This Carver program is made possible with generous funding from the 21st CCLC grant program administered by the Connecticut State Department of Education
In the photos below, you will see our 5th grade scholars making slime under the guidance of Mad Science experts; constructing bridges; creating animated flip books and storyboards; and the Maritime Aquarium teaching our students all about sharks!
And that is just a glimpse of what is in store for our 5th grade transition students each day, thanks to the generous support of 21st CCLC, the only federal funding source dedicated exclusively to supporting local after school programs.
Carver kids are able to engage in hands-on activities, watch spectacular demonstrations, and take home educational science-themed creations, such as bridge you see below, that reinforce the concepts they've learned.
This important funding enables Carver to prepare 5th grade students at four Norwalk elementary schools for what they will experience in middle school. Below are images of our students at Naramake Elementary School during their individual enrichment sessions.
Our 5th grade transition students are assigned to a homeroom which they attend following the school’s afternoon dismissal bell. Students then have a few minutes to eat a snack and get ready for the Carver experience. Study hall and homework are first. Certified teachers and assistants help, and sometimes students help each other.
Then our students explore all manner of enrichment opportunities that both interest them and that open their minds and expand their abilities. Within each elective session, students are breaking barriers by completing challenges, enhancing skills, and building team work abilities. The students make presentations of their work later in the school year. These academic and enrichment experiences compliment what the students are learning during the school day.
The 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) initiative is the only federal funding source dedicated exclusively to supporting local after-school, before-school and summer learning programs. The program serves nearly 2 million youth nationally, through very competitive grants awarded by each state education agency.
21st CCLC was reauthorized in 2015 as part of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Programs support:
Academic enrichment activities that can help students meet state and local achievement standards.
A broad array of additional enrichment services designed to reinforce and complement the regular academic program, such as: drug and violence prevention programs, career and technical programs, counseling programs, art, music programs, STEM programs, and physical activity and nutrition education programs.
Literacy and related educational development services to the families of children who are served in the program.
Carver is proud to report on the results we are achieving with these grants our state education leaders entrust us with.
The funding level for 21st CCLC is set each year by Congress in an appropriations bill that is then signed into law by the president. For more than 20 years 21st Century Community Learning Centers have been providing high quality programming to a wide range of children grades pre-K to 12th grade in communities nationwide.
This downloadable fact sheet is a great primer on who is served and key outcomes of local programs such as Carver.
