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Making Afterschool
Programs BetterDenise Huang amp Ronald Dietel
Policy Brief No 11
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Copyright copy 2011 The Regents o the University o Caliornia
The work reported herein was supported in part by a subcontract rom Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL
subcontract no PO54604) unded by contract no ED-03-CO-0048 as administered by the US Department o Education
The ndings and opinions expressed in this report are those o the authors and do not necessarily refect the positions or policies o
the National Center or Research on Evaluation Standards and Student Testing (CRESST) the Southwest Educational Development
Laboratory (SEDL) or the US Department o Education
To cite rom this report please use the ollowing as your APA reerence
Huang D amp Dietel R (2011) Making afterschool programs better (CRESST Policy Brie) Los Angeles CA University o Caliornia
The authors thank the ollowing or their assistance with this policy brie Joan Herman or her valuable review and eedback
Tamara Lau or her design and layout and Karisa Peer or her editorial support
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QUALITY
AFTERSCHOOL
PROGRAM
EVALUATION
STAFF
LEADERSHIP
PROGRAM
GOALS
Figure 1 CRESST Afterschool Program Quality Model
Goals are clear rigorous and supported across the program in structure and content Funding
is adequate to support goals
Leadership is experienced well-educated has longevity at the current site uses eective
communications sets high expectations and has a bottoms-up management style
Sta is experienced has longevity at current program relates well to students models high
expectations motivates and engages students and works well with leaders colleagues and
parents
Program aligns to the day school provides time or students to study learn and practice
includes motivational activities requently uses technology science and the arts to support
youth development student learning and engagement
Evaluation uses both internal (ormative) and external (summative) methods Evaluative
inormation and data accurately measure goals results are applied to continuous program
improvement
1
2
3
4
5
These ve components work together to produce a high quality aterschool program (Figure 1)
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The remainder o this brie covers each o these ve
components First we provide common evaluation ndings
across most programs We then provide examples
either best practices or useul observations noted by
the CRESST team We conclude with a short list o
recommendations which could help make aterschool
programs even better
Component 1 Goals ________________________________________________________
ldquoEverything that we do in afterschool we try to make it connected to the real worldhellipOne of our many goals is tomake it relevanthellipmake a connection for students to stayin school go to college a reason to be on a particular
career pathhelliprdquo - Afterschool Project Director
Overview
Setting clear goals and desired outcomes is a cornerstone
o aterschool program success (Bodilly and Beckett 2005)
Virtually all o the programs we studied had established
unambiguous goals and structured their programs to
meet those goals At the same time most programs alsorecognized the importance o considering student voices
when making decisions regarding program activities
and content hence many programs allowed students
to provide input especially in the arts and technology
programs As a result students were engaged and excited
to be in their aterschool programs
Key Evaluation Findings
The best programs had
bull clearly dened goals in a written plan
bull curricular design and specic practices aligned toprogram goals and
bull internal and external evaluations (or urther detailssee Component 5 o this report)
ldquoAchievementrdquo ocused programs oten district-aliated werebull usually more structured than other aterschool
program types
bull stressed improvement o academic perormance
bull hired more certied teachers and
bull maintained a more consistent linkage with the dayschool then less achievement-ocused programs
Goals o many high quality aterschool programs also
had a specic emphasis (eg science technology
homework support community involvement or the
arts)
Examples
The site coordinator at one math program described
program goals as ocused on developing studentsrsquo
academic skills within a specic content area ldquoOur
primary goals are to bring the student to grade levelrdquo
Similarly goals or three o the math programs and our
o the reading programs specically targeted students
who were struggling academically
A primary goal o many arts ocused aterschool
programs was to provide students who otherwisewould have little-to-no exposure to the arts with
quality art experiences Many interviewees reported
using an integrative approach to arts instruction that
could help students who were struggling academically
and personally
Similar to arts all science sta responded to questions
about curricular goals by suggesting a primary interest
in oering positive science experiences to students A
ew went urther to explain that their principle goal
was to improve standardized test scores in science
by ocusing on extending day school instruction into
aterschool
Interview data across seven homework-ocused
programs suggested that the primary goals in
aterschool homework were to complete homework
and increase academic achievement
Nearly all o the technology sta had the goal o
teaching students the mechanics o a broad range
o technology skills an interest in encouraging the
students to use those skills to enhance learning in other
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content areas and teaching the students a technical skill
that is relevant to their real lives (both now and in the
uture)
In aligning activities to achieve their program goals nearly
all interviewees described the merits o developing a
curriculum that combined academic skill development with
opportunities to explore and encourage studentsrsquo social
development One program director summed up
ldquoOur goal is to help each child to make sure that itrsquos
an aterschool program thatrsquos un but at the sametime itrsquos enriching so they grow and learn every dayso they can take home more knowledgehelliprdquo
Component 2 Leadership ________________________________________________________
ldquoObviously we try to be democratichellipSo one of thethings we try to do here how we want to make thisa great place to work is in fnding great peoplethen giving the people the power and leeway and theaccountability but also the freedom to do what they
think works best and trusting themhelliprdquo
- Afterschool Project Director
Overview
Our studies ound that directors and managers o high
unctioning aterschool programs usually had many years
o experience in aterschool programs Further the leaders
nearly always shared decision-making with their sta across
aterschool goals programs and evaluation
Key Evaluation Findings
The best programs had leaders who
bull articulated a clear program mission vision statementand goals
bull decentralized decision making used a bottoms upleadership style
bull trusted in the knowledge and skills o sta regardingcurriculum and instruction
bull promoted a team culture o positive relationships
requent communication and sta problem-solvingskills
bull insured that instructors and students had adequatematerials and resources and
bull provided all sta with proessional developmentopportunities that improved individual and team skills
The majority o both site coordinators and instructors
said that aterschool instructors had an active voice in
decisions about curriculum and instruction (44 average
on a 50 point scale) and took active roles in program
leadership and decision-making (41 average)
Administrators consistently described the value o
starsquos content-specic skills and expertise as a result
curriculum development was a group process in which
leaders gave sta members a strong voice in designing
instruction
Leaders and sta across high-quality programs
maintained good relationships with the day school
personnel However ew o them had established
ormal communication systems or that purpose
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently Regularly
P e r c e n t a g e o f I n s t r u c t o r s
2217 19
14
28
Figure 2 Frequency of communication between afterschool program and day-school staff
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Figure 3 Educational levels of afterschool staff
1Currently in High School
19High School GraduateGED
9Associatersquos Degree
24Masterrsquos Degree
47Bachelorrsquos Degree
(as indicated in Figure 2) with less than 50 o
aterschool sta reporting that they had regular or
requent communication with day school teachers (see
Recommendations section)
Examples
One site coordinator expressed appreciation or the sta
by stating
ldquoThese are proessional adultshellipand they are the
best ones to implement the curriculumhellip Theyrsquoreright there with the studentshellipthey know whattheir levels are and their abilitiesrdquo
An arts program instructor explained
ldquoMy experience has been that the aterschoolteachers propose something that wersquod like to dowith the kids aterschool and [the director] then
just talks to us about what our plans are Wehellipreport to her in terms o lesson plans and how weincorporate standards and benchmarks but a lot oreedom is really given to us We teach what wersquorecomortable teaching and what wersquore passionateaboutrdquo
A project director at a technology program said that his
starsquos latitude was evenly balanced by a strong level o
accountability or their curricular choices
ldquoEvery quarter they have to come back to us andtell us how theyrsquore doing They report back asto what is going on at theirhellipprograms In termso actual decision-making and setting goals anddeciding what wersquore going to do thatrsquos much moreo a bottom-up processrdquo
Component 3 Staff _____________________________________
ldquoWe recognized that the other role we (staff) have to play is to get children engaged in the learning process So itrsquos not just about completing the homework but itrsquosabout finding ways outside of the school to get theminterested excited feeling confident and to build theirself-esteem so that they want to come back the next day
and try a little harderrdquo - Afterschool Staff Instructor
Overview We ound that high quality programs recruited qualied
sta and created collegial environments supporting their
programsrsquo missions Aterschool leaders were able to retain
sta and achieve lower turnover rates than other programs
because sta elt respected supported autonomous and
condent in their ability to reach their students In turn
sta and students constructed positive relationships with
each other characterized by warmth and mutual respect
Sta was oten role a model or students creating a norm
o high expectations appropriate student behavior good
school attendance eective work habits and positiveattitudes towards learning
Key Evaluation Findings
Sta rom quality programs generally had high
educational levels Forty-seven percent o all sta had
Bachelorrsquos degrees twenty-our percent had a Masterrsquos
degree (see Figure 3)
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Aterschool sta in quality programs usually had
substantial aterschool experience Sixty-six percent
had more than three years o work experience in
aterschool twenty-three percent had six years or more
o experience
Program sta at high quality sites also tended to
have low turnover The majority o the sta had
been at their current site or three years or more (see
Recommendations section)Positive relationships and interactions between the sta
and the students were observed in virtually all high
quality programs particularly in terms o expectations
or student perormance disciplinary issues and
democracy
All interviewees reported having some orm o
technology-related proessional development available in
their aterschool program
Most proessional development opportunities were or
helping students with reading and math applying state
standards to the curriculum and connecting with theday school Fewer opportunities were oered on topics
o English learners special needs students evaluation
and assessment (see Recommendations section)
A higher percentage o site coordinators reported
receiving proessional development in most categories
(other than working with English language learners)
compared to instructors who reported receiving the
lowest percentage o proessional development in
program and sel-evaluation (see Recommendations
section)
Although sta generally ound proessional developmentuseul only 26 had regular (2-4) opportunities each
year About 50 o the homework program sta
reported that no proessional development was oered
to them (see Recommendations section)
Examples
Nearly all quality aterschool programs approached
decision-making in a democratic ashion One program
allowed students to oer input on where they would
like to conduct their service learning projects others
considered studentsrsquo activities choices and made great
eorts to include them in their program decision-making
Arts- science- and technology-ocused aterschool
programs tended to give students more autonomy
and input into programs compared to homework or
academic ocused programs One arts program sta
stated that student inputs were ldquoalways o great value
student interests had a vast impact on art curriculum
contentrdquo Consequently students took ownership in
their learning and remained engaged
Component 4 Staff ____________________________________________________
ldquoThese are kids who have never been exposed to
anythingmdashour goal is to open their minds to new
things and to show that they can do ithellipWe want a
well-balanced well-rounded program with a lot of
different things to offer to the childrenrdquo - Afterschool
Site Coordinator
Study ndings revealed curricular similarities and
dierences across all programs a majority o which
oered three or more activities each day Most
programs included homework help or tutoring but
