The Promise of Building Equitable Ecosystems for Learning

Abstract

Children and youth learn across settings; however, U.S. educational practice and policy frequently equates learning with formal schooling. This perspective overlooks the growth in structured out-of-school learning programs and the opportunities they provide for addressing educational inequities for marginalized students. In this article, we link the literatures on out-of-school time and educator expertise with historical and contemporary understandings of disparities in urban educational contexts to argue for a learning ecosystem approach that addresses racial and economic inequities embedded across settings. Drawing from these literatures, we propose ways to disentangle learning and education from formal schooling to center and promote equity.