Afterschool Program Serving Underrepresented K-3 Students Launching at Hutchinson Elementary School
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, August 23, 2016
ATLANTA – Atlanta Public Schools (APS) announced today its partnership with WINGS for kids, an education nonprofit focused on social and emotional learning, or SEL, as part of APS’ targeted rollout of SEL efforts throughout the district. Starting Aug. 29, WINGS for kids will provide daily educational programming focused on teaching SEL skills, such as relationship building and responsible decision-making, in an afterschool setting to K-3 students at Emma Hutchinson Elementary School.
WINGS for kids will be the only afterschool program in APS focused solely on supporting kids’ social and emotional learning.
“Social and emotional learning is a district-wide initiative that prioritizes the teaching of critical skills our students need to thrive. Through SEL, we are able to explicitly teach our students skills such as managing their emotions, creating positive relationships, and setting goals,” said APS Superintendent Dr. Meria J. Carstarphen. “Our partnership with WINGS’ innovative afterschool program will enhance the critical SEL instruction our students receive during the school day.”
Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, WINGS serves more than 1,400 underrepresented students in schools across three states. With the addition of the Hutchinson Elementary School site, the Atlanta area is now the organization’s largest region. Hutchinson Elementary is also one of the most ethnically diverse schools WINGS serves, and therefore, the site will be led by a bilingual program director to better support the school’s large Latino population.
“WINGS is entering our fifth year of service in Fulton County Schools, and we are thrilled to expand our area of service in metro Atlanta with this new partnership with APS,” said Denise Blake, Atlanta executive director at WINGS for kids. “Our 20-year history of social-emotional skills delivery is a perfect fit for APS’ renewed focus on making SEL a district-wide priority, allowing us to help close the achievement gap among some of the district’s most vulnerable students.”
In addition to its partnership with WINGS, APS’ transformative work in SEL includes the rollout of an SEL strategy to 65 APS campuses serving Pre-K through 12th grade students with an SEL curriculum and other programming components.
About Atlanta Public Schools
Atlanta Public Schools is one of the largest school districts in the state of Georgia, serving approximately 50,000 students across 97 learning sites. The district is organized into nine K-12 clusters, 87 schools that include 16 charter schools and two citywide single-gender academies. For more information, visit www.atlantapublicschools.us
About WIN
GS for kids
WINGS for kids is a nonprofit education program that teaches kids how to behave well, make good decisions and build healthy relationships. The program weaves a comprehensive social and emotional learning curriculum into a fresh and fun afterschool program—specifically targeted toward supporting low-income, minority students. Kids get the life lessons they need to succeed and be happy, and a safe place to call home after the school day ends.
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