The benefit of participating in Out-of-School Time (OST) arts programs has been widely documented in studies that often reflect impact over short timeframes. Youth arts organisations often bear extraordinary claims about the impact of programs, and the value they hold especially in the lives of those who face difficult social circumstances. This…

Using a statewide sample of participants in 4-H programs, we tested associations among youth sparks, program quality, program dosage, and four types of involvement (breadth of participation in out-of-school-time beyond 4-H, scope of learning strategies, degree of specialization, and cumulative program immersion). Participants were 180 Texas 4-H…

Out-of-school-time (OST) programs and their funders rely on sound data to make decisions about everything from professional development and student recruitment to the selection of activities to offer students. Programs operate at a range of times (before and after school, weekends, summer) and in a variety of locations (e.g., schools,…

Young people need digital competency and confidence to effectively harness computing power to solve problems and design solutions; a core component is improving young people's computational thinking. Unfortunately, access to computer science education is lacking for all youth, and in particular for youth who live in lower-income households, who…

This study explores the "Youth Leadership Experience" (YLE), (pseudonym) an afterschool experiential learning and leadership program for 9th and 10th-grade high school students from the midlands area of Columbia, SC. The study aims to identify and document the experiential learning and leadership practices at "Youth Leadership…

The future of the nation, and the future of world civilization, will soon rest in the hands of today's youth (Kleon & Rinhart, 1998). Youth organizations such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and 4-H provide lifelong leadership and life skills that youth of all ages will continue to use throughout their life. Leadership and positive youth…

Programs that seek to engage participants in arts-based programming may be drawn to creative youth development (CYD), a youth-focused, holistic approach to learning through creative expression. As the Creative Youth Development National Partnership (2018) defines it, "'Creative youth development' is a recent term for a longstanding theory of…

Sprockets collaborated with Wilder Research to conduct Journey Mapping sessions with its network partner organizations to learn more about the experiences they have had with Sprockets and to hear from them about future hopes for Sprockets. Information gathered is intended to inform Sprockets' continuous improvement efforts in providing effective…

The Promise Fellow Program is an intervention designed to prevent dropout amongst students in grades 6-12 in Minnesota that show early warning signs of school disengagement. The program is led by interventionists known as Promise Fellows and provides three research-based supports that align with the National Dropout Prevention Center's "Basic…

This article is situated within the intersection of education for social transformation (EST) and ecojustice education (EJE). We have described the benefits of youth participation in an after-school science program offered to socio-economically vulnerable populations in São Paulo (Brazil). More specifically, we explored participants' changing…

Little work examines the nexus of student homelessness and afterschool provision. This critical ethnographic case study of organizational culture draws from observation, documents, and interviews with youth experiencing homelessness, staff, and volunteers at a community-based afterschool center for youth experiencing homelessness. It explores how…

In recent years, a substantial surge has occurred in the number of initiatives, events and organizations focused on using sport as a tool for development, peacebuilding and humanitarian efforts. This has created a growing need for educated leaders in the sport-based youth development field as the job market in this field continues to expand. The…

This qualitative study examines how youth of Color with and without disabilities used youth participatory action research (YPAR) to advance a youth-centered conceptualization of inclusive education (IE). We examined data over the course of an academic year, which included weekly video recordings of whole-group and small-group interactions in the…

This research sought to uncover challenges that arose in the implementation of the Reflective Educational Approach to Character and Health (REACH) after-school programme in a low-income public school in New York City. Additionally, we wanted to find and share some of the lessons learned, to help others avoid our pitfalls when implementing quality…

As part of an ongoing, multi-million dollar Wallace Foundation initiative to improve and expand arts learning opportunities for young people, the Wallace Foundation, in partnership with the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), developed the Youth Arts Initiative (YAI) to deliver otherwise inaccessible high-quality arts programs to low-income…