IN MANY SCHOOLS, there exists a gap between what happens during the school day and what happens before and after school. To children, there is usually no direct connection between what they learn in the classroom and what they learn in out-of-school time (OST). Research shows that schools and OST programs can greatly increase their impact on children by working together and complementing each other's efforts.

As the agency charged by the public with the duty of preparing Boston's youth academically, the Boston Public Schools (BPS) acknowledges its responsibility to work with and support the agencies that are also seeking to foster academic growth and development in our children. We recognize that OST professionals and schools need each other in order to reach the goal of ensuring that every child in Boston has the opportunity to become a happy, healthy, conscientious, prosperous, and prepared adult.

To that end, in November 2001, the BPS launched Bridging the Gap: A Training Series for Out-of-School Time Professionals. This initiative conducts several trainings throughout the year designed to meet a need stated by many OST programs — the need to provide more and better learning opportunities for our children. The trainings, which count for Office of Child Care Services training hours, are given by BPS content and curriculum experts and focus on topics like reading/writing, math, science, history, supporting English language learners, and supporting children with special needs. It is the hope of Bridging the Gap to help OST professionals enhance their already vibrant and effective programs, not to make OST programs conform to the classroom format. The goals of the training series are:

1. To familiarize OST professionals with the language and practices of teachers and provide strategies that will improve tutoring, homework help, and academic enrichment.
2. To give OST professionals ideas about how to infuse learning into youth development, recreational, social, and preventative activities.
3. To educate OST professionals on what a student should know at a certain stage (the Curriculum Standards and Frameworks) and how this information applies to their programs.
4. To make OST professionals more aware of academic and social challenges facing our students.
5. To create an infrastructure that supports and promotes this kind of professional development, fostering more communication and collaboration with school-day staff.

Bridging the Gap is sponsored by The Boston Foundation.