Overview of 21st CCLC Report of Federal Way
The overarching goal of Scholar Success, the 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) program in Federal Way Public Schools, is to support students’ academic achievement. The program is located at Sunnycrest and Wildwood Elementary Schools, and focuses on:
- Tutoring and homework help in reading and math
- Support for these subjects through enrichment activities
- Social emotional learning
21st CCLC staff work with students and teachers on creating better skills for relationship building and managing emotions to be successful. They teach students to use voice and choice to take ownership over their own learning. The 2020-21 year is the fourth year of the 21st CCLC program’s five-year grant.
2020-21 Program Year: The 2020-21 year was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic and school closures. Concurrently, there is a continued and growing movement for racial justice and against the pervasive racism that is oftentimes described alongside COVID-19 as a “dual pandemic” in the United States. The Federal Way 21st CCLC program has operated in this context, and has built on areas of strength in its response:
- Adaptability and Creativity: The program continued to demonstrate adaptability, flexibility, and creativity as it shifted to virtual programming for the 2020-21 year. The program reinforced the focus on social emotional support and stability for students and families during this critical time. Staff adapted to and learned how to facilitate online programming with students. There were more opportunities to connect with families, with more frequent (virtual) family events and families joining in the afterschool programming, which was encouraged and welcomed. When some families students and families were not interested in the online format, due to the stressful and traumatic experiences at the start of COVID-19 and school closures, the program provided care packages with supplies and activities for students and families to use at home.
- Connections with Students and Families: Enrolling students into the virtual program was a challenge throughout 2020-21. Even so, those students who did enroll attended more regularly than in past years. Though the program served fewer students in the virtual format, staff prioritized regular attendance, and both sites had a larger proportion of students attending 30 or more days in 2020-21 than in any past year of the grant. (See Program Implementation for more information.)
There were more frequent family events, which were well attended by families. Both sites provided care packages to families, responding to their needs in this unprecedented time. At Wildwood, the Site Coordinator delivered books to students throughout the school year to enhance families’ home libraries. At Sunnycrest, the Site Coordinator noted that delivering care packages and supplies to students’ homes familiarized her with the neighborhood and also helped her feel more connected to families.
As one Site Coordinator put it, “We are proud to have continued to fulfill a need for our scholars, families, school, and community. Whether scholars needed something to look forward to at the end of the day, needed another adult to care about them, or needed more time with peers, we persevered through times that felt odd and challenging, to maintain our connections with each other. We held each other tenderly and held each other up to thrive during a time of challenge. I hope our scholars have learned from this experience just how much we care about them, how people can show each other caring in many ways, and that they themselves can show this same skill during other challenges they will face in their lives.”
