Home > 3. Enrichment and Extracurricular Engagement
3. Enrichment and Extracurricular Engagement
Ensure equitable exposure to a wide range of extracurricular and enrichment opportunities that build leadership, nurture talents and interests, and increase engagement with school.
Working Systemwide
- Students
- School
- District
- Parents/Families
- Community
- Help students develop portfolios
that include work samples, audition recordings and artwork to enhance their college and career applications.
- Teach students how to be more competitive for college and career
by including enrichment and extracurricular engagement as well as leadership roles into résumés, essays, portfolios, and college and career application forms.
- Advise students on researching college, career and technical schools
aligned to their interest inventories and selected majors as well as clubs, teams and interest groups that connect to their talents and abilities.
- Develop policies and procedures for distribution of scholarship applications
so all students receive materials that match their interests, talents, abilities, activity engagement, and educational and career goals.
- Collaborate with your school leadership team to conduct a school and community audit
of enrichment and extracurricular activities. Ensure that all activities provide all students with participation and leadership options.
- Collaborate with administrators and teachers to incorporate support for enrichment and extracurricular engagement into academics.
For example, make connections to class projects and assignments and notify students of upcoming events (cultural, historical, political, theatrical, musical). Emphasize their value in supporting academic skills.
- Collaborate with middle school counselors to share information
about auditions, tryouts, sign-ups and early enrollment into extracurricular and enrichment activities before students enter high school.
- Create outreach efforts to ensure that parents and families are aware of their role
in supporting their children’s participation in enrichment and extracurricular activities (see student interventions).
- Teach parents and families how
to create and use academic and activity calendars as time-management tools for planning and scheduling.
- Invite parents and families, college students and professionals to lead
(coach or mentor), support, or sponsor student-enrichment activities.
- Identify community organizations to facilitate on-site school-based enrichment
and extracurricular activities and offer additional venues for student meetings, practices and assemblies.
- Collaborate with community organizations to support cultural and ethnic-focused service learning opportunities
tied to students’ interests, talents and abilities.
- Invite community organizations to implement consistent messaging to students,
parents and families to develop and distribute flyers and newsletters (biweekly or monthly) showcasing activities for student and family engagement.
Data Elements
- Participation in enrichment activities (e.g., academic support, summer bridge programs,TRIO and STEM initiatives)
- Discipline
- Participation in extracurricular activities (e.g., organizations, teams, camps, clubs and scouts)
- Students in leadership positions in enrichment and/or extracurricular programs
Featured Reading
Organized Activities As Contexts of Development: Extracurricular Activities, After School and Community Programs edited by Joseph Mahoney, Reed W. Larson and Jacquelynne S. Eccles
Purchase from Amazon View Bookshelf