New Research and Blueprint4SummerCO Fuel ReSchool’s Efforts to Address Disparities in Summer Learning for Denver Metro-Area Youth

Blueprint4SummerCO website also launches Summer College Prep
opportunities

DENVER–(BUSINESS WIRE)–ReSchool,
a Denver-based non-profit organization focused on designing a more
expansive, equitable and accessible education system with, and for,
learners across Colorado, is announcing efforts to address learning
disparities in Denver based on new research that found students with low
access to summer camps and classes are more likely to be Black and
Latino, live in homes with lower median household incomes and have
parents with a high school diploma or less while students with the best
access to summer activities are more likely to be white, live in homes
with higher median incomes and have college-educated parents. The
research, along with ReSchool’s partnership with families through its Learner
Advocate Network, uncovered challenges to access that exist partly
due to proximity of programs, high costs, and a lack, seemingly, of
diverse options. The research study, “Access
to Out-of-School Resources in Denver,” was conducted by the University
of Washington’s Data Science for the Social Good (DSSG) program and
the Center
on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) and used data from Reschool’s Blueprint4SummerCO
website along with other sources.

Based on this research, ReSchool is leading the charge to expand access
to quality, diverse summer learning for all kids by building awareness
of Blueprint4SummerCO as a resource for families, leveraging scholarship
money raised by ReSchool and available through providers, and partnering
with a growing number of learning providers across the metro-area to
amplify activities that integrate culture and history into their
programming.

Blueprint4SummerCO is a free, easy-to-use, mobile-friendly website
brought to Colorado by ReSchool that offers an organized, searchable way
to access thousands of summer activities and learning opportunities.
Camps and experiences listed on Blueprint4SummerCO span various
communities in the Denver Metro area, for kids ages 3-18, and in
multiple interest areas, cultures and traditions. For example, Visions
Performing Arts is dedicated to the preservation of African American
performing arts and celebrating African American History for future
generations and Museo
de las Americas builds cultural competencies and unlocks new
understanding of academic content through summer programming focused on
the arts and cultures of the Americas.

“Our goal is to provide a space where all families can access
information about summer learning opportunities that fit their desires
and needs while working to make many of those opportunities more
accessible through scholarships,” said Selamawit Gebre, who leads the
out-of-school work at Reschool Colorado.

Blueprint4SummerCO lists a number of low-cost and free options for
families on the website to ensure that cost isn’t a barrier to access.
In 2018, over half of the listings on the site were free or low cost and
over half of the summer providers offered scholarships. In addition,
ReSchool, distributed more than $50,000 in scholarships in 2018, paying
for or significantly reducing the cost of out of school experiences for
195 kids. ReSchool is on track to distribute more than $50,000 in out of
school scholarships, most of which will go to summer experiences, again
in 2019. Reschool is seeking further impact by partnering with
organizations whose summer scholarship funds sometimes go unused to
ensure more youth from low-income families know about these
opportunities.

Additional studies demonstrate the positive impacts of out-of-school
learning. For example, out-of-school experiences offer important ways
for students to develop academic skills like critical thinking and
problem solving, as well as social-emotional skills such as persistence
and teamwork. These experiences may be especially important for
low-income students and students of color, who are less likely to have
access to teachers and curricula that develop these skills in school. (CRPE
Education Equality in the Future).

“The most impactful learning experiences most people have in their
lifetimes occur in places and spaces outside of school,” said Amy
Anderson, Executive Director at ReSchool Colorado. “Yet, most efforts in
education today focus exclusively on how to improve schools. This is
what makes ReSchool unique. While it is very important for kids to have
a solid home base of a school, what is equally, if not more important,
is to have access to enriching learning experiences and meaningful
relationships with a diversity of people beyond school.”

“ReSchool is doing the right work by being intentional that there are
programming options on Blueprint4SummerCO rooted in history and
different cultures. It is so important for kids to feel both seen in
what they participate in and to gain context,” said Claudia Moran of
Museo de las Americas. “Museo builds cultural competencies and unlocks
new understanding of academic content through summer programming focused
on the arts and cultures of the Americas.”

Parents with children ages 3-18 can search for activities on
Blueprint4SummerCO based on any number of preferences such as age,
gender, interests, cost and zip code – even special considerations such
as sessions for students with disabilities or gifted students, those
offering before and after care, or that have scholarships available. The
website can be displayed in multiple languages through Google Translate
and provides information about day camps, sleep-away camps and sports
camps; art, music and science programs; free activities, and academic
enrichment courses. Over 3,000 summer sessions were listed on the
Blueprint4SummerCO website in 2018, and ReSchool plans to add thousands
more in 2019.

New this year, the Blueprint4SummerCO website now includes a database of
opportunities for high school-aged students preparing for college. The College
Prep national database is accessible through Blueprint4SummerCO and
lists thousands of opportunities in Colorado and across the U.S. For
example, students can attend experiences to prepare for college level
music courses, conduct research on a topic of interest, find a paid
internship, join a community service institute to earn college credit,
take a dance or swim camp to prepare for college level competitions,
learn about college admissions and living, and prepare for ACT or SAT
tests.

Blueprint4SummerCO is not only free and easy for parents to use but it
also gives Colorado camps and organizations the opportunity to list
their offerings for free, receive additional exposure, and obtain
geographic and demographic analytics regarding interest in their program
offerings. Providers also have the opportunity to apply for matched
scholarship contributions raised by ReSchool Colorado.

In 2015, Blueprint4Summer was launched in St. Louis by Maxine Clark,
founder of the Clark-Fox Family Foundation and Build-A-Bear Workshop.
ReSchool licenses the Blueprint4Summer platform from the Clark-Fox
Foundation.

For more information about Blueprint4SummerCO,
to learn about programs and to connect with other parents online, “like”
Blueprint4SummerCO on Facebook
or follow on Twitter
and Instagram.

About ReSchool Colorado

After investing for decades to improve public education in various ways,
the Donnell-Kay Foundation launched ReSchool
Colorado in 2013 — a bold effort to design a modernized,
learner-centered system of education in Colorado. ReSchool’s goal is to
build the supply of existing and new learning resources that allows
learners to personalize their education pathways in new, dynamic ways,
ensuring an experience that is equitable, empowering, and world-class.
ReSchool believes learning happens in a lot of different places, within
and beyond school, and recognizes the need to coordinate and curate
those resources in a way that is accessible to all families and students.

Blueprint4SummerCO is a tool that is part of ReSchool Colorado’s broader
efforts to modernize our education system and strengthen people’s
capacity to access and navigate complex systems of learning.

Contacts

Tricia Bennett
303-931-0013
Tricia@FitzgeraldPetersen.com