Recent evaluations and research syntheses of afterschool programs rated as high quality show they are associated with increases in student achievement and other positive socio-behavioral outcomes (Lauer et al., 2006; Vandell, Reisner, & Pierce, 2007). Those examinations provide a springboard for the next much-needed area of…

"After School: Connecting Children at Risk With Responsible Adults to Help Reduce Youth Substance Abuse and Other Health-Compromising Behaviors (After School)" helped develop intermediary organizations in Boston, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area in order to create citywide systems of after-school programs. The…

Organized afterschool programs have received increased attention over the past two decades because of changes in family demographics and in society's structures for supervising and socializing youth. The number of afterschool programs has been rapidly expanding to meet the increased need. However, not all youth in need are being reached, and the…

Community Network for Youth Development (CNYD) has served the San Francisco Bay Area for the past twelve years as a youth development intermediary organization offering support, training, and capacity building resources to youth-serving organizations and programs. This report discusses CNYD's capacity-building approach. CNYD has developed a…

This report synthesizes the last 10 years of findings from P/PV's and other researchers' work to address one of the most demanding challenges facing today's after-school programs--how to create and manage programs that stand the best chance of producing specific, policy-relevant outcomes. It examines recruitment strategies that attract young…

A loosely connected set of providers, clients, sponsors, and intermediaries make up the local markets referred to as the out-of-school-time (OST) field. This field and the actors in it have been evolving in response to shifts in the economy, the growing demand for services associated with increased numbers of working mothers in the labor force,…

This fact sheet presents a case for public funding of after-school programs for children and youth. The fact sheet begins by describing the risks to which children and youth are exposed and the variety of ways in which children and youth spend time after school. The benefits of participating in after-school programming for children and youth…

Various types of after-school child care programs are discussed, and characteristics of high-quality programs, such as staff requirements, parental involvement, and space needs are identified. Suggestions for administering and financing these programs are included. (PP)

Under the No Child Left Behind Act, districts that have failed to demonstrate adequate yearly progress for two years in a row must pay for low-income students' private-sector tutoring. As No Child Left Behind enters its fifth year, a report by the Washington, DC, nonprofit Center on Education Policy found that of about 300 districts surveyed, 10…

Experiences that are deeply engaging and enjoyable, engender full concentration, and present a balance between challenge and skill propel or push development forward. For the past twenty years, researchers have sought to locate environments in which this combination of effort, skill, interest, and enjoyment is more likely. This article describes a…

The purpose of this study was to develop the Scale for Program Facilitators (SPF) to assess the effectiveness of after school achievement programs through four steps: (a) identification of a theoretical framework, (b) formulation of the initial scale, (c) test of content validity, and (d) conducting confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). A…

This publication is part of a series of tools and resources on financing and sustaining youth programming. These tools and resources are intended to help policymakers, program developers, and community leaders develop innovative strategies for implementing, financing, and sustaining effective programs and policies. This strategy brief presents a…

This report presents results from a multisite, quantitative evaluation of the international Spirituality for Kids (SFK) after-school program. Despite its name, SFK is a nonreligious program that seeks to build resilience in children by teaching them to access inner resources and build positive connections with others. The SFK program is unlike…

A study examined specific reading competencies after participating in Hmong literacy instruction in an after-school setting in the Thermalito, California School District, grades kindergarten through 4. Control and treatment groups were established to compare the English literacy skills of the Hmong students who participated in 40 hours of primary…

This report provides information about the use of extended time strategies by local Chapter 1 programs and offers practical guidance for district and school staff who are considering adoption of the strategies. The report focuses on five basic strategies for extending instructional time for Chapter 1 students: (1) extended day kindergarten; (2)…