Expanded Learning Collective Launches Survey to Understand Needs Beyond the Classroom and the Home

This sum­mer, Expand­ed Learn­ing Col­lec­tive will con­duct the first com­pre­hen­sive needs assess­ment of its kind in Teton Coun­ty, Wyoming, cen­tered on youth expe­ri­ences out­side of school and beyond the home. Devel­oped col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly by mem­bers of the Col­lec­tive, the sur­vey is con­fi­den­tial and anony­mous. This sur­vey seeks to under­stand what fam­i­lies val­ue for chil­dren dur­ing out-of-school time or when they are not in the home and iden­ti­fy ways to improve access to enrich­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties for youth and work­ing fam­i­lies alike. 

“Expand­ed Learn­ing Col­lec­tive is a high­ly col­lab­o­ra­tive group com­mit­ted to sup­port­ing our community’s needs beyond the class­room and the home, but we lack com­mu­ni­ty-wide data to guide our efforts toward the high­est-impact solu­tions,” said Col­by Mitchell, Back­bone Leader of Expand­ed Learn­ing Collective. ​“This sur­vey asks the com­mu­ni­ty for their per­spec­tives on what’s work­ing, what’s not, and what we can do better.” 

Time out­side of school and beyond the home rep­re­sents an ongo­ing chal­lenge for many fam­i­lies, espe­cial­ly when the school day ends before the work­day and dur­ing the sum­mer months. In Teton Coun­ty, fam­i­lies rely on a wide range of options to sup­port their chil­dren. These include ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion, after­school pro­grams, sum­mer camps, and career devel­op­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties for old­er youth. While offer­ings in Teton Coun­ty are rel­a­tive­ly strong, access can be dif­fi­cult to nav­i­gate and, at times, frus­trat­ing for families. 

This con­fi­den­tial and anony­mous sur­vey will take less than 15 min­utes to com­plete and is avail­able in both Eng­lish and Span­ish. Find­ings will be shared pub­licly and with local orga­ni­za­tions to help inform pro­grams, part­ner­ships, and com­mu­ni­ty-wide ini­tia­tives that expand access to mean­ing­ful devel­op­men­tal oppor­tu­ni­ties for children. 

“It is impor­tant that we hear from all our com­mu­ni­ty. If you’re a par­ent or a care­giv­er, please com­plete the sur­vey and share it with your net­work. If you run a pro­gram or camp, please share it with fam­i­lies. If you’re an employ­er, encour­age your team to par­tic­i­pate. Your input will strength­en our com­mu­ni­ty,” said Mitchell. 

The sur­vey is admin­is­tered by Sanko­fa Con­sult­ing with gen­er­ous sup­port from var­i­ous donors to the Com­mu­ni­ty Foun­da­tion of Jack­son Hole. 

About the Expand­ed Learn­ing Col­lec­tive

For­mer­ly Sys­tems of Edu­ca­tion, Expand­ed Learn­ing Col­lec­tive was formed in 2010 and includes more than 35 local edu­ca­tion and youth ser­vice non­prof­its, gov­ern­ment agen­cies, and com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers. The Back­bone Leader of Expand­ed Learn­ing Col­lec­tive, an employ­ee of the Com­mu­ni­ty Foun­da­tion of Jack­son Hole, pro­vides facil­i­ta­tion, fos­ters con­nec­tiv­i­ty, and builds align­ment to make the group’s vision for expand­ed out-of-school learn­ing for all youth a reality.