Currently at least 5 million children--some estimates are as high as 15 million--are left unsupervised before or after school for 3 or more hours a day. In response to the problems of these latchkey children, many public schools are now developing some form of school-based or school-related before- and after-school child care programs. The purpose of this fastback is to examine: (1) organizational criteria and structures of school-age child care programs; and (2) key issues that school personnel must address in order to develop an effective child care program affiliated with or administered by a public school. Following an introduction, the fastback's contents cover: (1) the effective child care program; (2) regulations and licensing; (3) types of child care programs (programs by age of children served, programs by type of sponsorship); (4) a typical school-age child care program (mission statement/major goals, program size and scope, calendar and hours of operation, staffing, staff qualifications and training, communication and public relations issues, curriculum and activities, financial matters); (5) miscellaneous issues (e.g., special needs, summer programs); and (6) resources. (Contains 13 resources.) (EV)