Keeping Students Engaged in Out-of-School Time

How Invention Education and Out-of-School Time Programs Help Students Succeed

On July 14, 2022, in conjunction with five coordinating partners and more than 20 national organizations, the U.S. Department of Education launched the Engage Every Student Initiative: a bold call to action for our nation’s schools to use their ESSER funding resources on high-quality out-of-school time (OST) learning to address the achievement and engagement gaps caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With over 30 years of experience developing OST invention education curricula and witnessing firsthand its ability to inspire and engage children, NIHF supports the Department of Education’s call to action – especially those that embrace open-ended exploration.

This paper summarizes some of the major details in the Engage Every Student Initiative and dissects some of the different categories of OST programs to help educators make a more informed decision when it comes to spending their ESSER funds.

Highlights of this paper include:

• A high-level explanation of some of the key recommendations within the Engage Every Student Initiative
• A dissection of the different OST program types that includes their characteristics and implementation details
• An explanation of how invention education can solve many of needs educators are looking for when it comes to selecting a high-quality OST program