Nebraska’s AAT will allow five diverse rural and urban districts facing some of NE’s most challenging educational environments to develop, implement and evaluate expanded learning opportunity programs to improve academic achievement for high-need middle and high school students and turn around persistently low performing schools. Participating entities include the public school districts in South Sioux City, Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island and Scottsbluff. AAT will use a variety of evidence-based afterschool, evening and summer interventions providing targeted high need middle and high school students with the additional supports they need to graduate college or career ready. Evidence-based and research proven approaches will be tailored to individual community needs, built on each community’s unique strengths and integrated into sustainable, locally-controlled systems linking school day and expanded learning opportunity programs. Importantly, AAT districts will collaborate in a statewide community of learners, allowing rural and urban districts to share best practices. Activities will be evaluated by the University of Nebraska’s Center for Research on Rural Education to ensure that best practices are identified and replicated and we will work with NE’s Department of Education to share successes with other high need districts. As conceived, AAT has the potential to directly impact more than 4260 students and, through the cultural change it will facilitate, has the potential to impact thousands more. AAT’s short term goal is to support a statewide effort targeting 14 persistently low performing districts to increase graduation rates, helping Nebraska be the first state to reach an average graduation rate above 90%.
To learn more, contact Jeff Cole.
