NC), Christopher Dodd (D-CT), John Kerry (D-MA), and Bernard Sanders (I-VT).

NEW! Read Citizen Schools' case for T-FELAS.

Read Senator Kennedy's floor statement introducing the T-FELAS Act, or read the bill text.

Read a Boston Globe editorial endorsing T-FELAS.  

Massachusetts Commonwealth Corps

What is the Commonwealth Corps?

In 2007, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's first initiative in office was to establish the Commonwealth Corps. The Commonwealth Corps will engage Massachusetts residents of all ages and backgrounds in direct service to rebuild communities through mentoring underprivileged children, assisting the elderly, cleaning parks and beaches, and other service-oriented activities. Corps members will serve in a part-time or full-time capacity, and will dedicate at least one year of service to a non-profit organization, civic initiative, municipal or public entity providing direct service to people or communities in need.

Find out more

Learn more about the history and details of the program and the members of the Commonwealth Corps Commission from the office of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.

Read a Boston Globe op-ed about the program co-written by Citizen Schools President & CEO Eric Schwarz.

State Support of Citizen Schools

Citizen Schools was included in the Fiscal Year 2008 Massachusetts State Budget as a $475,000 matching grants line item under the Department of Education. This increase of over 50% from our funding the previous year indicates a powerful investment in Citizen Schools by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. We hope to develop similar relationships in our other states.

View information about the FY08 Massachusetts budget, including the Citizen Schools line item.

View information about the FY09 Massachusetts budget.

Every two years, Citizen Schools helps to convene leaders in the fields of education, after-school, youth development, business, academia, and policy on Capitol Hill for a day of learning and dialogue.

Read the conference proceedings from 2004 and 2006. 

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