Citizen Schools
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A REPORT ON THE FOUNDATION’S INVESTMENTS 2000–2014 By Anne Mackinnon february 2015 Citizen Schools Reaching for Scale and National Impact Citizen Schools was created in 1995 with a vision for giving middle school students a radically new kind of afterschool experience. Unlike conventional programs, which simply kept kids busy and gave them a place to do their homework, Citizen Schools engaged participants in a dynamic program of intensive, hands-on learning activities, or “apprenticeships,” led by a combination of energetic, motivated staff and knowledgeable volunteers, or “citizen teachers.” To founders Eric Schwarz and Ned Rimer, the out-of-school-time hours were an immense resource for educating young people and building community, particularly in low-income neighborhoods. Their goal was to put those valuable hours to use. The model caught on in Boston, and Citizen At about that time, Eric Schwarz, Citizen Schools’ Schools grew steadily in its first five years. By executive director, got an unexpected call from spring 2000, the organization was serving a representative of the Edna McConnell Clark approximately 400 young people, ages 9–14, at 11 Foundation. “We’re intrigued by what you’re locations around the city. The curriculum had doing,” the caller explained, “and want to get been carefully designed, tested, and codified, and to know you better. We can’t promise anything, the training program for staff and volunteers had but if we like what we see, we might move fairly evolved into a formal “teaching fellows” initiative. quickly on a significant investment.” Nationally, Citizen Schools’ distinctive model was In May 2000, the foundation made its first grant beginning to attract attention. to Citizen Schools: $250,000 to support the development of a full-fledged growth plan. New CITIZEN SCHOOLS APPRENTICESHIPS Profit, Inc., a venture philanthropy fund, was Apprenticeships that motivate and engage students are at the heart of the already working with Citizen Schools, and the Citizen Schools model. Here are a few examples: foundation joined them in hiring Monitor Group to lead the planning process and lend its expertise • Crime Scene Investigation (CSI). Students use data collection, problem solving, and in finance and organizational development. leadership skills to investigate and solve a crime scenario. Citizen Schools swiftly designed a business plan • Dental Fundamentals. Students learn to perform routine dental procedures using for growth, including clear goals for expanding authentic tools. the organization’s impact, scale and sustain- • Justice League. Students learn about law, lawyers, and the courtroom by practicing ability, and national influence. In early2001 , the legal vocabulary, public speaking, critical thinking, and teamwork. foundation approved a further, major grant for implementation. “Within a few months,” Schwarz • Stories to the Stage. Students create short skits about social justice issues, which they recounts with a hint of lingering amazement, write, produce, and perform for an audience of about 100 people. “the $250,000 planning grant had morphed into a • We Built This City. Students learn about urban planning and design their own city. $2.5 million investment.” THE EDNA M c CONNELL CLARK FOUNDATION | INVESTMENTS IN CITIZEN SCHOOLS, 2000–2014 2 Embracing experimentation, learning, and growth Citizen Schools’ first business plan called for Citizen Schools University, and its purpose would the organization to strengthen its service model, be broadened to include research, policy devel- build its organizational capacity, and set the stage opment, and training. Citizen Schools would also for broader expansion. By “proving the case” initiate a major evaluation, to be conducted by in Boston, the reasoning went, the organiza- Policy Studies Associates (PSA), that would assess tion would demonstrate that its approach was the impact of the model and document valuable for young people and workable at scale. its components. In addition to increasing enrollment, improv- Over the next two years, Citizen Schools met all ing attendance rates, and raising the number the key milestones in its plan. Student attendance of hours of programming for students, Citizen and full-year retention — difficult to improve with Schools would add three new Boston campuses middle grades students — both grew. New part- and upgrade its internal management systems nerships with AmeriCorps and Lesley University to support an expanding network of sites. The strengthened the teaching fellows program; those STRATEGY FOR GROWTH teaching fellows program would be renamed alliances also made participation more financially From 2000 through 2007, viable for teaching fellows and increased the value Citizen Schools implemented of the credential they earned. Citizen Schools a business plan focused on staff worked with the PSA evaluators to launch a impact, scale, and policy change. comparison group study of student outcomes and complete a first round of analysis. Prove impact and The organization was also getting stronger at its achieve scale in Boston. core: decisions about expansion, for example, Continuously improve became more intentional and strategic. Rather implementation of the than add more campuses in Boston, Citizen model in Boston and Schools consolidated its Boston campuses to demonstrate high impact achieve greater efficiency. At the same time, it for a large number made its first steps outside Boston by establishing of children affiliate relationships with community-based organizations in two Massachusetts cities, Framingham and Worchester, and in Houston, Texas, and San Jose, California. By 2003, Citizen Build a high-quality state Shape and promote Schools had grown from a well-regarded local and national network. public policy. afterschool provider with a $4.08 million annual Establish a network of Increase public funding budget serving 400 students to a nationally campuses that are valued for afterschool program- recognized, $5.79 million organization serving by “customers” (children, ming and shape policies more than 1,000 students. parents, teachers, and to incentivize high-quality volunteers) and generate afterschool models local and national support 3 DRIVING CHANGE IN THE AFTERSCHOOL SECTOR students’ academic gains were less than Citizen Schools had anticipated. Schwarz responded by By helping to build a national afterschool movement, Citizen Schools would make its own work more scalable and sustainable. An effective movement would have four elements: convening a group of advisors from the foun- dation, New Profit, Policy Studies Associates, • Models. Program models and curricula that are high quality and scalable, Bridgespan, and Public/Private Ventures to zero in and that address the common challenges of the field on what was working and what was not, fine-tune • Mindshare. Inspirational stories, evidence of program success, and a specific call to the theory of change, and revise the evaluation action that moves public opinion and increases belief plan. Schwarz and his team also took immediate steps to sharpen up the staff training course, opti- • Money. Public and private funding to grow and sustain the field and to incentivize mize the student schedule and curriculum, and better programs pilot a new tutoring program and other academic • Talent. Talented individuals entering and staying in the field and talented supports, changes that paid off in improved “built to last” organizations to lead change in-school performance for participating students Source: Citizen Schools 2003-07 Business Plan, March 2003. and other important measures. Encouraged by these accomplishments and by Schwarz’s vision, candor, and willingness to For Citizen Schools, the early years of their grapple with difficult issues, the foundation made partnership with the foundation were challeng- a second major investment in Citizen Schools in ing but exhilarating. Schwarz remembers the September 2003, this time for $5 million over four evaluation as a particularly demanding aspect of years to enable it to continue to execute its busi- the work, as he and his team learned to collabo- ness plan. Schwarz and his team would use the rate with researchers and funders and respond to resources to dig more deeply into building their findings, both positive and negative. The research human resources, finance, and other national confirmed, for example, that Citizen Schools systems. They also planned to redouble their was fulfilling its mission to reach at-risk young focus on proving impact and achieving scale in people and was having real impact in areas such Boston, goals that would require them to do even as participants’ writing skills and acceptance at more to ensure the quality of the services they preferred high schools, volunteer satisfaction, and provided. And they would step up their efforts parent and teacher ratings. Yet it also revealed that to lead what they hoped would become a major INSIGHT Investing in helping a grantee strengthen its evidence base, learn from formal evaluation, and use data continuously to improve its program can pay great dividends. Those capacities were useful to Citizen Schools right away for refining its model and making the case for expansion. Later on, they helped the organization attract new funders and compete successfully for government grants and contracts. 4 CITIZEN SCHOOLS AND THE EDNA M C CONNELL CLARK FOUNDATION 2000–2014 Citizen Schools develops strategic growth plan Launches comparison Successfully pilots