Expanded Learning Time and Opportunities

Expanding the learning day is gaining national momentum as animportant school-improvement and whole-child development strategy.This issue focuses on school-community partnerships that provide aseamless, longer learning day that best meets the academic(Expanded Learning Time or ELT) and developmental (ExpandedLearning Opportunities or ELO) needs of high-poverty students inresource-poor communities.First it draws attention to the importance of ELOs and offerscontours of the ELT-ELO partnerships through research evidence andpolicy analysis. It then covers both in practice and features aspectrum of ELT-ELO partnerships, from less to more integratedmodels. The issue pays close attention to:* The central role ELOs play in ELT schools* The changing safeguards for community-based organizations* Ways in which current education policy is shaping the approachof schools and community partners to learning and development.This is the 131st volume of New Directions for YouthDevelopment, the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series dedicatedto bringing together everyone concerned with helping young people,including scholars, practitioners, and people from differentdisciplines and professions.