other activities ranged rom academic (eg math
reading writing science) to enrichment (eg arts
and crats cooking gardening health and nutrition
cultural activities computers) and recreation (eg
sports dance drill team outdoor games) The
requency and duration o instruction oered by the
programs are provided in Table 1
These ndings suggest that students were receiving
adequate aterschool time or learning and skills
practice Observation reports across the programs also
indicated that students appeared to be mostly engaged
and attentive and enjoyed the activities Virtually all
programs provided substantial time or recreational
and crats activities keeping students engaged while
exercising other parts o their brains
Key Evaluation Findings
The majority o programs employed unique and
innovative strategies to engage students in theaterschool setting placing a particular emphasis on
making learning un
Technology programs reported the most requent
use o research-based practices whereas reading
programs reported the lowest requency
Technology science arts and homework programs
appeared to be more ocused on developing
higher order thinking skills whereas reading and
math programs were more ocused on direct skills
instruction
Most programs shared similar methods odisseminating inormation to parents as well as
a means o encouraging their involvement in the
aterschool programs
Parents were very satised with the programs both
in terms o positive changes in their childrenrsquos
behaviors and attitudes and in general program
unctioning They elt that the sta cared about and
respected their children They also reported that
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Many sites provided character development The site
coordinator at a reading aterschool program described
two character programs that they oered students
The girls get ldquoSmart Girlsrdquo which is also characterbuilding but it deals with those lie changes duringpuberty taking care o your body in terms ohygiene and what does it mean to be a woman insociety For the boys itrsquos ldquoPassport to Manhoodrdquo
Another site coordinator or a math aterschool programmentioned a program called Character Developmentwhich ocused on teaching students values such ashonesty respect responsibility and caring
Community involvement was common in the programs
such as making get well cards or patients in the
hospitals taking trips to nursing homes to sing to the
senior citizens recycling or community beautication
eorts and cultivating community gardens One
aterschool program worked with a local charitable
organization not only to restore a public garden but
also to hike take horticulture classes go rowing and
swim in the lake
Community members oten volunteered in the ater-
school programs oten a result o aliations with local
universities and high schools who requently tutored
students Boy and girl scouts churches and boys
and girls club members also volunteered Aterschool
program sta requently invited science experts rom
the community to visit their programs and share their
own experiences o practical real-world applications or
science As one project director explained
ldquoWhat makes it unique [at our program] is we
have so much community involvement in teachingsciencehellipWersquove really tried to get experts in thefeld to come inhellipI donrsquot think that there is anyprogram that has more community involvement inteaching students science than oursrdquo
Component 5 Evaluation ________________________________________________________
When you look at their assessments on the [statetest]hellipthey werenrsquot measuring up with other statesand because of that we had to go back and revisit ourcurriculum to see where we were falling through the
cracks - Afterschool Program Principal
Overview
As outlined in the CRESST aterschool model ongoing
evaluation is necessary to measure program perormance
and make continuous improvement While evaluation data
serves many stakeholders including students parents and
aterschool stamdash unding agencies (who are making a
growing investment in aterschool programs) increasingly
want to know i their outlays are making measureable
improvements
We ound that nearly all aterschool programs used
internal evaluation to identiy program strengths and
weaknesses Internal evaluation oten called ormativeevaluation was usually done by the programrsquos own sta or
sta within its unding agencies governance structure The
stakes or consequences were usually low ndash with program
improvement the key goal An external evaluation
on the other hand typically had higher consequences
or programs and was nearly always conducted by a
disinterested third party In some cases accreditation or
even program continuance may be decided by an unbiased
outside ldquoexternalrdquo evaluation expert
Interview and survey responses across our studies indicated
that even though rigorous examination o data was rarenearly all o the aterschool programs conducted internal
or external evaluations o their programs
Key Evaluation Findings
All but two programs reported having conducted
internal evaluations Evaluation varied rom inormal
conversations between aterschool sta day school
sta and parents to a ormal administration o surveys
to students parents sta and tracking o test scores
grades and attendance records (see Recommendations
section)
Responses rom interviewees suggested that many o
the programs were evaluated externally sometimes
by an evaluation organization experienced in program
evaluation Interviewees consistently indicated that most
o the evaluations were o the entire program
External evaluation methodologies typically included
pre-post testing or classroom evaluations comparison
groups surveys ocus groups observational
assessments or a combination o methods
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ldquo
Recommendations ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Our ndings point to the contributions o goals leadership sta programs and evaluation to high quality aterschool
programs Nevertheless we noticed consistent areas o weaknesses in even the best aterschool programs We oer the
ollowing research-based recommendations that we believe will help improve any aterschool program
Staff Stability
Our studyrsquos results indicated that high unctioning programs tend to have low sta turnover rates Over 60
o the sta had between 1ndash7 years o experience at the current site and over 30 o the sta had over 4 yearso experiences at the current site Sta stability is important or relationship building and a basis or students to
build trust positive attitudes and ecacy toward learning
Recommendation Funders and aterschool administrators should consider incentives or building sta retention rang-
ing rom educational opportunities (eg tuition grants) to ldquooutstanding aterschool teams or teachersrdquo nominated and
selected by parents teachers and students A pay scale incentive or years o service and a possible career ladder may also
improve sta retention
Collaboration with the Day School
In our studies all o the programs maintained positive relationships with the day school However despite
the importance o this relationship too ew programs had strategic systems established that supported and
strengthened this connection Recommendation Formal agreements and written plans (ideally in early stages) should address day school
collaboration Time or day school teachers and aterschool sta to meet and plan lessons together plus a communicationssystem (eg homework log between day school teachers and aterschool sta) should be included in both school andaterschool plans Funding agencies should budget additional resources or aterschool programs that will acilitate linkagessuch as shared proessional development sta retreats or workshops that jointly support students
Space and Technology
Many programs relied on access to common space such as an auditorium or a classroom shared with day
school teachers which oten caused logistical problems and sometimes prevented planned activities rom taking
place Furthermore some programs expressed diculty with not having consistent access to classrooms A
site coordinator illuminated the problem ldquoI would say physical space would be denitely a big thing with ourprogramhellipThat is probably one o the hardest things to work with just because every 6 weeks we are readjusting
the classroom to new classroom seating charts new areas in which the students can and cannot gordquo
Recommendation Aterschool space issues should be addressed early in the planning process and reviewed each
year or adequacy Technology too especially with shared equipment should also be addressed recognizing the growing role
that technology plays in both learning and recreational activities
ldquoFormal agreementsand written plans
ideally in early stagesshould address dayschool collaboration
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Professional Development
We ound that proessional development was not regularly oered at all program sites and when oered
participation rates were oten low Moreover project directors and site coordinators appeared to attend
conerences and workshops more requently than program sta
Recommendation Because proessional development has a strong correlation with sta ecacy instructional quality and
student outcomes (Ingvarson Meiers amp Beavis 2005) ederal and state policies guiding the development and operations o
aterschool programs should provide additional guidelines for sufcient quality professional development for all after -
school staff especially at the instructor level
Recommendation Aterschool programs should include proessional development in their written plansThose
plans should address unding issues or substitutes or example I there is a ldquotraining-o-the-trainerrdquo approach at the sites
written guidelines should include evaluation to ensure proessional development delity When planning the yearly calendar
proessional development or all sta should be included Topics should address program evaluation assessment and data use
plus needs o English learners and students with disabilities
Content and Curriculum
Our study ndings showed that although most program sta were aware o the standards within their specic
content areas they were less knowledgeable about the links between the standards and successul instructional
practices Proessional development can help address this need which is increasingly important with most statersquos
recent adoptions o the common core standards
Recommendation Proessional development should help all program sta expand their knowledge o content
standards and instructional methods or aligning those standards to instruction Program goals should include content and
curriculum enhancement or sta as a key purpose plus implementation and evaluation methods
Parent Involvement
Although the research literature continuously stresses the importance o parent involvement in infuencing
childrenrsquos academic outcomes our study repeatedly ound that parents though very satised with the programs
were generally not involved in attending events or volunteering in aterschool programs
Recommendation Despite the time constraints amilies ace aterschool leaders should continue to include parent in-
volvement as a central program goal oering specic late aternoon or early evening times or parent involved events as
well as using both social networks and websites to support positive communication between parents and sta Parents should
be included in an active program committee or evaluation team when possible thereby enhancing parent involvement and
contributions to the aterschool program Open houses and parent-teacher conerences can acilitate parent participation Home
visits and amily assistance can urther solidiy the relationships between the aterschool and its amilies
Evaluation
The contributions o eective internal and external evaluations must not be overlooked Equally important is the
use o the ndings or specic program improvements
Recommendation Federal state and local policies should address and provide unding or systematic evalua-
tion o all programs Evaluation should ideally include internal ormative evaluation as well as annual or biennial external
summative evaluations Multiple perspectives should be sought when gathering evaluation data including parent student andcommunity input Evaluation results should span accountability needs as well as guide continuous program improvement To be
eective all evaluations should be in written ormat
Recommendation For internal evaluation program directors and site coordinators need to clearly defne the pur-
poses o evaluations in their goals Sel-evaluation tools can be used to understand sta proessional development needs
sta utilization o research-based activities and sta knowledge o standards-based curriculum Using these evaluation results
program directors can implement changes allocate resources and design proessional development opportunities to urther
sta expertise in needed areas
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Recommendation External evaluation should ocus on student outcomes ideally using student data rom the regular
day school level that includes both perormance and attendance inormation It is crucial that external evaluation results are
provided in a written ormat so that comparisons may be made over periods o time In order or evaluation data either internal
or external to be used eectively and lead to program improvement results must be well communicated to all stakeholders and
a system created or monitoring evaluation usage
Conclusion ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Even at a time o austere ederal state and local unding ndash we highly encourage policy makers aterschool managers and
school districts to ully budget aterschool programs that will provide high quality leaders and sta Proessional development
and external evaluation should also be included in both budgets and program planning As one program director said
ldquoI think itrsquos very important that everybody understand the power that can come rom an aterschool program in aecting
change not only cultural change on campus but also individually in particular lives The sense o accomplishment that comes
