Committees & Meetings
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Supporting Youth Success: The Promise of Expanded Learning Opportunities Minnesota has consistently been identified as a state that achieves good outcomes for its families, children and youth; however, recent findings show Minnesota falling behind. Poverty rates of children have been on the rise with nearly 1/3 of all school age children receiving free or reduced-price lunches. And while aggregated data on academic achievement indicates Minnesota’s students are performing well, in fact, Minnesota faces one of the largest achievement gaps between its white, non-Hispanic students and students of every other race/ethnicity. Several initiatives have been launched to address these problems. Key outcomes to success have included personalized learning environments, programming options such as mentoring and after-school/out-of-school time, college readiness programming and the increased engagement of parents, communities, youth and schools. In addition, the 2008 Governor’s Afterschool Learning Opportunities Summit addressed how high-quality afterschool and summer learning opportunities are essential and provide critical developmental and learning opportunities to young people. The Minnesota Supporting Youth Success Initiative seeks to develop a framework that outlines strategies and action steps to promote both formal and non-formal learning opportunities for young people. The framework will: Build awareness about the contributions formal (K-12 education) and non-formal (out-of-school time) learning make toward success for young people. Support intentional connections and coordination of practice, policy and resources to ensure high-quality learning can occur any where, at any time, all year round. Continue to build a statewide system of quality and accountability that recognizes learning in both the classroom and in the community are essential to ensuring success for all children and youth.
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