After-School Sessions Expanding the Reach of Summer Program

Study shows children who took part improved their reading skills.

Following a day of classwork, about 40 students from neighboring schools gather in the media center at Fairview Elementary School for a celebration of a day well spent. After a reading from a carefully selected book, the elementary and middle school students chant and cheer during a harambe session, named after a Swahili term that means “pulling together.”

For a few hours each afternoon, the students in the Freedom School program at Fairview do just that as they tackle homework, challenge each other in educational games, and join in an extended literacy period that includes reading time and related discussions and activities.

Educators working in the program in Dayton, Ohio, and other sites around the country are hoping that by adapting a successful summer school model to expand students’ learning opportunities throughout the school year, they’ll give the...