rom being in one o our programs where they have more reedom to explore and have more hands-on experiences
is prooundrdquo
Resources
Links to Various CRESST Afterschool Evaluations
bull Examining Practices of Staff Recruitment and Retention in Four High-Functioning Afterschool ProgramsExtended Study rom the National Aterschool Partnership Report
bull Examining the Relationship between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Academic Achievement of LArsquos BEST Students
bull Identication of Key Indicators of Quality in Afterschool Programs
bull A Circle of Learning Children and Adults Growing Together in LArsquos BEST
bull What Works Common Practices in High Functioning Afterschool Programs Across the Nation in MathReading Science Arts Technology and Homework--A Study by the National Partnership
bull The Afterschool Hours Examining the Relationship between Afterschool Staff-Based Social Capital andStudent Engagement in LArsquos BEST
bull The Afterschool Experience in Salsa Sabor y Salud
bull Exploring the Relationships between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Cognitive Gains of LArsquos BESTStudents
bull Preparing Students for the 21st Century Exploring the Effect of Afterschool Participation on Studentsrsquo
Collaboration Skills Oral Communication Skills and Sel-Ecacy
bull Exploring the Intellectual Social and Organizational Capitals at LArsquos BEST
Link to the Afterschool Toolkit
bull SEDL - National Center for Quality Afterschool Afterschool Training Toolkit
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Copyright copy 2011 The Regents o the University o Caliornia
The work reported herein was supported in part by a subcontract rom Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL
subcontract no PO54604) unded by contract no ED-03-CO-0048 as administered by the US Department o Education
The ndings and opinions expressed in this report are those o the authors and do not necessarily refect the positions or policies o
the National Center or Research on Evaluation Standards and Student Testing (CRESST) the Southwest Educational Development
Laboratory (SEDL) or the US Department o Education
To cite rom this report please use the ollowing as your APA reerence
Huang D amp Dietel R (2011) Making afterschool programs better (CRESST Policy Brie) Los Angeles CA University o Caliornia
The authors thank the ollowing or their assistance with this policy brie Joan Herman or her valuable review and eedback
Tamara Lau or her design and layout and Karisa Peer or her editorial support
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
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7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 415 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
QUALITY
AFTERSCHOOL
PROGRAM
EVALUATION
STAFF
LEADERSHIP
PROGRAM
GOALS
Figure 1 CRESST Afterschool Program Quality Model
Goals are clear rigorous and supported across the program in structure and content Funding
is adequate to support goals
Leadership is experienced well-educated has longevity at the current site uses eective
communications sets high expectations and has a bottoms-up management style
Sta is experienced has longevity at current program relates well to students models high
expectations motivates and engages students and works well with leaders colleagues and
parents
Program aligns to the day school provides time or students to study learn and practice
includes motivational activities requently uses technology science and the arts to support
youth development student learning and engagement
Evaluation uses both internal (ormative) and external (summative) methods Evaluative
inormation and data accurately measure goals results are applied to continuous program
improvement
1
2
3
4
5
These ve components work together to produce a high quality aterschool program (Figure 1)
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The remainder o this brie covers each o these ve
components First we provide common evaluation ndings
across most programs We then provide examples
either best practices or useul observations noted by
the CRESST team We conclude with a short list o
recommendations which could help make aterschool
programs even better
Component 1 Goals ________________________________________________________
ldquoEverything that we do in afterschool we try to make it connected to the real worldhellipOne of our many goals is tomake it relevanthellipmake a connection for students to stayin school go to college a reason to be on a particular
career pathhelliprdquo - Afterschool Project Director
Overview
Setting clear goals and desired outcomes is a cornerstone
o aterschool program success (Bodilly and Beckett 2005)
Virtually all o the programs we studied had established
unambiguous goals and structured their programs to
meet those goals At the same time most programs alsorecognized the importance o considering student voices
when making decisions regarding program activities
and content hence many programs allowed students
to provide input especially in the arts and technology
programs As a result students were engaged and excited
to be in their aterschool programs
Key Evaluation Findings
The best programs had
bull clearly dened goals in a written plan
bull curricular design and specic practices aligned toprogram goals and
bull internal and external evaluations (or urther detailssee Component 5 o this report)
ldquoAchievementrdquo ocused programs oten district-aliated werebull usually more structured than other aterschool
program types
bull stressed improvement o academic perormance
bull hired more certied teachers and
bull maintained a more consistent linkage with the dayschool then less achievement-ocused programs
Goals o many high quality aterschool programs also
had a specic emphasis (eg science technology
homework support community involvement or the
arts)
Examples
The site coordinator at one math program described
program goals as ocused on developing studentsrsquo
academic skills within a specic content area ldquoOur
primary goals are to bring the student to grade levelrdquo
Similarly goals or three o the math programs and our
o the reading programs specically targeted students
who were struggling academically
A primary goal o many arts ocused aterschool
programs was to provide students who otherwisewould have little-to-no exposure to the arts with
quality art experiences Many interviewees reported
using an integrative approach to arts instruction that
could help students who were struggling academically
and personally
Similar to arts all science sta responded to questions
about curricular goals by suggesting a primary interest
in oering positive science experiences to students A
ew went urther to explain that their principle goal
was to improve standardized test scores in science
by ocusing on extending day school instruction into
aterschool
Interview data across seven homework-ocused
programs suggested that the primary goals in
aterschool homework were to complete homework
and increase academic achievement
Nearly all o the technology sta had the goal o
teaching students the mechanics o a broad range
o technology skills an interest in encouraging the
students to use those skills to enhance learning in other
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content areas and teaching the students a technical skill
that is relevant to their real lives (both now and in the
uture)
In aligning activities to achieve their program goals nearly
all interviewees described the merits o developing a
curriculum that combined academic skill development with
opportunities to explore and encourage studentsrsquo social
development One program director summed up
ldquoOur goal is to help each child to make sure that itrsquos
an aterschool program thatrsquos un but at the sametime itrsquos enriching so they grow and learn every dayso they can take home more knowledgehelliprdquo
Component 2 Leadership ________________________________________________________
ldquoObviously we try to be democratichellipSo one of thethings we try to do here how we want to make thisa great place to work is in fnding great peoplethen giving the people the power and leeway and theaccountability but also the freedom to do what they
think works best and trusting themhelliprdquo
- Afterschool Project Director
Overview
Our studies ound that directors and managers o high
unctioning aterschool programs usually had many years
o experience in aterschool programs Further the leaders
nearly always shared decision-making with their sta across
aterschool goals programs and evaluation
Key Evaluation Findings
The best programs had leaders who
bull articulated a clear program mission vision statementand goals
bull decentralized decision making used a bottoms upleadership style
bull trusted in the knowledge and skills o sta regardingcurriculum and instruction
bull promoted a team culture o positive relationships
requent communication and sta problem-solvingskills
bull insured that instructors and students had adequatematerials and resources and
bull provided all sta with proessional developmentopportunities that improved individual and team skills
The majority o both site coordinators and instructors
said that aterschool instructors had an active voice in
decisions about curriculum and instruction (44 average
on a 50 point scale) and took active roles in program
leadership and decision-making (41 average)
Administrators consistently described the value o
starsquos content-specic skills and expertise as a result
curriculum development was a group process in which
leaders gave sta members a strong voice in designing
instruction
Leaders and sta across high-quality programs
maintained good relationships with the day school
personnel However ew o them had established
ormal communication systems or that purpose
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently Regularly
P e r c e n t a g e o f I n s t r u c t o r s
2217 19
14
28
Figure 2 Frequency of communication between afterschool program and day-school staff
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Figure 3 Educational levels of afterschool staff
1Currently in High School
19High School GraduateGED
9Associatersquos Degree
24Masterrsquos Degree
47Bachelorrsquos Degree
(as indicated in Figure 2) with less than 50 o
aterschool sta reporting that they had regular or
requent communication with day school teachers (see
Recommendations section)
Examples
One site coordinator expressed appreciation or the sta
by stating
ldquoThese are proessional adultshellipand they are the
best ones to implement the curriculumhellip Theyrsquoreright there with the studentshellipthey know whattheir levels are and their abilitiesrdquo
An arts program instructor explained
ldquoMy experience has been that the aterschoolteachers propose something that wersquod like to dowith the kids aterschool and [the director] then
just talks to us about what our plans are Wehellipreport to her in terms o lesson plans and how weincorporate standards and benchmarks but a lot oreedom is really given to us We teach what wersquorecomortable teaching and what wersquore passionateaboutrdquo
A project director at a technology program said that his
starsquos latitude was evenly balanced by a strong level o
accountability or their curricular choices
ldquoEvery quarter they have to come back to us andtell us how theyrsquore doing They report back asto what is going on at theirhellipprograms In termso actual decision-making and setting goals anddeciding what wersquore going to do thatrsquos much moreo a bottom-up processrdquo
Component 3 Staff _____________________________________
ldquoWe recognized that the other role we (staff) have to play is to get children engaged in the learning process So itrsquos not just about completing the homework but itrsquosabout finding ways outside of the school to get theminterested excited feeling confident and to build theirself-esteem so that they want to come back the next day
and try a little harderrdquo - Afterschool Staff Instructor
Overview We ound that high quality programs recruited qualied
sta and created collegial environments supporting their
programsrsquo missions Aterschool leaders were able to retain
sta and achieve lower turnover rates than other programs
because sta elt respected supported autonomous and
condent in their ability to reach their students In turn
sta and students constructed positive relationships with
each other characterized by warmth and mutual respect
Sta was oten role a model or students creating a norm
o high expectations appropriate student behavior good
school attendance eective work habits and positiveattitudes towards learning
Key Evaluation Findings
Sta rom quality programs generally had high
educational levels Forty-seven percent o all sta had
Bachelorrsquos degrees twenty-our percent had a Masterrsquos
degree (see Figure 3)
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Aterschool sta in quality programs usually had
substantial aterschool experience Sixty-six percent
had more than three years o work experience in
aterschool twenty-three percent had six years or more
o experience
Program sta at high quality sites also tended to
have low turnover The majority o the sta had
been at their current site or three years or more (see
Recommendations section)Positive relationships and interactions between the sta
and the students were observed in virtually all high
quality programs particularly in terms o expectations
or student perormance disciplinary issues and
democracy
All interviewees reported having some orm o
technology-related proessional development available in
their aterschool program
Most proessional development opportunities were or
helping students with reading and math applying state
standards to the curriculum and connecting with theday school Fewer opportunities were oered on topics
o English learners special needs students evaluation
and assessment (see Recommendations section)
A higher percentage o site coordinators reported
receiving proessional development in most categories
(other than working with English language learners)
compared to instructors who reported receiving the
lowest percentage o proessional development in
