Afterschool Partnership For Greater New OrleansNovember 2008 Provider Meeting

2008 SUMMER PROGRAM RESEARCH

Expanding Capacity, Improving Quality: Meeting the Needs of Programs, Youth,

Families, and Communities

Lauren J. Bierbaum, Ph.D.

• What is “quality”?

• Why research?

• Methods of our 2008 Research

• Findings

• Next steps

Agenda

What Is “QUALITY”?Quality means…

• Making efforts to praise successes….

• Constantly adapting to the current landscape and the changing needs of our youth, their families, and our communities• Not just “doing,” but “doing WELL.”

• …While not being afraid to examine, learn from, and rectify challenges.

And, we don’t have to re-invent the wheel!

“Proven” or “Best” Practices

What Is “QUALITY”?

The techniques, methods, processes, and activities that are known to be effective at achieving particular

outcomes.

What’s come before, what’s been tried and tested, what we have learned will work.

“Proven” or “Best” Practices

Seasonal Learning

What Is “QUALITY”?

• Summer achievement gap• Disparities in OST opportunities

“Children in all socioeconomic groups are learning at the same rate during the school year, and nearly all the differences in achievement between poor and middle-class children are rooted in the inequities that young people experience outside the schoolhouse door.”

- Beth Miller, “The Learning Season”

Benefits of OST Programming (summer and school-year) • Academic outcomes

• Socio-behavioral outcomes• Emotional outcomes

“Research suggests that youth who participate in afterschool programs improve significantly in 3 major areas: (1) feelings and attitudes; (2) increased indicators of behavior adjustment; and (3) increased school and achievement test scores.” - NIOST, “Making the Case: 2008 Fact Sheet”

“Proven” or “Best” PracticesWhat Is “QUALITY”?

Program Operations“Proven” or “Best” Practices

What Is “QUALITY”?

• Staffing

• Curriculum• Logistics management and communications

• Fund-raising and budgeting

“Staff costs [are] the primary cost driver for OST programs.”

- Grossman et al., “Cost of Quality OST Programs”Programs that pay staff more, and employ highly qualified staff, have better youth outcomes.

- Pearson et al., “Evaluation of OST Programs” for NYDYCD

• Cities such as NYC, Denver, Philadelphia, Providence, Kansas City with citywide OST organizations, municipal OST entities, and/or publicly funded quality assessments

“Proven” or “Best” PracticesWhat Is “QUALITY”?

Municipal Support• Afterschool Partnership Funding Map• Community Development Block Grant Funds

“Proven” or “Best” PracticesWhat Is “QUALITY”?

Data-Driven Decision-Making

“New and existing research reveals that two-thirds of the achievement gap between lower- and higher-income youth can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities.”

- National Center for Summer Learning

There is “a growing investment in research, for purposes ranging from continuous improvement to accountability” in the OST field.

- Harvard Family Research Project

So…Why RESEARCH?

To find out what we HAVECurrent capacity – How many programs?

Serving how many kids? Providing what services?

To find out what we NEEDCurrent barriers to quality

To find out what we WANTHow do we build our programs to succeed beyond imagination?

SUMMER 2008 RESEARCH:Methods

Our Research Goals

Summer 2008 ResearchSummer 2008 Research

Explore QUALITY and CAPACITY of existing programs:

• Subset of 16 programs• Range of missions, program operations• Needs assessments

• Quality assessments

• Vision for growth

Our Research Goals

Explore CONSUMER thoughts and feelings about:

• OST (summer and afterschool) landscape• Range of options• Likes and dislikes

• Barriers to access

• Vision for change

Summer 2008 ResearchSummer 2008 Research

Participating Sites:

•Marine Missionary Baptist Church

•Nehemiah 20/20 All That for Kids

•New Orleans Outreach-KIPP McDonogh 15

•Pentecost Baptist Church

•Urban League College Track

•Volunteers of America-Capdau

•YMCA-GNO (Metairie)

•YOUTHanasia Teen Non-Violence Center

•Boys/Girls Club NFL-YET Center

•Catholic Charities-NORD Behrman Gym

•Cops For Kids

•Desire Street Ministries

•Dryades YMCA

•Jefferson Youth Foundation

•Kedila Family Learning Center

•Kingsley House

Summer 2008 ResearchSummer 2008 Research

Site Observations

Validated, widely used scales to assess holistically the quality of youth environments

Quality Advisor Rating ToolModified from SACERS, National Afterschool Association’s Advancing School-Age Care Quality Self-Study Process; High Scope’s Youth Program Quality Assessment (PQA)

Summer 2008 ResearchSummer 2008 Research

Allows for observations of youth “in situ” as they interact with both the

PHYSICAL and SOCIAL environmentsof their summer programs

Site Observations: Quality Advisor Rating Tool

Summer 2008 ResearchSummer 2008 Research

Focus Groups

• Explore motivations, opinions behind opinions

• Help inform the planning and design of new programs or program elements

• Evaluate existing programs/program elements

• Produce insights for next steps (program design, outreach, education, advocacy platforms)

Summer 2008 ResearchSummer 2008 Research

FINDINGS:

What do PROGRAMS have to say?

