Learning Center Consortium 2003 Report

Learning Centers are central facilities, frequently located with an apartment community, where programs are available that support residents in attaining their American dreams - children succeeding in school, adults increasing their earning power, families holding savings accounts and moving into homeownership.This report presents the results of the first two years of the Multifamily Initiative's effort to study the question, "What impact do housing-based learning centers have on property operations, low-income households and their communities?" The long-term goals of this initiative effort are to set benchmarks for outcomes, standardize effective programs, document and optimize the impact of learning centers on property performance, and to build collaborative funding sources.Thanks to the participation of the nine founding housing organizations who have made learning centers part of their operations, and to consultants Fred Alsup and Janet Maccubbin, this report presents a detailed picture of the initial work to define and improve the impact of learning centers, share best practices and build efficient, replicable standards. It also provides information on the characteristics of learning centers, such as types of programs, capacity, areas of success and challenges

Funding Strategies for Sustainable Resident Services

NeighborWorks America created the Learning Center Consortium as a way to share best practices and develop standards so that learning centers become as effective as possible. Sustainable funding strategies are the cornerstone of advancing the impact of learning centers upon the communities they serve. This paper reviews the resident funding strategies of twelve learning center consortium members

Learning Centers

Individualized learning through the Learning Center method is becoming more and more popular in today\u27s classrooms. For this reason I chose to develop two basic Learning Centers--one for math and one for language arts--for my honors project. I plan to use these centers and others when I begin to teach. In preparing these Learning Centers, I used two basic handbooks: Invitation to Learning: the Learning Center Handbook by Ralph Claude Voight and Learning Centers: Children on Their Own prepared by the Association for Childhood Education International. These two sources helped me to sort out and apply ideas of my own and ideas from other sources to the Learning Centers I developed

Out-of-School Time Policy Commentary #3: Reflections on System Building: Lessons from the After-School Movement

On February 3, 2003, the Bush Administration unveiled its request to cut funding for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program by 40 percent in fiscal year 2004. This date also marked the administration's release of When Schools Stay Open Late: The National Evaluation of the 21st-Century Learning Centers Program, First Year Findings, the first report from the federally-funded evaluation being undertaken by Mathematica Policy Research. With these events as the backdrop, this commentary addresses the potential for, and threats to, the development of a healthy, connected out-of-school time system. When and how are evaluations useful? What does the 21st Century evaluation tell us? How do the findings square with other studies? What is the state of system building in out-of-school time? What challenges lie ahead

Of, By, and For the Community: The Story of PUENTE Learning Center

Reviews the 20-year development of the learning centers, located in East and South Los Angeles. Examines the impact of the center's preschool, kindergarten, and after-school programs for youth, and education and job training programs for adults

New Associate Provost to Lead Student Academic Success, Teaching & Learning Centers

With expertise in teaching, scholarship, experiential education and more, Robert E. Shea, Ph.D., will oversee a range of faculty development and student support efforts

An Open Education Kindergarten Curriculum Guide

The purpose of this project was to develop an open education kindergarten curriculum guide utilizing learning centers. This curriculum guide consists of a discussion of specific aspects of implementation of learning centers and a detailed analysis of twelve learning centers. Whether learning centers are implemented gradually, moderately, or totally, the following factors are essential to consider prior to implementation: physical environment, materials, classroom management, evaluation and record keeping, and parental involvement. The following learning centers are discussed in-depth with respect to goals, objectives, enabling activities, and materials and supplies: math, science, language arts, social studies, art, music, block building, dramatic play, sand and water, woodworking, cooking and sewing, and movement. Successful implementation of learning centers in kindergarten appears to be a result of the implementing teacher\u27s attitude toward open education. The attitude of openness is vital in order to successfully develop and implement learning centers

Some Implications for Learning Centers

It should be quite clear from the research evidence that successful students tend to plan their work carefully, think ahead, are conscientious, independent, self-confident and recognize the importance of finding suitable conditions for effective study (Entwistle and Entwistle, 1970). Being able to organize, having a good self-image and being flexible are most important traits for students to have. For students that are handicapped in various ways, there is hope. Students can learn academic skills, if they have a good teacher and work to help themselves

The Use of Learning Centers in the Kindergarten Classroom

This literature review discusses the necessity of learning centers in the kindergarten curriculum. The review first looks at pioneers in the field of education and how they feel children learn best. Learning centers is defined and tells why it should be in the kindergarten classroom and the benefits it offers. The review will discuss the legislation of why some people feel that play-based learning should be taken away from the school system and schools should only focus on academics. Today with high stakes testing and meeting state standards there is no time for learning centers. There are many challenges that teachers face when trying to implement learning centers and the role they have. Play-based learning is an important part of a kindergartners school day and being able to attend learning centers is the best way for young children to learn