program and sel-evaluation (see Recommendations
section)
Although sta generally ound proessional developmentuseul only 26 had regular (2-4) opportunities each
year About 50 o the homework program sta
reported that no proessional development was oered
to them (see Recommendations section)
Examples
Nearly all quality aterschool programs approached
decision-making in a democratic ashion One program
allowed students to oer input on where they would
like to conduct their service learning projects others
considered studentsrsquo activities choices and made great
eorts to include them in their program decision-making
Arts- science- and technology-ocused aterschool
programs tended to give students more autonomy
and input into programs compared to homework or
academic ocused programs One arts program sta
stated that student inputs were ldquoalways o great value
student interests had a vast impact on art curriculum
contentrdquo Consequently students took ownership in
their learning and remained engaged
Component 4 Staff ____________________________________________________
ldquoThese are kids who have never been exposed to
anythingmdashour goal is to open their minds to new
things and to show that they can do ithellipWe want a
well-balanced well-rounded program with a lot of
different things to offer to the childrenrdquo - Afterschool
Site Coordinator
Study ndings revealed curricular similarities and
dierences across all programs a majority o which
oered three or more activities each day Most
programs included homework help or tutoring but
other activities ranged rom academic (eg math
reading writing science) to enrichment (eg arts
and crats cooking gardening health and nutrition
cultural activities computers) and recreation (eg
sports dance drill team outdoor games) The
requency and duration o instruction oered by the
programs are provided in Table 1
These ndings suggest that students were receiving
adequate aterschool time or learning and skills
practice Observation reports across the programs also
indicated that students appeared to be mostly engaged
and attentive and enjoyed the activities Virtually all
programs provided substantial time or recreational
and crats activities keeping students engaged while
exercising other parts o their brains
Key Evaluation Findings
The majority o programs employed unique and
innovative strategies to engage students in theaterschool setting placing a particular emphasis on
making learning un
Technology programs reported the most requent
use o research-based practices whereas reading
programs reported the lowest requency
Technology science arts and homework programs
appeared to be more ocused on developing
higher order thinking skills whereas reading and
math programs were more ocused on direct skills
instruction
Most programs shared similar methods odisseminating inormation to parents as well as
a means o encouraging their involvement in the
aterschool programs
Parents were very satised with the programs both
in terms o positive changes in their childrenrsquos
behaviors and attitudes and in general program
unctioning They elt that the sta cared about and
respected their children They also reported that
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Many sites provided character development The site
coordinator at a reading aterschool program described
two character programs that they oered students
The girls get ldquoSmart Girlsrdquo which is also characterbuilding but it deals with those lie changes duringpuberty taking care o your body in terms ohygiene and what does it mean to be a woman insociety For the boys itrsquos ldquoPassport to Manhoodrdquo
Another site coordinator or a math aterschool programmentioned a program called Character Developmentwhich ocused on teaching students values such ashonesty respect responsibility and caring
Community involvement was common in the programs
such as making get well cards or patients in the
hospitals taking trips to nursing homes to sing to the
senior citizens recycling or community beautication
eorts and cultivating community gardens One
aterschool program worked with a local charitable
organization not only to restore a public garden but
also to hike take horticulture classes go rowing and
swim in the lake
Community members oten volunteered in the ater-
school programs oten a result o aliations with local
universities and high schools who requently tutored
students Boy and girl scouts churches and boys
and girls club members also volunteered Aterschool
program sta requently invited science experts rom
the community to visit their programs and share their
own experiences o practical real-world applications or
science As one project director explained
ldquoWhat makes it unique [at our program] is we
have so much community involvement in teachingsciencehellipWersquove really tried to get experts in thefeld to come inhellipI donrsquot think that there is anyprogram that has more community involvement inteaching students science than oursrdquo
Component 5 Evaluation ________________________________________________________
When you look at their assessments on the [statetest]hellipthey werenrsquot measuring up with other statesand because of that we had to go back and revisit ourcurriculum to see where we were falling through the
cracks - Afterschool Program Principal
Overview
As outlined in the CRESST aterschool model ongoing
evaluation is necessary to measure program perormance
and make continuous improvement While evaluation data
serves many stakeholders including students parents and
aterschool stamdash unding agencies (who are making a
growing investment in aterschool programs) increasingly
want to know i their outlays are making measureable
improvements
We ound that nearly all aterschool programs used
internal evaluation to identiy program strengths and
weaknesses Internal evaluation oten called ormativeevaluation was usually done by the programrsquos own sta or
sta within its unding agencies governance structure The
stakes or consequences were usually low ndash with program
improvement the key goal An external evaluation
on the other hand typically had higher consequences
or programs and was nearly always conducted by a
disinterested third party In some cases accreditation or
even program continuance may be decided by an unbiased
outside ldquoexternalrdquo evaluation expert
Interview and survey responses across our studies indicated
that even though rigorous examination o data was rarenearly all o the aterschool programs conducted internal
or external evaluations o their programs
Key Evaluation Findings
All but two programs reported having conducted
internal evaluations Evaluation varied rom inormal
conversations between aterschool sta day school
sta and parents to a ormal administration o surveys
to students parents sta and tracking o test scores
grades and attendance records (see Recommendations
section)
Responses rom interviewees suggested that many o
the programs were evaluated externally sometimes
by an evaluation organization experienced in program
evaluation Interviewees consistently indicated that most
o the evaluations were o the entire program
External evaluation methodologies typically included
pre-post testing or classroom evaluations comparison
groups surveys ocus groups observational
assessments or a combination o methods
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ldquo
Recommendations ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Our ndings point to the contributions o goals leadership sta programs and evaluation to high quality aterschool
programs Nevertheless we noticed consistent areas o weaknesses in even the best aterschool programs We oer the
ollowing research-based recommendations that we believe will help improve any aterschool program
Staff Stability
Our studyrsquos results indicated that high unctioning programs tend to have low sta turnover rates Over 60
o the sta had between 1ndash7 years o experience at the current site and over 30 o the sta had over 4 yearso experiences at the current site Sta stability is important or relationship building and a basis or students to
build trust positive attitudes and ecacy toward learning
Recommendation Funders and aterschool administrators should consider incentives or building sta retention rang-
ing rom educational opportunities (eg tuition grants) to ldquooutstanding aterschool teams or teachersrdquo nominated and
selected by parents teachers and students A pay scale incentive or years o service and a possible career ladder may also
improve sta retention
Collaboration with the Day School
In our studies all o the programs maintained positive relationships with the day school However despite
the importance o this relationship too ew programs had strategic systems established that supported and
strengthened this connection Recommendation Formal agreements and written plans (ideally in early stages) should address day school
collaboration Time or day school teachers and aterschool sta to meet and plan lessons together plus a communicationssystem (eg homework log between day school teachers and aterschool sta) should be included in both school andaterschool plans Funding agencies should budget additional resources or aterschool programs that will acilitate linkagessuch as shared proessional development sta retreats or workshops that jointly support students
Space and Technology
Many programs relied on access to common space such as an auditorium or a classroom shared with day
school teachers which oten caused logistical problems and sometimes prevented planned activities rom taking
place Furthermore some programs expressed diculty with not having consistent access to classrooms A
site coordinator illuminated the problem ldquoI would say physical space would be denitely a big thing with ourprogramhellipThat is probably one o the hardest things to work with just because every 6 weeks we are readjusting
the classroom to new classroom seating charts new areas in which the students can and cannot gordquo
Recommendation Aterschool space issues should be addressed early in the planning process and reviewed each
year or adequacy Technology too especially with shared equipment should also be addressed recognizing the growing role
that technology plays in both learning and recreational activities
ldquoFormal agreementsand written plans
ideally in early stagesshould address dayschool collaboration
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Professional Development
We ound that proessional development was not regularly oered at all program sites and when oered
participation rates were oten low Moreover project directors and site coordinators appeared to attend
conerences and workshops more requently than program sta
Recommendation Because proessional development has a strong correlation with sta ecacy instructional quality and
student outcomes (Ingvarson Meiers amp Beavis 2005) ederal and state policies guiding the development and operations o
aterschool programs should provide additional guidelines for sufcient quality professional development for all after -
school staff especially at the instructor level
Recommendation Aterschool programs should include proessional development in their written plansThose
plans should address unding issues or substitutes or example I there is a ldquotraining-o-the-trainerrdquo approach at the sites
written guidelines should include evaluation to ensure proessional development delity When planning the yearly calendar
proessional development or all sta should be included Topics should address program evaluation assessment and data use
plus needs o English learners and students with disabilities
Content and Curriculum
Our study ndings showed that although most program sta were aware o the standards within their specic
content areas they were less knowledgeable about the links between the standards and successul instructional
practices Proessional development can help address this need which is increasingly important with most statersquos
recent adoptions o the common core standards
Recommendation Proessional development should help all program sta expand their knowledge o content
standards and instructional methods or aligning those standards to instruction Program goals should include content and
curriculum enhancement or sta as a key purpose plus implementation and evaluation methods
Parent Involvement
Although the research literature continuously stresses the importance o parent involvement in infuencing
childrenrsquos academic outcomes our study repeatedly ound that parents though very satised with the programs
were generally not involved in attending events or volunteering in aterschool programs
Recommendation Despite the time constraints amilies ace aterschool leaders should continue to include parent in-
volvement as a central program goal oering specic late aternoon or early evening times or parent involved events as
well as using both social networks and websites to support positive communication between parents and sta Parents should
be included in an active program committee or evaluation team when possible thereby enhancing parent involvement and
contributions to the aterschool program Open houses and parent-teacher conerences can acilitate parent participation Home
visits and amily assistance can urther solidiy the relationships between the aterschool and its amilies
Evaluation
The contributions o eective internal and external evaluations must not be overlooked Equally important is the
use o the ndings or specic program improvements
Recommendation Federal state and local policies should address and provide unding or systematic evalua-
tion o all programs Evaluation should ideally include internal ormative evaluation as well as annual or biennial external
summative evaluations Multiple perspectives should be sought when gathering evaluation data including parent student andcommunity input Evaluation results should span accountability needs as well as guide continuous program improvement To be
eective all evaluations should be in written ormat
Recommendation For internal evaluation program directors and site coordinators need to clearly defne the pur-
poses o evaluations in their goals Sel-evaluation tools can be used to understand sta proessional development needs
