Expanded learning opportunities can include hands-on activities such as gardening. (Photo: Alison Yin)

The Annenberg Institute for School Reform has developed a set of indicators to measure the success of expanded learning efforts that aim to improve the academic achievement of low-income students.

The institute said it is creating these indicators to help define and clarify “a broad range of educational conditions and outcomes that are possible in implementing more and better learning time.” The indicators could also help educators improve their practices and provide key stakeholders with a way to measure whether initiatives are effecting positive change, according to the report released this month.

The report, Leveraging Time for School Equity: Indicators to Measure More and Better Learning Time, emphasizes that providing high-quality programs before and after school and during the summer for low-income students is an equity issue. “Educational and social equity are central to the More and Better Learning Time initiative,” the report says. “Minimizing disparities in educational opportunities at both the school and system levels is critical to minimizing disparities in academic achievement between different groups of students and among schools.”

Read the full story on EdSource California.