Educational leaders have often been ineffective in managing change in their environment. Change vectors were used in the current study to identify areas of needed change, along with a metacognitive approach to organizational change. A qualitative case study was employed to explore the use of such a metacognitive approach to change by a small rural…

This study addressed key questions about LA's BEST afterschool students' self-efficacy, collaboration, and communication skills. We compared student perceptions of their own 21st century skills to external outcome measures including the California Standardized Test (CST), attendance, and teacher ratings. We found a substantial relationship…

Children and youth are growing up in an increasingly technology-saturated world. Digital devices, the Internet, and interactive media have become ubiquitous. As a result, young people are not only becoming expert users of technological devices, but technology and technologically-based learning environments are extending student learning beyond the…

Objective: To determine if after-school nutrition workshops conducted in public libraries were related to lasting changes in food choice. Methods: "Snack Smart" workshops, based on Social Cognitive Theory, were conducted in 8 branch libraries (49 ethnically diverse children, ages 9 to 14) to assess changes in consumption of targeted food items by…

This paper compares the status of young naturalist after-school programs in three post-Soviet republics: Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. In the past, the region's environmental teachers, leaders and activists have emerged from such youth programs. Thus, the health of these programs is a leading indicator for the long-term viability of broader…

Research suggests that the quality of out-of-school time (OST) programs is related to positive youth outcomes and skilled staff are a critical component of high quality programming. This descriptive case study of competency frameworks for youth workers in the OST field demonstrates how experts and practitioners characterize a skilled youth worker.…

Many low-income children do not have the opportunity to develop the computer skills necessary to succeed in our technological economy. Their only access to computers and the Internet--school, afterschool programs, and community organizations--is woefully inadequate. Educators must work to close this knowledge gap and to ensure that low-income…

Public libraries are redefining their roles in order to stay relevant to the needs of the communities they serve. Today, libraries are places where reading meets hands-on learning and where quietness coexists with voices and music. The latest advances in technology for children and teens, specifically, robotics sets and media-rich software, are…

In the last issue of the Journal (volume 75, number 4), we read about our esteemed colleague Israel Scheffler's love affair with Hebrew. In this issue, we continue the conversation about Hebrew as part of a series of articles by distinguished senior colleagues who bring the wisdom earned by a lifelong career in Jewish education. Many of us share…

The need to play is primeval in human beings, at least as strong as the urge to fight. While the larger gaming community has traditionally focused on the fairly lucrative potential of exploiting the urge to fight in the form of violent and destructive war games, the "Serious Games" segment has become aware of the power of applying this…

Few after-school programs target alcohol and other drug (AOD) use because it is difficult to encourage a diverse group of youth to voluntarily attend. The current study describes CHOICE, a voluntary after-school program which targeted AOD use among middle school students. Over 4,000 students across eight schools completed surveys and 15%…

This article explores the types of audience engagement strategies used by a Japanese secondary school student in an after school course preparing for a high-stakes impromptu academic writing task on a university entrance exam. The study uses appraisal theory--the branch of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) concerned with the patterning of…

After-school programs receive federal support through the 21st Century Community Learning Centers. A primary purpose of the program is to provide opportunities for academic enrichment to help students meet state and local standards in core content areas. This brief presents findings for the first of two years of program operations (school year…

To understand the effects of after-school programs, people need to understand the effects of various "dosages." The Harvard Family Research Project, an agency that devotes considerable resources to the study of after-school programs, recommends three categories for measuring dosage: (1) "intensity"; (2) "duration"; and (3) "breadth." Intensity is…

The experiment reported here tested impacts of New Hope, an employment-based poverty intervention for adults on developmental patterns of children's participation in structured out-of-school activities, using a cross-sequential design spanning ages 6 through 19. New Hope increased participation in activities (lessons, sports, religious, clubs,…