sta utilization o research-based activities and sta knowledge o standards-based curriculum Using these evaluation results
program directors can implement changes allocate resources and design proessional development opportunities to urther
sta expertise in needed areas
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Recommendation External evaluation should ocus on student outcomes ideally using student data rom the regular
day school level that includes both perormance and attendance inormation It is crucial that external evaluation results are
provided in a written ormat so that comparisons may be made over periods o time In order or evaluation data either internal
or external to be used eectively and lead to program improvement results must be well communicated to all stakeholders and
a system created or monitoring evaluation usage
Conclusion ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Even at a time o austere ederal state and local unding ndash we highly encourage policy makers aterschool managers and
school districts to ully budget aterschool programs that will provide high quality leaders and sta Proessional development
and external evaluation should also be included in both budgets and program planning As one program director said
ldquoI think itrsquos very important that everybody understand the power that can come rom an aterschool program in aecting
change not only cultural change on campus but also individually in particular lives The sense o accomplishment that comes
rom being in one o our programs where they have more reedom to explore and have more hands-on experiences
is prooundrdquo
Resources
Links to Various CRESST Afterschool Evaluations
bull Examining Practices of Staff Recruitment and Retention in Four High-Functioning Afterschool ProgramsExtended Study rom the National Aterschool Partnership Report
bull Examining the Relationship between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Academic Achievement of LArsquos BEST Students
bull Identication of Key Indicators of Quality in Afterschool Programs
bull A Circle of Learning Children and Adults Growing Together in LArsquos BEST
bull What Works Common Practices in High Functioning Afterschool Programs Across the Nation in MathReading Science Arts Technology and Homework--A Study by the National Partnership
bull The Afterschool Hours Examining the Relationship between Afterschool Staff-Based Social Capital andStudent Engagement in LArsquos BEST
bull The Afterschool Experience in Salsa Sabor y Salud
bull Exploring the Relationships between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Cognitive Gains of LArsquos BESTStudents
bull Preparing Students for the 21st Century Exploring the Effect of Afterschool Participation on Studentsrsquo
Collaboration Skills Oral Communication Skills and Sel-Ecacy
bull Exploring the Intellectual Social and Organizational Capitals at LArsquos BEST
Link to the Afterschool Toolkit
bull SEDL - National Center for Quality Afterschool Afterschool Training Toolkit
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QUALITY
AFTERSCHOOL
PROGRAM
EVALUATION
STAFF
LEADERSHIP
PROGRAM
GOALS
Figure 1 CRESST Afterschool Program Quality Model
Goals are clear rigorous and supported across the program in structure and content Funding
is adequate to support goals
Leadership is experienced well-educated has longevity at the current site uses eective
communications sets high expectations and has a bottoms-up management style
Sta is experienced has longevity at current program relates well to students models high
expectations motivates and engages students and works well with leaders colleagues and
parents
Program aligns to the day school provides time or students to study learn and practice
includes motivational activities requently uses technology science and the arts to support
youth development student learning and engagement
Evaluation uses both internal (ormative) and external (summative) methods Evaluative
inormation and data accurately measure goals results are applied to continuous program
improvement
1
2
3
4
5
These ve components work together to produce a high quality aterschool program (Figure 1)
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The remainder o this brie covers each o these ve
components First we provide common evaluation ndings
across most programs We then provide examples
either best practices or useul observations noted by
the CRESST team We conclude with a short list o
recommendations which could help make aterschool
programs even better
Component 1 Goals ________________________________________________________
ldquoEverything that we do in afterschool we try to make it connected to the real worldhellipOne of our many goals is tomake it relevanthellipmake a connection for students to stayin school go to college a reason to be on a particular
career pathhelliprdquo - Afterschool Project Director
Overview
Setting clear goals and desired outcomes is a cornerstone
o aterschool program success (Bodilly and Beckett 2005)
Virtually all o the programs we studied had established
unambiguous goals and structured their programs to
meet those goals At the same time most programs alsorecognized the importance o considering student voices
when making decisions regarding program activities
and content hence many programs allowed students
to provide input especially in the arts and technology
programs As a result students were engaged and excited
to be in their aterschool programs
Key Evaluation Findings
The best programs had
bull clearly dened goals in a written plan
bull curricular design and specic practices aligned toprogram goals and
bull internal and external evaluations (or urther detailssee Component 5 o this report)
ldquoAchievementrdquo ocused programs oten district-aliated werebull usually more structured than other aterschool
program types
bull stressed improvement o academic perormance
bull hired more certied teachers and
bull maintained a more consistent linkage with the dayschool then less achievement-ocused programs
Goals o many high quality aterschool programs also
had a specic emphasis (eg science technology
homework support community involvement or the
arts)
Examples
The site coordinator at one math program described
program goals as ocused on developing studentsrsquo
academic skills within a specic content area ldquoOur
primary goals are to bring the student to grade levelrdquo
Similarly goals or three o the math programs and our
o the reading programs specically targeted students
who were struggling academically
A primary goal o many arts ocused aterschool
programs was to provide students who otherwisewould have little-to-no exposure to the arts with
quality art experiences Many interviewees reported
using an integrative approach to arts instruction that
could help students who were struggling academically
and personally
Similar to arts all science sta responded to questions
about curricular goals by suggesting a primary interest
in oering positive science experiences to students A
ew went urther to explain that their principle goal
was to improve standardized test scores in science
by ocusing on extending day school instruction into
aterschool
Interview data across seven homework-ocused
programs suggested that the primary goals in
aterschool homework were to complete homework
and increase academic achievement
Nearly all o the technology sta had the goal o
teaching students the mechanics o a broad range
o technology skills an interest in encouraging the
students to use those skills to enhance learning in other
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content areas and teaching the students a technical skill
that is relevant to their real lives (both now and in the
uture)
In aligning activities to achieve their program goals nearly
all interviewees described the merits o developing a
curriculum that combined academic skill development with
opportunities to explore and encourage studentsrsquo social
development One program director summed up
ldquoOur goal is to help each child to make sure that itrsquos
an aterschool program thatrsquos un but at the sametime itrsquos enriching so they grow and learn every dayso they can take home more knowledgehelliprdquo
Component 2 Leadership ________________________________________________________
ldquoObviously we try to be democratichellipSo one of thethings we try to do here how we want to make thisa great place to work is in fnding great peoplethen giving the people the power and leeway and theaccountability but also the freedom to do what they
think works best and trusting themhelliprdquo
- Afterschool Project Director
Overview
Our studies ound that directors and managers o high
unctioning aterschool programs usually had many years
o experience in aterschool programs Further the leaders
nearly always shared decision-making with their sta across
aterschool goals programs and evaluation
Key Evaluation Findings
The best programs had leaders who
bull articulated a clear program mission vision statementand goals
bull decentralized decision making used a bottoms upleadership style
bull trusted in the knowledge and skills o sta regardingcurriculum and instruction
bull promoted a team culture o positive relationships
requent communication and sta problem-solvingskills
bull insured that instructors and students had adequatematerials and resources and
bull provided all sta with proessional developmentopportunities that improved individual and team skills
The majority o both site coordinators and instructors
said that aterschool instructors had an active voice in
decisions about curriculum and instruction (44 average
on a 50 point scale) and took active roles in program
leadership and decision-making (41 average)
Administrators consistently described the value o
starsquos content-specic skills and expertise as a result
curriculum development was a group process in which
leaders gave sta members a strong voice in designing
instruction
Leaders and sta across high-quality programs
maintained good relationships with the day school
personnel However ew o them had established
ormal communication systems or that purpose
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently Regularly
P e r c e n t a g e o f I n s t r u c t o r s
2217 19
14
28
Figure 2 Frequency of communication between afterschool program and day-school staff
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Figure 3 Educational levels of afterschool staff
1Currently in High School
19High School GraduateGED
9Associatersquos Degree
24Masterrsquos Degree
47Bachelorrsquos Degree
(as indicated in Figure 2) with less than 50 o
aterschool sta reporting that they had regular or
requent communication with day school teachers (see
Recommendations section)
Examples
One site coordinator expressed appreciation or the sta
by stating
ldquoThese are proessional adultshellipand they are the
best ones to implement the curriculumhellip Theyrsquoreright there with the studentshellipthey know whattheir levels are and their abilitiesrdquo
An arts program instructor explained
ldquoMy experience has been that the aterschoolteachers propose something that wersquod like to dowith the kids aterschool and [the director] then
just talks to us about what our plans are Wehellipreport to her in terms o lesson plans and how weincorporate standards and benchmarks but a lot oreedom is really given to us We teach what wersquorecomortable teaching and what wersquore passionateaboutrdquo
A project director at a technology program said that his
starsquos latitude was evenly balanced by a strong level o
accountability or their curricular choices
ldquoEvery quarter they have to come back to us andtell us how theyrsquore doing They report back asto what is going on at theirhellipprograms In termso actual decision-making and setting goals anddeciding what wersquore going to do thatrsquos much moreo a bottom-up processrdquo
Component 3 Staff _____________________________________
ldquoWe recognized that the other role we (staff) have to play is to get children engaged in the learning process So itrsquos not just about completing the homework but itrsquosabout finding ways outside of the school to get theminterested excited feeling confident and to build theirself-esteem so that they want to come back the next day
and try a little harderrdquo - Afterschool Staff Instructor
Overview We ound that high quality programs recruited qualied
sta and created collegial environments supporting their
programsrsquo missions Aterschool leaders were able to retain
sta and achieve lower turnover rates than other programs
because sta elt respected supported autonomous and
condent in their ability to reach their students In turn
sta and students constructed positive relationships with
each other characterized by warmth and mutual respect
Sta was oten role a model or students creating a norm
o high expectations appropriate student behavior good
school attendance eective work habits and positiveattitudes towards learning
Key Evaluation Findings
Sta rom quality programs generally had high
educational levels Forty-seven percent o all sta had
Bachelorrsquos degrees twenty-our percent had a Masterrsquos
degree (see Figure 3)
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Aterschool sta in quality programs usually had
substantial aterschool experience Sixty-six percent
had more than three years o work experience in
aterschool twenty-three percent had six years or more
o experience
Program sta at high quality sites also tended to
have low turnover The majority o the sta had
been at their current site or three years or more (see
Recommendations section)Positive relationships and interactions between the sta
and the students were observed in virtually all high
quality programs particularly in terms o expectations
or student perormance disciplinary issues and
democracy
All interviewees reported having some orm o
technology-related proessional development available in
their aterschool program
Most proessional development opportunities were or
helping students with reading and math applying state
standards to the curriculum and connecting with theday school Fewer opportunities were oered on topics
