Book Description

In Supplementary Education, the editors argue that while access to schools that enable and expect academic achievement is a necessary ingredient for the education of students, schools alone may not be sufficient to ensure universally high levels of academic development. Supplemental educational experiences may also be needed. The idea of supplementary education is based on the assumption that high academic achievement is closely associated with exposure to family and community-based activities and learning experiences that occur both in and out of school in support of academic learning. For low income and some ethnic minority student groups, opportunities to participate in such activities are generally under-resourced and underutilized in comparison to the access to and participation in such activities by many European- and Asian- Americans from mid to high socio-economic backgrounds. This book makes the case for supplementary education. Specifically, it focuses on the need for universal access to high levels of academic achievement, and the challenge of reducing the 'achievement gap' that exists between Asian American and European American students and their African American, Latina/o, and Native American counterparts. Having posed the problem, the editors define the construct and provide in-depth descriptions of some of the more colloquial expressions of supplementation in after school care, youth development, and other forms of supplemental education. The editors close with a discussion of the emerging institutionalization and need for more thoughtful and rigorous research of the supplementary education movement.