The Coalition for Science After School Concludes Operations

The Coalition for Science After School concludes operations today, June 30th, 2014. The decision to sunset CSAS reflects the tremendous growth of programming and attention to STEM in out-of-school time opportunities on a national level. CSAS leadership is deeply grateful to the funders, partners, supporters, and constituents that worked together to advance the STEM in out-of-school time movement during our decade of operations and that make up today’s rich STEM in out-of-school time landscape. As this work continues to expand and deepen, the many organizations that have emerged as leaders will continue to lead the critical work that remains to be done.

CSAS history and resources (reports, white papers, conference proceedings, etc.) have been archived as a project on informalscience.org, along with a record of CSAS contributors and leadership. You can access the CSAS archive on informalscience.org here.

After today this blog and our Facebook and Twitter accounts will become inactive, but will be archived such that the information they contain can still be accessed by those interested in the work of CSAS.

The National After School Science Directory (Connectory) will continue to be available after the CSAS sunset of operations. The Directory is in the process of transitioning to a new host organization--Directory members will not experience any disruption during this transition process. Users will continue to be able to update their organization's opportunities via the CSAS website, new organizations will be able to join the database, and parents will still be able to search the system through the Connectory portal.

We at CSAS have greatly appreciated the opportunity to work with many people and organizations over the last decade in building the STEM in out-of-school time movement. We are excited about the great momentum around STEM in out-of-school time, and look forward to the good work ahead!

Report and Call to Action from 2014 CSAS Summit Now Available!

From March 26-28, 2014, the Coalition for Science After School hosted our final summit, Passing the Torch: Advancing Opportunity for Quality Science Learning. The Summit was intended to: (1) celebrate a decade of progress in strengthening and expanding STEM learning opportunities in out-of-school time; (2) call attention to critical issues in ensuring that all young people have opportunities for quality STEM experiences in their local communities; and (3) stimulate ideas, strategies, partnerships and commitments to continue to increase opportunities for quality STEM experiences across settings. The report of the summit proceedings, A Call to Action from the 2014 Coalition for Science After School Summit, focuses on 11 areas to continue to advance the STEM in out-of-school time field after CSAS sunsets its operations on June 30, 2014. The report is available for download here, via informalscience.org!