Greatest Needs Across Sites:

Facilities•Dedicated spaces•Classroom•Recreation – Pools!

Transportation•Dedicated transportation•Better drop-off/pick-up•Better signage•Lower-cost options

Equipment, supplies, and food•Academic•Recreation•Support for healthful breakfast, lunch, snacks

Findings: What Programs Have to Say

Greatest Needs Across Sites:

Findings: What Programs Have to Say

Staff Support•Hiring•Training•Continuity of care

Sustainability•Grant-writing•Resource identification and allocation•Budget management

Curricular Support•Academic rigor•Training•Alignment with grant requirements

“Proven” or “Best” Practices

• Access to resources

• Curricular support

• Access to cutting-edge research

• Program evaluation support

Greatest Needs Across Sites:

Findings: What Programs Have to Say

Findings: What Programs Have to Say

Now what?

• Age appropriateness

• Scheduling • Communication (internal and external)

• Building upon current practices to foster BEST PRACTICES

Real-time Quality Advising and Program Adaptations

• Professional mentorship for program directors, site coordinators, and staff

FINDINGS:

What do YOUTH and FAMILIES have to say?

Findings: What Youth and Families Have to Say

Barriers to Access

• Cost• Transportation

• Registration processes• Availability• Continuity of participation (from school to summer, and across summers)

Athletics and Recreation• Wider variety of options

Soccer, volleyball, horseback riding, more swimming

• More equipment• Better facilities• Sometimes health related, but mostly EXPERIENTIAL

• Skate park

Findings: What Youth and Families Have to Say

More of everything!Arts and Culture

• Direct instruction (voice, instrumental, dance, fine arts) and participation in creating original works

• Professional development

• Field trips (to attend performances, visit museums, meet working artists)

• Art supplies and instruments

Findings: What Youth and Families Have to Say

Workforce Development• Field trips to places of business: courts, juvenile justice, media, law firms, medical practices, alternatives to “tennis shoes on the wire.”

• Information about careers in the military

• Training in entrepreneurship

Findings: What Youth and Families Have to Say

• Internships and job placement support

• Technological education and training

““If school could be like this, I’d If school could be like this, I’d come every day, even if I were come every day, even if I were

sick!” sick!”

Academics• Kids want to learn….

…but not at desks, not in classrooms, not like school

• Parents AND youth want applied and alternative approaches to learning: creative, hands on, youth-driven, project-based

Findings: What Youth and Families Have to Say

• Social aspects of programming – social skill building, conflict resolution, socializing with new and old friends

• Broadened horizons – new neighborhoods, new experiences, travel to “places we’ve studied in social studies,” because “not every place is like New Orleans” and “we ain’t never been out of the Southern states!”

Prosocial Development

• Identity development, exploration of self

Findings: What Youth and Families Have to Say

Prosocial Development

Findings: What Youth and Families Have to Say

• Parents report their children are less shy, more confident, and more likely to engage in verbal conflict resolution thanks to summer programs

• Parents also appreciate the geographic, racial/ethnic, and economic diversity to which summer programs expose their children• Parents are grateful for programs that provide their children with “more balanced preparation for the future,” that “give kids a broader spectrum of options,” that keep kids “on the straight and narrow” so that they “keep the mind off crime, keep them focused.”

“Our children grow up so fast, I wish we could find a way to give them

true childhoods - flying kites, going fishing, let the sun beat them up. Because when they hit a certain

age, you can’t go back.”

- BGC/NFL-YET Father

Now what?

• Quality Advising and Program Evaluation SupportBuilding Afterschool Partnership’s capacity

to provide ongoing, targeted, high-quality support to programs

• Trainings in Development (2009)

• Communications infrastructure• Staff orientation• Health and safety• Best practices for fostering positive youth development

•Real-time program changes

• Building adjacencies to school year programming

• Exploring feasibility of implementing youth and family suggestions for program changes

Now what?

• Relationship-building with fundersSpecial thanks to the Wallace Foundation for recognizing the amazing work y’all do, and for caring about our kids as much as we do.

• Compiling and disseminating resources (informational, financial, in-kind)

Resources and References:Afterschool Partnership for Greater New Orleanswww.gnoafterschool.org504.304.9591

Grossman, J.B. et al. (forthcoming) The Cost of Quality Out-of-School-Time Programs.

Harvard Family Research Project’s Out of School Time Database and Bibliographyhttp://www.hfrp.org/out-of-school-time

Miller, B. (2007) The Learning Season: The Untapped Power of Summer to Advance Student Achievement.

National Institute for Out of School Time (NIOST)http://www.niost.org/

National Center for Summer Learninghttp://www.summerlearning.org/

Pearson et al. (2007) Evaluation of OST Programs for Youth. Prepared for New York City Department of Youth and Community Development.