21st Century Community Learning Centers help more than 400 elementary and middle school students develop to their full academic, social and physical potential.

With Title IV funds, WABS provides high quality after school and summer school opportunities in the Kent School District to help students meet state and local academic standards in core content areas. This includes tutoring and homework help for math and reading, youth enrichment and recreation programs, and hands-on science and technology education.

Family and Community Are Key to Student Achievement

In addition to providing tutoring and enrichment services, WABS staff coordinate curricula between classrooms and after-school/summer programs to reinforce and complement the regular academic program. Additionally, we provide parents and families educational opportunities to increase adult literacy and related educational development.

Participating Schools

Currently, five elementary and three middle schools participate in WABS 21st Century Community Learning Centers:

  • Cedar Valley Elementary School
  • East Hill Elementary School
  • Martin Sortun Elementary School
  • Meeker Middle School
  • Meridian Middle School
  • Mill Creek Middle School
  • Millennium Elementary School
  • Neely-O’Brien Elementary School

2010-2011 Evaluation Highlights

  • Recruitment and retention efforts have been successful with 69-100% of students eligible for free-reduced lunch, 16-78% ELL/bilingual, and 65-91% students of color.
  • Participating students attended regularly and actively participated.
  • Participating students improved their performance in reading and math as is evidenced by test scores, parent and teacher observations.
  • Teachers report student attitudes and classroom behaviors improved.
  • Community partners were actively engaged in the program implementation by offering enriching and engaging activities.

Improvement Areas for the Current Year

  • Improve reading and math scores: Use more consistent instructional materials and increased staff development.
  • Communicate with “Regular” School Staff: More communication between 21st CCLC staff and “regular” school staff about students’ learning needs and progress.
  • Uniformity/Consistency of Implementation and Programming among Sites: Share strategies that have been successful between the sites.

Complete 21st Century Community Learning Center Evaluation Reports (released in December 2011) for our Middle and Elementary school programs are available upon request. Please email info@wabsalliance.org to request an electronic copy.

For more information on the 21st Century Community Learning Centers, contact info@wabsalliance.org