Project Stretch was developed by the Stanton/Heiskell Telecommunications Policy Center, at the CUNY Graduate Center. Founded in 1988, the mission of the Stanton/Heiskell Center is to study the educational, social and economic impact of telecommunications technologies on society, and to examine its potential as a tool for teaching and learning. Successful strategies have been developed to stimulate learning among underserved students through two major studies, Project TELL, Telecommunications for Learning, a seven-year longitudinal study (1990-98) and currently through Project Stretch.

Project Stretch, an after-school educational program created in 1999, explores how technology and the digitization of knowledge can motivate underserved middle school students to improve their literacy, critical thinking, and communication skills to compete successfully in the information age. The model draws on work at the Center over the past fifteen years with urban teens and telecommunications technology. Stretch was created to clarify and assess how technology can help children learn and benefit educationally as well as socially through the use of computers. Our purpose is to provide a research-tested, after school educational program that other communities can adapt and enrich.

Project Stretch is a public/private partnership that mobilizes the home, the neighborhood, the school, the university, non-profit, and business community on behalf of the student. Through these partnerships, Stretch provides a variety of services which involve highly trained staff and teachers, and a curriculum grounded in the lives and needs of students. Educational resources include an interactive project website (stretch.gc.cuny.edu), guidebooks that serve as a “hands on” compendium to the web site, access to computers in the home, and the support to help promote dialogue and on-going communication among parents, schools, community organizations and students.

The Stretch curriculum includes structured and unstructured learning activities supported by an ongoing program of staff development. Acquiring literacy and social skills is achieved through group projects, in which students create websites that reflect their concerns and needs as young people.

The assessment of the program is proving that Project Stretch increases academic outcomes. Acquired skills range from basic word processing and Internet proficiencies, to higher level critical thinking skills in which reading and writing via the computer are the primary focus. In addition, students are expected to become more independent in their learning, to increase their use of the computer in the home and school and to have a greater interest in learning.

Currently the dissemination of Project Stretch's educational model is a primary objective given the national concern that a significant number of American school children are reading and writing at or below their grade level. The innovative nature of Project Stretch's web-based curriculum can be readily adapted around the country. Participating after-school programs will be provided with staff development, a curriculum of student learning activities, access to the Stretch website, guidebooks that describe the program and present a “how to” guide for teachers, resource staff, and outreach to parents, the school system and the university. Most importantly, we anticipate that this project will help shape a network of stakeholders' parents, students, classroom teachers and staff from community-based organizations, university faculty and students' who use the power of computers and networking technologies, coupled with intensive support from caring adults, to scaffold better outcomes for all students.