o English learners special needs students evaluation
and assessment (see Recommendations section)
A higher percentage o site coordinators reported
receiving proessional development in most categories
(other than working with English language learners)
compared to instructors who reported receiving the
lowest percentage o proessional development in
program and sel-evaluation (see Recommendations
section)
Although sta generally ound proessional developmentuseul only 26 had regular (2-4) opportunities each
year About 50 o the homework program sta
reported that no proessional development was oered
to them (see Recommendations section)
Examples
Nearly all quality aterschool programs approached
decision-making in a democratic ashion One program
allowed students to oer input on where they would
like to conduct their service learning projects others
considered studentsrsquo activities choices and made great
eorts to include them in their program decision-making
Arts- science- and technology-ocused aterschool
programs tended to give students more autonomy
and input into programs compared to homework or
academic ocused programs One arts program sta
stated that student inputs were ldquoalways o great value
student interests had a vast impact on art curriculum
contentrdquo Consequently students took ownership in
their learning and remained engaged
Component 4 Staff ____________________________________________________
ldquoThese are kids who have never been exposed to
anythingmdashour goal is to open their minds to new
things and to show that they can do ithellipWe want a
well-balanced well-rounded program with a lot of
different things to offer to the childrenrdquo - Afterschool
Site Coordinator
Study ndings revealed curricular similarities and
dierences across all programs a majority o which
oered three or more activities each day Most
programs included homework help or tutoring but
other activities ranged rom academic (eg math
reading writing science) to enrichment (eg arts
and crats cooking gardening health and nutrition
cultural activities computers) and recreation (eg
sports dance drill team outdoor games) The
requency and duration o instruction oered by the
programs are provided in Table 1
These ndings suggest that students were receiving
adequate aterschool time or learning and skills
practice Observation reports across the programs also
indicated that students appeared to be mostly engaged
and attentive and enjoyed the activities Virtually all
programs provided substantial time or recreational
and crats activities keeping students engaged while
exercising other parts o their brains
Key Evaluation Findings
The majority o programs employed unique and
innovative strategies to engage students in theaterschool setting placing a particular emphasis on
making learning un
Technology programs reported the most requent
use o research-based practices whereas reading
programs reported the lowest requency
Technology science arts and homework programs
appeared to be more ocused on developing
higher order thinking skills whereas reading and
math programs were more ocused on direct skills
instruction
Most programs shared similar methods odisseminating inormation to parents as well as
a means o encouraging their involvement in the
aterschool programs
Parents were very satised with the programs both
in terms o positive changes in their childrenrsquos
behaviors and attitudes and in general program
unctioning They elt that the sta cared about and
respected their children They also reported that
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Many sites provided character development The site
coordinator at a reading aterschool program described
two character programs that they oered students
The girls get ldquoSmart Girlsrdquo which is also characterbuilding but it deals with those lie changes duringpuberty taking care o your body in terms ohygiene and what does it mean to be a woman insociety For the boys itrsquos ldquoPassport to Manhoodrdquo
Another site coordinator or a math aterschool programmentioned a program called Character Developmentwhich ocused on teaching students values such ashonesty respect responsibility and caring
Community involvement was common in the programs
such as making get well cards or patients in the
hospitals taking trips to nursing homes to sing to the
senior citizens recycling or community beautication
eorts and cultivating community gardens One
aterschool program worked with a local charitable
organization not only to restore a public garden but
also to hike take horticulture classes go rowing and
swim in the lake
Community members oten volunteered in the ater-
school programs oten a result o aliations with local
universities and high schools who requently tutored
students Boy and girl scouts churches and boys
and girls club members also volunteered Aterschool
program sta requently invited science experts rom
the community to visit their programs and share their
own experiences o practical real-world applications or
science As one project director explained
ldquoWhat makes it unique [at our program] is we
have so much community involvement in teachingsciencehellipWersquove really tried to get experts in thefeld to come inhellipI donrsquot think that there is anyprogram that has more community involvement inteaching students science than oursrdquo
Component 5 Evaluation ________________________________________________________
When you look at their assessments on the [statetest]hellipthey werenrsquot measuring up with other statesand because of that we had to go back and revisit ourcurriculum to see where we were falling through the
cracks - Afterschool Program Principal
Overview
As outlined in the CRESST aterschool model ongoing
evaluation is necessary to measure program perormance
and make continuous improvement While evaluation data
serves many stakeholders including students parents and
aterschool stamdash unding agencies (who are making a
growing investment in aterschool programs) increasingly
want to know i their outlays are making measureable
improvements
We ound that nearly all aterschool programs used
internal evaluation to identiy program strengths and
weaknesses Internal evaluation oten called ormativeevaluation was usually done by the programrsquos own sta or
sta within its unding agencies governance structure The
stakes or consequences were usually low ndash with program
improvement the key goal An external evaluation
on the other hand typically had higher consequences
or programs and was nearly always conducted by a
disinterested third party In some cases accreditation or
even program continuance may be decided by an unbiased
outside ldquoexternalrdquo evaluation expert
Interview and survey responses across our studies indicated
that even though rigorous examination o data was rarenearly all o the aterschool programs conducted internal
or external evaluations o their programs
Key Evaluation Findings
All but two programs reported having conducted
internal evaluations Evaluation varied rom inormal
conversations between aterschool sta day school
sta and parents to a ormal administration o surveys
to students parents sta and tracking o test scores
grades and attendance records (see Recommendations
section)
Responses rom interviewees suggested that many o
the programs were evaluated externally sometimes
by an evaluation organization experienced in program
evaluation Interviewees consistently indicated that most
o the evaluations were o the entire program
External evaluation methodologies typically included
pre-post testing or classroom evaluations comparison
groups surveys ocus groups observational
assessments or a combination o methods
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ldquo
Recommendations ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Our ndings point to the contributions o goals leadership sta programs and evaluation to high quality aterschool
programs Nevertheless we noticed consistent areas o weaknesses in even the best aterschool programs We oer the
ollowing research-based recommendations that we believe will help improve any aterschool program
Staff Stability
Our studyrsquos results indicated that high unctioning programs tend to have low sta turnover rates Over 60
o the sta had between 1ndash7 years o experience at the current site and over 30 o the sta had over 4 yearso experiences at the current site Sta stability is important or relationship building and a basis or students to
build trust positive attitudes and ecacy toward learning
Recommendation Funders and aterschool administrators should consider incentives or building sta retention rang-
ing rom educational opportunities (eg tuition grants) to ldquooutstanding aterschool teams or teachersrdquo nominated and
selected by parents teachers and students A pay scale incentive or years o service and a possible career ladder may also
improve sta retention
Collaboration with the Day School
In our studies all o the programs maintained positive relationships with the day school However despite
the importance o this relationship too ew programs had strategic systems established that supported and
strengthened this connection Recommendation Formal agreements and written plans (ideally in early stages) should address day school
collaboration Time or day school teachers and aterschool sta to meet and plan lessons together plus a communicationssystem (eg homework log between day school teachers and aterschool sta) should be included in both school andaterschool plans Funding agencies should budget additional resources or aterschool programs that will acilitate linkagessuch as shared proessional development sta retreats or workshops that jointly support students
Space and Technology
Many programs relied on access to common space such as an auditorium or a classroom shared with day
school teachers which oten caused logistical problems and sometimes prevented planned activities rom taking
place Furthermore some programs expressed diculty with not having consistent access to classrooms A
site coordinator illuminated the problem ldquoI would say physical space would be denitely a big thing with ourprogramhellipThat is probably one o the hardest things to work with just because every 6 weeks we are readjusting
the classroom to new classroom seating charts new areas in which the students can and cannot gordquo
Recommendation Aterschool space issues should be addressed early in the planning process and reviewed each
year or adequacy Technology too especially with shared equipment should also be addressed recognizing the growing role
that technology plays in both learning and recreational activities
ldquoFormal agreementsand written plans
ideally in early stagesshould address dayschool collaboration
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Professional Development
We ound that proessional development was not regularly oered at all program sites and when oered
participation rates were oten low Moreover project directors and site coordinators appeared to attend
conerences and workshops more requently than program sta
Recommendation Because proessional development has a strong correlation with sta ecacy instructional quality and
student outcomes (Ingvarson Meiers amp Beavis 2005) ederal and state policies guiding the development and operations o
aterschool programs should provide additional guidelines for sufcient quality professional development for all after -
school staff especially at the instructor level
Recommendation Aterschool programs should include proessional development in their written plansThose
plans should address unding issues or substitutes or example I there is a ldquotraining-o-the-trainerrdquo approach at the sites
written guidelines should include evaluation to ensure proessional development delity When planning the yearly calendar
proessional development or all sta should be included Topics should address program evaluation assessment and data use
plus needs o English learners and students with disabilities
Content and Curriculum
Our study ndings showed that although most program sta were aware o the standards within their specic
content areas they were less knowledgeable about the links between the standards and successul instructional
practices Proessional development can help address this need which is increasingly important with most statersquos
recent adoptions o the common core standards
Recommendation Proessional development should help all program sta expand their knowledge o content
standards and instructional methods or aligning those standards to instruction Program goals should include content and
curriculum enhancement or sta as a key purpose plus implementation and evaluation methods
Parent Involvement
Although the research literature continuously stresses the importance o parent involvement in infuencing
childrenrsquos academic outcomes our study repeatedly ound that parents though very satised with the programs
were generally not involved in attending events or volunteering in aterschool programs
Recommendation Despite the time constraints amilies ace aterschool leaders should continue to include parent in-
volvement as a central program goal oering specic late aternoon or early evening times or parent involved events as
well as using both social networks and websites to support positive communication between parents and sta Parents should
be included in an active program committee or evaluation team when possible thereby enhancing parent involvement and
contributions to the aterschool program Open houses and parent-teacher conerences can acilitate parent participation Home
visits and amily assistance can urther solidiy the relationships between the aterschool and its amilies
Evaluation
The contributions o eective internal and external evaluations must not be overlooked Equally important is the
use o the ndings or specic program improvements
Recommendation Federal state and local policies should address and provide unding or systematic evalua-
tion o all programs Evaluation should ideally include internal ormative evaluation as well as annual or biennial external
