Many young people would benefit from having a mentor, but some out-of-school time programs face the challenge of recruiting mentors to meet the needs of these young people. This brief summarizes steps that programs can use to recruit mentors and recommends resources that can be used in this process. (Contains 38 endnotes.)

This brief represents part 1 in a series on fostering the adoption of evidence-based practices in out-of-school time programs. The lag between discovering effective practices and using them "on the ground" can be unnecessarily long, sometimes taking 15 to 20 years! The purpose of this brief is to provide practitioners with a better understanding…

Marzano (2003) identified 11 factors that positively influence student achievement. Those factors can be divided into three categories: school-level practices, teacher-level practices, and student-level characteristics. Interestingly, Marzano (2000) found that school- and teacher-level influences account for only 20% of the variance in student…

Middle school students' experiences at after-school programs were compared as they participated in different types of activities and with different social partners. The students (N = 165) attended eight programs in three Midwestern states. A total of 1,596 experiences were randomly sampled using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) during 1 week…

The purpose of this study was to determine what, if any, associations exist between students' academic success on achievement tests and the predictor variables of students' socioeconomic status, participation in an after-school program, and gender. Middlesboro Intermediate School contains a high number of students who participate in the federal…

Under the larger scope of the National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning, SEDL funded three awardees to carry out large-scale randomized controlled trials (RCT) assessing the efficacy of promising literacy curricula in afterschool settings on student academic achievement. SEDL provided analytic and technical support to the RCT studies…

This paper arises from an evaluation of the study support programme developed in a midlands city in the UK, in the context of the national extended schools initiative. It offers a framework based on activity theory to explain how and why "out-of-lesson-time learning" is felt by many students to impact positively on their self-esteem and…

In this article, we explore how two informal educational contexts--an aquarium and an after-school science program--enabled disenfranchised learners to adopt an identity as insiders to the world of science. We tell the stories of four youth, relating what doing science meant to them and how they positioned themselves in relation to science. We…

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit significant academic impairments, as evidenced by poor academic achievement, grade retention, and school dropout. Deficits in organization skills may contribute to these academic impairments, as children with ADHD frequently lose assignments, misplace their completed work, and…

YOUTH SERVICES IS A SCHOOL-CONNECTED RECREATION PROGRAM WHICH EXTENDS THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS INTO THE RECREATIONAL SETTING. ACTIVITIES TAKE PLACE AFTER SCHOOL, ON WEEKENDS, AND ON HOLIDAYS. THEY INCLUDE ARTS AND CRAFTS, CAMPING, CIVIC EXPERIENCES, CLUBS, MUSIC, PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES, SPECIAL EVENTS, AND SPORTS. THE PROGRAM SERVES ADULTS,…

Outlines service costs, meal planning, and physical arrangements for those in charge of meal functions, whether they be large board dinners or small administrator luncheons, and held at restaurants, hotels, or school cafeterias. (KS)

This issue brief presents the obstacles that a number of youth face in America due to factors such as, failing schools, dangerous neighborhoods, poverty, disproportionate incarceration, poor health and nutrition, lack of employment opportunity, language difficulty and marginalization of their heritage and culture. The heavily structured school day…

This paper provides a summary of a comprehensive evaluation of the Kentucky statewide Extended School Services (ESS) program. The Extended School Services (ESS) program was established in 1990 as part of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Designed specifically to address the needs of Kentucky's at-risk student population, ESS is an…

Reports a study of male college freshmen majoring in physical education indicating that as high school students they tended to participate in team activities, but when asked what they were interested in learning as new activities, they preferred the individual activities that could be participated in during later years. (TO)

Describes the Alternative School in the Gwinnett County School System, Lawrenceville, Georgia, as an optional program teaching appropriate behavior and better study habits to chronically disruptive students. (JW)