Challenge the Gap (CtG) is a school collaboration programme designed by Challenge Partners that aims to break the link between disadvantage and attainment. The main components of CtG are: (1) after-school workshops drawing on published research and evidenced practice; (2) focused in-school interventions with a selected cohort of disadvantaged…

The Roadmap of Need is an in-depth needs assessment for North Carolina youth, produced annually by the Public School Forum of North Carolina's Center for Afterschool Programs (NC CAP). This publication examines 20 indicators of wellness in counties across North Carolina. These indicators contain relevant annual data demonstrating need across North…

The proliferation of new technologies has changed the way we live, learn, and work. The vision of the future includes a new machine age, where various technologies (sensors, communication, computation, and intelligence) will be embedded around, on, and in us; where humans will shape technology and technology will shape human interaction; and where…

This manuscript, written with the educator in mind, describes the Youth Historians in Harlem (YHH) program, a twenty-week after-school history program that engaged urban students in history by immersing them in aspects of the historical process. Throughout the program, a group of Black male high school students were apprenticed as historical…

The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with Dollar General Literacy Foundation, is proud to present this issue brief examining the vital role afterschool programs play in building students' literacy skills. This issue brief will focus on the year-round support needed to help students with their reading, writing and critical thinking skills. This…

Recent years have seen a growing interest in intelligent game-based learning environments featuring virtual agents. A key challenge posed by incorporating virtual agents in game-based learning environments is dynamically determining the dialogue moves they should make in order to best support students' problem solving. This paper presents a…

Over the past 5 years, through the initiative of several county Extension agents, South Carolina 4-H has established a successful model for bringing Hispanic youth into our program. We have found the most effective method is to initiate contact and establish partnerships with the principals and ESOL instructors in the local schools. Through this…

Few programs exist for after school care designed to support children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Not only do parents often depend on after school care, but also children with ASD are likely to benefit from opportunities to generalize skills in an authentic setting and interact with typically developing peers. This lack of support occurs…

Dawn Walsh, who has worked with the after-school program at The Foote School (Connecticut) for over 20 years, has seen firsthand how dramatically childcare needs have changed. The Foote School is not the only independent school trying to determine how best to help meet families' complex childcare needs. According to a 2009 Bureau of Labor…

This study examines the effectiveness of minimally trained tutors providing a highly structured tutoring intervention for struggling readers. We screened students in Grades K-6 for participation in an after-school tutoring program. We randomly assigned those students not meeting the benchmark on a reading screening measure to either a tutoring…

October 6, 2012: 109 adults simultaneously threw their heads back and shouted "I discovered!" at the top of their lungs. Slightly mangled bright-green paper helicopters littered the floor. The class was six minutes into a daylong journey of discovery, during which this group of volunteer trainers would learn to facilitate a curriculum…

This chapter concerns a year-long, United States federally-funded evaluation of Educate Online, an online, at home, 1:1 tutoring program aimed at improving reading performance for middle school students who are below grade level. Participating students receive after-school instruction from teachers in real-time over Voice over Internet Protocol…

Call it physical activity, call it games, or call it play. Whatever its name, it's a place we all need to return to. In the physical education, recreation, and dance professions, we need to redesign programs to address the need for and want of play that is inherent in all of us.

This article focuses on how 4-H youth participants are building social capital, or connections among individuals and community members, through their 4-H experiences. These experiences can be seen through the lens of such 4-H delivery modes as the traditional 4-H club, after-school programs, and school enrichment programs. In addition, other…

There are more than 28 million children in the United States who have parents that work outside of the home with more than one-fourth of these children going home without supervision (U.S. Department of Justice, 1998). Children are left alone and this often places them in unsafe situations. For many children, this societal change might be the…