latest RESEARCH:
The new Child Trends Brief: Using Incentives to Increase Participation in Out-of-School Time Programs suggests that regular participation in after school programs can benefit children and youth in several ways. The brief provides key strategies for implementing a successful incentive program and a list of print and online resources as well as advice from a practitioner who has successfully used incentives to promote program attendance and involvement.
The new Child Trends Brief: Strategies For Improving Out-of-School Programs in Rural Communities highlights the challenges faced by rural programs and suggests several strategies that can strengthen them. The brief also includes advice from the director of a successful rural after school program and a list of additional resources.
The James Irvine Foundation released a study: What Matters, What Works: Advancing Achievement After School You can also visit their Web site for more information. www.irvine.org
The After School Corporation (TASC) recently released "After School Programs & High School Success" an analysis of post-program educational patterns of former middle-grades TASC participants and "Meeting the High School Challenge" a report describing promising programmatic models that examines the situations in which they work best, and warns of possible pitfalls.
Preparing Staff to Work with Immigrant Youth
Afterschool: A Powerful Path to Teacher Recruitment and Retention
The Effectiveness of Universal School-Based Programs for the Prevention of Violent and Aggressive Behavior. View the full report by clicking here.
Is There Common Ground? - An Exploratory Study of the Interests and Needs of Community-Based and Faith-Based Youth Workers: The study examines the core competencies of youth workers in both sectors as well as their interests in and concerns about working together. View the full report by clicking here.
Quality Time After School: What Instructors Can Do to Enhance Learning: Drawing from surveys and interviews with more than 400 participants and instructors from five Philadelphia-based Beacon Centers. To read the full report click here.
To read the executive summary click here.
Afterschool for the Global Age: A new report makes the case for expanding programs with international themes in after school and summer programs. The report is available for download here.
A NEW DAY FOR LEARNING : The Time, Learning, and Afterschool Task Force Report available here.
PROFILES OF SUCCESSFUL POST-21st CCLC SUSTAINABILITY
The Finance Project's Out of School Time Project has released, Sustaining 21st Century Community Learning Centers: What Works for Programs and How Policymakers Can Help. The report offers up a series of policy options for easing 21st Century grantees' transition away from federal support. The report is available here.
Launching Literacy in After-School Programs: Early Lessons from the CORAL Initiative: CORAL (Communities Organizing Resources to Advance Learning) is a five-city, $60-million effort to improve educational achievement through after school programming.
High-Performing After School Programs Share Five Common Characteristics. Download the full report here:
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Harvard Family Research Project's out-of-school time experts regularly present at conferences on a range of out-of-school time issues. Two of their recent presentations are now available on their Web site.
1) Supporting Children's Development in and out of the Classroom
2) Engaging Adolescents in Out-of-School Time Programs: Learning What Works.
Both are available here.
New Publications from the Harvard Research Project:
- Updated findings from the study, including a list of publications that discuss our findings on the role of families and neighborhoods in predicting participation, are now available here.
- OST team members organized the "Critical Issues in Adolescent Participation in Out-of-School Time Activities" symposium at the Society for Research on Adolescence.
- EXPLORING QUALITY STANDARDS FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS: WHAT WE KNOW AND WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW
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“Growing up in North America: Child Well-Being in Canada, the United States, and Mexico.”
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Childhood Obesity the Focus of New Issue of Princeton/Brookings Future of Children Journal: The Future of Children, Childhood Obesity (Vol. 16, No. 1).
Read the Executive Summary and accompanying policy brief, "Fighting Obesity in the Public Schools," authored by Ron Haskins.