The Oklahoma Partnership for Expanded Learning is a collaboration of agencies and organizations throughout Oklahoma which helps build and expand school-based programs to enhance learning opportunities for students, and provides technical assistance to new and established programs. OPEL is the C.S. Mott Foundation Statewide Afterschool Network for Oklahoma.
The Partnership envisions a state where all Oklahoma families have access to nurturing, engaging, empowering and purposeful, expanded learning opportunities of excellence. Expanded learning programs offer an opportunity to engage youth in activities and experiences outside of the classroom curriculum that help them learn, grow, and prepare for the future. The Partnership strives to raise awareness, build capacity, sustainability, and promote the importance of expanded learning programs.
Along with the Oklahoma Public School Resource Center (OPSRC) seven partners lead the Oklahoma Partnership for Expanded Learning efforts:
- Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
- Oklahoma State Department of Education
- Oklahoma Educated Workforce Initiative
- Community Service Council
- Impact Tulsa
- Tulsa Stem Alliance
- Oklahoma AmeriCorps
National Affiliations
National Network of Statewide Afterschool Networks
As the Statewide Afterschool Network, OPEL is a part of the
National Network of Statewide Afterschool Networks, which brings together established statewide afterschool networks in their collective mission to build partnerships and policies that are committed to the development and sustainability of quality afterschool programs. These partnerships – funded through the support of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation – are focused on actively engaging key decision makers in support of school-based/school-linked afterschool programs, particularly in underserved communities. Currently 50 statewide afterschool networks are funded to coordinate and influence the systems that support the success of children and young people.
The National Network is centered around three goals:
Goal 1: Create a sustainable structure of statewide, regional and local partnerships, particularly school-community partnerships, focused on supporting policy development at all levels.
Goal 2: Support the development and growth of statewide policies that will secure the resources that are needed to sustain new and existing afterschool programs.
Goal 3: Support statewide systems to ensure programs are of high quality.
National AfterSchool Association
OPEL is the state affiliate to the
National AfterSchool Association, the membership association for professionals who work with children and youth in diverse school and community-based settings to provide a wide variety of extended learning opportunities and care during out-of-school hours. Join the OPEL network and become an Ambassador Member of NAA.
The mission of the National AfterSchool Association is to foster development, provide education, and encourage advocacy for the out-of-school-time community. NAA is working to assure that the vision of high-quality learning experiences for all children and youth, both in and out of school, becomes a reality through the application of the NAA core competencies in afterschool programs. Currently, the NAA has released a series of briefs around quality, from Why Quality Matters to Promoting Professionalism.
