By Sarah Arnold and Alex Schuh  It’s easy to get wrapped up in the daily logistics of running an afterschool program, with many people, materials and schedules to keep track of. Those details can be so all-encompassing that it is easy to lose sight of the main goal—making sure that all activities we offer have obvious educational value to our students. We should be able to answer YES! to questions like these: Are my students gaining new skills and content with this activity? Does this activity excite my students about learning? If the answer is… “Maybe?” Or “I’m not really… Read more: What Makes 21st Century Programs Shine? Four Insights

A few weeks ago, I was talking with an elementary school principal I know about her students’ recent test scores, which she was not happy with. The school had been paying for an expensive math curriculum and associated math prep materials for years, but her students’ math scores were not good and didn’t seem to be improving, despite adding some computer assisted learning. Her dilemma, she explained, was that her school’s teachers liked the math program and wanted to keep it going, whereas she felt that the students needed a different approach in order to make appreciable growth and get near… Read more: Are we making real change with our academic interventions? How do we know?

Founded in 1997 as FRONTIER 21 Education Solutions by Dr. Alex Schuh, School Frontiers, LLC rebranded in 2019 to emphasize how schools are positioned at the frontier of innovation, learning, and the future. In recent years, School Frontiers has grown to include the brightest minds in research, evaluation, and data analysis, forming a tight-knit team focused on education solutions. We are excited to introduce you to our team and our work at School Frontiers. A Small Team Although School Frontiers has been serving charter schools, students, and educators for just over 25 years, our company has maintained a small, highly-skilled… Read more: Meet the Team