summative evaluations Multiple perspectives should be sought when gathering evaluation data including parent student andcommunity input Evaluation results should span accountability needs as well as guide continuous program improvement To be
eective all evaluations should be in written ormat
Recommendation For internal evaluation program directors and site coordinators need to clearly defne the pur-
poses o evaluations in their goals Sel-evaluation tools can be used to understand sta proessional development needs
sta utilization o research-based activities and sta knowledge o standards-based curriculum Using these evaluation results
program directors can implement changes allocate resources and design proessional development opportunities to urther
sta expertise in needed areas
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Recommendation External evaluation should ocus on student outcomes ideally using student data rom the regular
day school level that includes both perormance and attendance inormation It is crucial that external evaluation results are
provided in a written ormat so that comparisons may be made over periods o time In order or evaluation data either internal
or external to be used eectively and lead to program improvement results must be well communicated to all stakeholders and
a system created or monitoring evaluation usage
Conclusion ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Even at a time o austere ederal state and local unding ndash we highly encourage policy makers aterschool managers and
school districts to ully budget aterschool programs that will provide high quality leaders and sta Proessional development
and external evaluation should also be included in both budgets and program planning As one program director said
ldquoI think itrsquos very important that everybody understand the power that can come rom an aterschool program in aecting
change not only cultural change on campus but also individually in particular lives The sense o accomplishment that comes
rom being in one o our programs where they have more reedom to explore and have more hands-on experiences
is prooundrdquo
Resources
Links to Various CRESST Afterschool Evaluations
bull Examining Practices of Staff Recruitment and Retention in Four High-Functioning Afterschool ProgramsExtended Study rom the National Aterschool Partnership Report
bull Examining the Relationship between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Academic Achievement of LArsquos BEST Students
bull Identication of Key Indicators of Quality in Afterschool Programs
bull A Circle of Learning Children and Adults Growing Together in LArsquos BEST
bull What Works Common Practices in High Functioning Afterschool Programs Across the Nation in MathReading Science Arts Technology and Homework--A Study by the National Partnership
bull The Afterschool Hours Examining the Relationship between Afterschool Staff-Based Social Capital andStudent Engagement in LArsquos BEST
bull The Afterschool Experience in Salsa Sabor y Salud
bull Exploring the Relationships between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Cognitive Gains of LArsquos BESTStudents
bull Preparing Students for the 21st Century Exploring the Effect of Afterschool Participation on Studentsrsquo
Collaboration Skills Oral Communication Skills and Sel-Ecacy
bull Exploring the Intellectual Social and Organizational Capitals at LArsquos BEST
Link to the Afterschool Toolkit
bull SEDL - National Center for Quality Afterschool Afterschool Training Toolkit
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QUALITY
AFTERSCHOOL
PROGRAM
EVALUATION
STAFF
LEADERSHIP
PROGRAM
GOALS
Figure 1 CRESST Afterschool Program Quality Model
Goals are clear rigorous and supported across the program in structure and content Funding
is adequate to support goals
Leadership is experienced well-educated has longevity at the current site uses eective
communications sets high expectations and has a bottoms-up management style
Sta is experienced has longevity at current program relates well to students models high
expectations motivates and engages students and works well with leaders colleagues and
parents
Program aligns to the day school provides time or students to study learn and practice
includes motivational activities requently uses technology science and the arts to support
youth development student learning and engagement
Evaluation uses both internal (ormative) and external (summative) methods Evaluative
inormation and data accurately measure goals results are applied to continuous program
improvement
1
2
3
4
5
These ve components work together to produce a high quality aterschool program (Figure 1)
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The remainder o this brie covers each o these ve
components First we provide common evaluation ndings
across most programs We then provide examples
either best practices or useul observations noted by
the CRESST team We conclude with a short list o
recommendations which could help make aterschool
programs even better
Component 1 Goals ________________________________________________________
ldquoEverything that we do in afterschool we try to make it connected to the real worldhellipOne of our many goals is tomake it relevanthellipmake a connection for students to stayin school go to college a reason to be on a particular
career pathhelliprdquo - Afterschool Project Director
Overview
Setting clear goals and desired outcomes is a cornerstone
o aterschool program success (Bodilly and Beckett 2005)
Virtually all o the programs we studied had established
unambiguous goals and structured their programs to
meet those goals At the same time most programs alsorecognized the importance o considering student voices
when making decisions regarding program activities
and content hence many programs allowed students
to provide input especially in the arts and technology
programs As a result students were engaged and excited
to be in their aterschool programs
Key Evaluation Findings
The best programs had
bull clearly dened goals in a written plan
bull curricular design and specic practices aligned toprogram goals and
bull internal and external evaluations (or urther detailssee Component 5 o this report)
ldquoAchievementrdquo ocused programs oten district-aliated werebull usually more structured than other aterschool
program types
bull stressed improvement o academic perormance
bull hired more certied teachers and
bull maintained a more consistent linkage with the dayschool then less achievement-ocused programs
Goals o many high quality aterschool programs also
had a specic emphasis (eg science technology
homework support community involvement or the
arts)
Examples
The site coordinator at one math program described
program goals as ocused on developing studentsrsquo
academic skills within a specic content area ldquoOur
primary goals are to bring the student to grade levelrdquo
Similarly goals or three o the math programs and our
o the reading programs specically targeted students
who were struggling academically
A primary goal o many arts ocused aterschool
programs was to provide students who otherwisewould have little-to-no exposure to the arts with
quality art experiences Many interviewees reported
using an integrative approach to arts instruction that
could help students who were struggling academically
and personally
Similar to arts all science sta responded to questions
about curricular goals by suggesting a primary interest
in oering positive science experiences to students A
ew went urther to explain that their principle goal
was to improve standardized test scores in science
by ocusing on extending day school instruction into
aterschool
Interview data across seven homework-ocused
programs suggested that the primary goals in
aterschool homework were to complete homework
and increase academic achievement
Nearly all o the technology sta had the goal o
teaching students the mechanics o a broad range
o technology skills an interest in encouraging the
students to use those skills to enhance learning in other
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content areas and teaching the students a technical skill
that is relevant to their real lives (both now and in the
uture)
In aligning activities to achieve their program goals nearly
all interviewees described the merits o developing a
curriculum that combined academic skill development with
opportunities to explore and encourage studentsrsquo social
development One program director summed up
ldquoOur goal is to help each child to make sure that itrsquos
an aterschool program thatrsquos un but at the sametime itrsquos enriching so they grow and learn every dayso they can take home more knowledgehelliprdquo
Component 2 Leadership ________________________________________________________
ldquoObviously we try to be democratichellipSo one of thethings we try to do here how we want to make thisa great place to work is in fnding great peoplethen giving the people the power and leeway and theaccountability but also the freedom to do what they
think works best and trusting themhelliprdquo
- Afterschool Project Director
Overview
Our studies ound that directors and managers o high
unctioning aterschool programs usually had many years
o experience in aterschool programs Further the leaders
nearly always shared decision-making with their sta across
aterschool goals programs and evaluation
Key Evaluation Findings
The best programs had leaders who
bull articulated a clear program mission vision statementand goals
bull decentralized decision making used a bottoms upleadership style
bull trusted in the knowledge and skills o sta regardingcurriculum and instruction
bull promoted a team culture o positive relationships
requent communication and sta problem-solvingskills
bull insured that instructors and students had adequatematerials and resources and
bull provided all sta with proessional developmentopportunities that improved individual and team skills
The majority o both site coordinators and instructors
said that aterschool instructors had an active voice in
decisions about curriculum and instruction (44 average
on a 50 point scale) and took active roles in program
leadership and decision-making (41 average)
Administrators consistently described the value o
starsquos content-specic skills and expertise as a result
curriculum development was a group process in which
leaders gave sta members a strong voice in designing
instruction
Leaders and sta across high-quality programs
maintained good relationships with the day school
personnel However ew o them had established
ormal communication systems or that purpose
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently Regularly
P e r c e n t a g e o f I n s t r u c t o r s
2217 19
14
28
Figure 2 Frequency of communication between afterschool program and day-school staff
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Figure 3 Educational levels of afterschool staff
1Currently in High School
19High School GraduateGED
9Associatersquos Degree
24Masterrsquos Degree
47Bachelorrsquos Degree
(as indicated in Figure 2) with less than 50 o
aterschool sta reporting that they had regular or
requent communication with day school teachers (see
Recommendations section)
Examples
One site coordinator expressed appreciation or the sta
by stating
ldquoThese are proessional adultshellipand they are the
best ones to implement the curriculumhellip Theyrsquoreright there with the studentshellipthey know whattheir levels are and their abilitiesrdquo
An arts program instructor explained
ldquoMy experience has been that the aterschoolteachers propose something that wersquod like to dowith the kids aterschool and [the director] then
just talks to us about what our plans are Wehellipreport to her in terms o lesson plans and how weincorporate standards and benchmarks but a lot oreedom is really given to us We teach what wersquorecomortable teaching and what wersquore passionateaboutrdquo
A project director at a technology program said that his
starsquos latitude was evenly balanced by a strong level o
accountability or their curricular choices
ldquoEvery quarter they have to come back to us andtell us how theyrsquore doing They report back asto what is going on at theirhellipprograms In termso actual decision-making and setting goals anddeciding what wersquore going to do thatrsquos much moreo a bottom-up processrdquo
Component 3 Staff _____________________________________
ldquoWe recognized that the other role we (staff) have to play is to get children engaged in the learning process So itrsquos not just about completing the homework but itrsquosabout finding ways outside of the school to get theminterested excited feeling confident and to build theirself-esteem so that they want to come back the next day
and try a little harderrdquo - Afterschool Staff Instructor
Overview We ound that high quality programs recruited qualied
sta and created collegial environments supporting their
programsrsquo missions Aterschool leaders were able to retain
sta and achieve lower turnover rates than other programs
because sta elt respected supported autonomous and
condent in their ability to reach their students In turn
sta and students constructed positive relationships with
each other characterized by warmth and mutual respect
Sta was oten role a model or students creating a norm
o high expectations appropriate student behavior good
school attendance eective work habits and positiveattitudes towards learning
Key Evaluation Findings
Sta rom quality programs generally had high
educational levels Forty-seven percent o all sta had
Bachelorrsquos degrees twenty-our percent had a Masterrsquos
degree (see Figure 3)
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Aterschool sta in quality programs usually had
substantial aterschool experience Sixty-six percent
had more than three years o work experience in
aterschool twenty-three percent had six years or more
o experience
Program sta at high quality sites also tended to
have low turnover The majority o the sta had
been at their current site or three years or more (see
Recommendations section)Positive relationships and interactions between the sta
and the students were observed in virtually all high
quality programs particularly in terms o expectations
or student perormance disciplinary issues and
