The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify training gaps for Teacher Aides within an after-school prevention program in north central Florida. The program focuses on prevention of high-risk behavior in at-risk youth and is further restricted by socioeconomic, geographical, and parental support factors. Virtual interviews and…

This dissertation explores how afterschool programming shaped New York City children's experiences from the 1930s-1960s. Centering the many organizations that planned activities for children, I explore the beliefs and institutional dynamics that determined what the work of afterschool involved. With purposes spanning education, recreation,…

In total, the American Rescue Plan (ARP) provided $122 billion in federal pandemic relief for schools and their efforts to address students' learning recovery. A lifeline for schools, this funding has allowed for critical investments, including the expansion of afterschool and summer learning opportunities. Given the opportunity ARP Elementary and…

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is the Nation's second-largest food and nutrition assistance program, providing billions of meals to tens of millions of children and adolescents each year. USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) periodically reports on NSLP policies and program operations, often after major changes to the program's rules…

This report presents findings from the annual evaluation of the MacPhail After School Strings Program at Ascension Catholic School in Minneapolis. It includes satisfaction and outcome data for the 2023-24 school year.

It is important that teens are exposed to STEM education both through formal and informal learning opportunities. STEM cafés are an instance of the latter. Within an informal setting, teen science cafés can significantly enhance teens' view of the importance of science in their lives, positively influencing teens' understanding of science in the…

Writing conferences are one-on-one feedback sessions that enable teachers and students to engage in constructive interactions to improve students' writing. While interacting individually, a teacher can use various feedback strategies to improve the quality of a student's writing. This study examined how a secondary English teacher elicited…

This project report describes a community-engaged, extra-institutional, out-of-school Wikipedia editing project focused on the digital literacies of Black girls. The project was located in a systemically under-resourced neighbourhood of Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Given the under representation of Black women editing Wikipedia, and continued concerns…

Researchers were invited to investigate the effectiveness of bibliotherapeutic electronic books, or ebooks, social and emotional learning (SEL) digital platform in afterschool sites in a large school district situated in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. This study was not particular to the platform's efficacy; instead, we sought to…

Research on making connections to texts has largely explored how making text connections supports reading comprehension. However, less attention has been paid to how readers make text connections through talk and in interaction during text-based discussions. In this study, I explore how text connections were co-constructed between students and…

The aim of this study was to explore how counselors of a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) focused out-of-school time (OST) program understood ways to support students' social-emotional learning (SEL) and STEM identity development, as well as the impact on counselors' awareness of their own SEL and STEM identity. To do this,…

This article explores the emergent trend of global educational policy which focuses on educational values such as well-being and holistic skills. It makes connections between the emergent trend of "education-as-flourishing" and current developments of extended education, using a specific case for illustration, i.e. school-age educare in…

This review focuses on a subset of literature on the arts and arts education that explores how learning is conceptualized and enacted in the context of out-of-school time (OST) arts education environments that primarily engage Black, Indigenous, and young People of Color in the United States. The review is grounded in principles of critical…

Background: Physical literacy-focused afterschool activity programs (ASAPs) can be an effective strategy to improve children's health-related parameters. We sought to compare physical activity, body composition, aerobic capacity, and fundamental movement skills between physical literacy-focused ASAP and a standard recreational ASAP. Method: A…

This study investigated the experiences of rural, underserved middle school students in afterschool clubs. Culturally relevant climate change education strategies were used to enhance students' climate change literacy. We investigated changes in students' climate change literacy, perceptions of strategies used, and what they valued about the clubs…