There has been a growing interest in issues pertaining to how a young person chooses to participate (or not) in youth programs, both school based (for example, sports, drama, yearbook) and community based (for example, Boys and Girls Clubs, Scouts, 4-H, sports, faith-based programs). Scholars, youth workers, policymakers, national organizations,…

After-school programs offer a superb venue to teach twenty-first century skills. The programs enable students to explore new fields, use new technology, meet real-world challenges, and develop mastery. They create a new civic space in which young people can forge positive relationships with adults, learn the joys of productive work, and be…

Few communities have developed successful strategies for attracting large numbers of older youth to their out-of-school-time programs. Older youth are a challenging population to serve programmatically for several reasons: (1) Demanding schedules mean that young people's participation on a regular basis can be challenging; (2) Teens are not…

The late 1980s saw the emergence of a new genre of instructional media, "edutainment", which utilized the capabilities of multimedia personal computers to animate software designed to both educate and entertain young children. This paper describes the production of, marketing of and play with edutainment software as a contemporary example of…

School and community agency collaboration can potentially increase physical activity opportunities for youth. Few studies have examined the role of community agencies in promoting physical activity, much less in collaboration with schools. This article describes formative research data collection from community agencies to inform the development…

Low attendance in out-of-school time programs is the norm for many middle and high school participants. Using a database of more than 60 recent evaluations of out-of-school time programs, the authors examine reasons youth give for staying and leaving programs. They outline a proposed set of promising strategies for both attracting and sustaining…

Research shows that after-school programs with structured literacy components can contribute positively to children's success in school, improvement in their reading and also in general social skills, and that successful programs involve partnerships with the community and continually expanding outreach to parents and caregivers. This program…

This article grew out of a participatory research project conducted with support of the Robert Bowne Foundation from January 2003 through January 2004. Six young people who had been participants in Forest Hills Community House (FHCH) programs for eight years or longer agreed to be interviewed in depth about experiences that had affected their…

Recent trends have resulted in schools implementing an extensive range of preventive and corrective activity oriented to students' needs and problems. Some programs are provided through a school district, others are carried out at, or linked to, targeted schools. Some are owned and operated by schools; some are owned by community agencies. Few…

"The Achiever" is a monthly newsletter designed expressly for parents and community leaders. Each issue contains news and information about school improvement in the United States. Highlights of this issue include: (1) Fifth Anniversary for "No Child Left Behind"; (2) Empowering Parents: Response Soars for Supplemental…

In 2001, in partnership with the Waterloo, Iowa school system, the R.J. McElroy Trust, Janice Freeburg-Cannon, Tri-County Head Start, Allen Health System, the University of Northern Iowa and the Regents' Center for Early Developmental Education created a special model for early childhood education that would eventually become The Freeburg School.…

This paper describes the development and implementation of an after school program designed to introduce the Spanish language to children between the ages of 5 and 9. The program consists of 8 to 10 weekly units, each lasting 50 minutes, that provide students with basic vocabulary and grammar in an interesting and motivating format. Each unit…

This document presents national data on: (1) children, families, and working parents; (2) the importance of child care; (3) the current status of child care; and (4) funding for child care. Specifically, the report includes figures on: (1) parents in the labor force and children with parents in the labor force; (2) the familial, economic, social,…

This document is the self-study portion of the Standards and Procedures for Voluntary Accreditation of School Age Child Care Programs in Missouri. The self-study, an opportunity for programs to demonstrate their ability to meet certain standards, consists of quality indicators under 6 major headings: (1) provide a healthy and safe environment (43…

Out-of-school time (OST) programs are being developed to provide safe places and constructive after school activities for children and youth from families in which a single parent or both parents work and neither parent would be home after school. This manual is intended to help program directors, child care providers, service members, school…