democracy
All interviewees reported having some orm o
technology-related proessional development available in
their aterschool program
Most proessional development opportunities were or
helping students with reading and math applying state
standards to the curriculum and connecting with theday school Fewer opportunities were oered on topics
o English learners special needs students evaluation
and assessment (see Recommendations section)
A higher percentage o site coordinators reported
receiving proessional development in most categories
(other than working with English language learners)
compared to instructors who reported receiving the
lowest percentage o proessional development in
program and sel-evaluation (see Recommendations
section)
Although sta generally ound proessional developmentuseul only 26 had regular (2-4) opportunities each
year About 50 o the homework program sta
reported that no proessional development was oered
to them (see Recommendations section)
Examples
Nearly all quality aterschool programs approached
decision-making in a democratic ashion One program
allowed students to oer input on where they would
like to conduct their service learning projects others
considered studentsrsquo activities choices and made great
eorts to include them in their program decision-making
Arts- science- and technology-ocused aterschool
programs tended to give students more autonomy
and input into programs compared to homework or
academic ocused programs One arts program sta
stated that student inputs were ldquoalways o great value
student interests had a vast impact on art curriculum
contentrdquo Consequently students took ownership in
their learning and remained engaged
Component 4 Staff ____________________________________________________
ldquoThese are kids who have never been exposed to
anythingmdashour goal is to open their minds to new
things and to show that they can do ithellipWe want a
well-balanced well-rounded program with a lot of
different things to offer to the childrenrdquo - Afterschool
Site Coordinator
Study ndings revealed curricular similarities and
dierences across all programs a majority o which
oered three or more activities each day Most
programs included homework help or tutoring but
other activities ranged rom academic (eg math
reading writing science) to enrichment (eg arts
and crats cooking gardening health and nutrition
cultural activities computers) and recreation (eg
sports dance drill team outdoor games) The
requency and duration o instruction oered by the
programs are provided in Table 1
These ndings suggest that students were receiving
adequate aterschool time or learning and skills
practice Observation reports across the programs also
indicated that students appeared to be mostly engaged
and attentive and enjoyed the activities Virtually all
programs provided substantial time or recreational
and crats activities keeping students engaged while
exercising other parts o their brains
Key Evaluation Findings
The majority o programs employed unique and
innovative strategies to engage students in theaterschool setting placing a particular emphasis on
making learning un
Technology programs reported the most requent
use o research-based practices whereas reading
programs reported the lowest requency
Technology science arts and homework programs
appeared to be more ocused on developing
higher order thinking skills whereas reading and
math programs were more ocused on direct skills
instruction
Most programs shared similar methods odisseminating inormation to parents as well as
a means o encouraging their involvement in the
aterschool programs
Parents were very satised with the programs both
in terms o positive changes in their childrenrsquos
behaviors and attitudes and in general program
unctioning They elt that the sta cared about and
respected their children They also reported that
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Many sites provided character development The site
coordinator at a reading aterschool program described
two character programs that they oered students
The girls get ldquoSmart Girlsrdquo which is also characterbuilding but it deals with those lie changes duringpuberty taking care o your body in terms ohygiene and what does it mean to be a woman insociety For the boys itrsquos ldquoPassport to Manhoodrdquo
Another site coordinator or a math aterschool programmentioned a program called Character Developmentwhich ocused on teaching students values such ashonesty respect responsibility and caring
Community involvement was common in the programs
such as making get well cards or patients in the
hospitals taking trips to nursing homes to sing to the
senior citizens recycling or community beautication
eorts and cultivating community gardens One
aterschool program worked with a local charitable
organization not only to restore a public garden but
also to hike take horticulture classes go rowing and
swim in the lake
Community members oten volunteered in the ater-
school programs oten a result o aliations with local
universities and high schools who requently tutored
students Boy and girl scouts churches and boys
and girls club members also volunteered Aterschool
program sta requently invited science experts rom
the community to visit their programs and share their
own experiences o practical real-world applications or
science As one project director explained
ldquoWhat makes it unique [at our program] is we
have so much community involvement in teachingsciencehellipWersquove really tried to get experts in thefeld to come inhellipI donrsquot think that there is anyprogram that has more community involvement inteaching students science than oursrdquo
Component 5 Evaluation ________________________________________________________
When you look at their assessments on the [statetest]hellipthey werenrsquot measuring up with other statesand because of that we had to go back and revisit ourcurriculum to see where we were falling through the
cracks - Afterschool Program Principal
Overview
As outlined in the CRESST aterschool model ongoing
evaluation is necessary to measure program perormance
and make continuous improvement While evaluation data
serves many stakeholders including students parents and
aterschool stamdash unding agencies (who are making a
growing investment in aterschool programs) increasingly
want to know i their outlays are making measureable
improvements
We ound that nearly all aterschool programs used
internal evaluation to identiy program strengths and
weaknesses Internal evaluation oten called ormativeevaluation was usually done by the programrsquos own sta or
sta within its unding agencies governance structure The
stakes or consequences were usually low ndash with program
improvement the key goal An external evaluation
on the other hand typically had higher consequences
or programs and was nearly always conducted by a
disinterested third party In some cases accreditation or
even program continuance may be decided by an unbiased
outside ldquoexternalrdquo evaluation expert
Interview and survey responses across our studies indicated
that even though rigorous examination o data was rarenearly all o the aterschool programs conducted internal
or external evaluations o their programs
Key Evaluation Findings
All but two programs reported having conducted
internal evaluations Evaluation varied rom inormal
conversations between aterschool sta day school
sta and parents to a ormal administration o surveys
to students parents sta and tracking o test scores
grades and attendance records (see Recommendations
section)
Responses rom interviewees suggested that many o
the programs were evaluated externally sometimes
by an evaluation organization experienced in program
evaluation Interviewees consistently indicated that most
o the evaluations were o the entire program
External evaluation methodologies typically included
pre-post testing or classroom evaluations comparison
groups surveys ocus groups observational
assessments or a combination o methods
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7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1215 National Center for Research on Evaluation Standards amp Student Testing | Full Policy Brief No 11 | Summer 2011
ldquo
Recommendations ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Our ndings point to the contributions o goals leadership sta programs and evaluation to high quality aterschool
programs Nevertheless we noticed consistent areas o weaknesses in even the best aterschool programs We oer the
ollowing research-based recommendations that we believe will help improve any aterschool program
Staff Stability
Our studyrsquos results indicated that high unctioning programs tend to have low sta turnover rates Over 60
o the sta had between 1ndash7 years o experience at the current site and over 30 o the sta had over 4 yearso experiences at the current site Sta stability is important or relationship building and a basis or students to
build trust positive attitudes and ecacy toward learning
Recommendation Funders and aterschool administrators should consider incentives or building sta retention rang-
ing rom educational opportunities (eg tuition grants) to ldquooutstanding aterschool teams or teachersrdquo nominated and
selected by parents teachers and students A pay scale incentive or years o service and a possible career ladder may also
improve sta retention
Collaboration with the Day School
In our studies all o the programs maintained positive relationships with the day school However despite
the importance o this relationship too ew programs had strategic systems established that supported and
strengthened this connection Recommendation Formal agreements and written plans (ideally in early stages) should address day school
collaboration Time or day school teachers and aterschool sta to meet and plan lessons together plus a communicationssystem (eg homework log between day school teachers and aterschool sta) should be included in both school andaterschool plans Funding agencies should budget additional resources or aterschool programs that will acilitate linkagessuch as shared proessional development sta retreats or workshops that jointly support students
Space and Technology
Many programs relied on access to common space such as an auditorium or a classroom shared with day
school teachers which oten caused logistical problems and sometimes prevented planned activities rom taking
place Furthermore some programs expressed diculty with not having consistent access to classrooms A
site coordinator illuminated the problem ldquoI would say physical space would be denitely a big thing with ourprogramhellipThat is probably one o the hardest things to work with just because every 6 weeks we are readjusting
the classroom to new classroom seating charts new areas in which the students can and cannot gordquo
Recommendation Aterschool space issues should be addressed early in the planning process and reviewed each
year or adequacy Technology too especially with shared equipment should also be addressed recognizing the growing role
that technology plays in both learning and recreational activities
ldquoFormal agreementsand written plans
ideally in early stagesshould address dayschool collaboration
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httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1315 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Professional Development
We ound that proessional development was not regularly oered at all program sites and when oered
participation rates were oten low Moreover project directors and site coordinators appeared to attend
conerences and workshops more requently than program sta
Recommendation Because proessional development has a strong correlation with sta ecacy instructional quality and
student outcomes (Ingvarson Meiers amp Beavis 2005) ederal and state policies guiding the development and operations o
aterschool programs should provide additional guidelines for sufcient quality professional development for all after -
school staff especially at the instructor level
Recommendation Aterschool programs should include proessional development in their written plansThose
plans should address unding issues or substitutes or example I there is a ldquotraining-o-the-trainerrdquo approach at the sites
written guidelines should include evaluation to ensure proessional development delity When planning the yearly calendar
proessional development or all sta should be included Topics should address program evaluation assessment and data use
plus needs o English learners and students with disabilities
Content and Curriculum
Our study ndings showed that although most program sta were aware o the standards within their specic
content areas they were less knowledgeable about the links between the standards and successul instructional
practices Proessional development can help address this need which is increasingly important with most statersquos
recent adoptions o the common core standards
Recommendation Proessional development should help all program sta expand their knowledge o content
standards and instructional methods or aligning those standards to instruction Program goals should include content and
curriculum enhancement or sta as a key purpose plus implementation and evaluation methods
Parent Involvement
Although the research literature continuously stresses the importance o parent involvement in infuencing
childrenrsquos academic outcomes our study repeatedly ound that parents though very satised with the programs
were generally not involved in attending events or volunteering in aterschool programs
Recommendation Despite the time constraints amilies ace aterschool leaders should continue to include parent in-
volvement as a central program goal oering specic late aternoon or early evening times or parent involved events as
well as using both social networks and websites to support positive communication between parents and sta Parents should
be included in an active program committee or evaluation team when possible thereby enhancing parent involvement and
contributions to the aterschool program Open houses and parent-teacher conerences can acilitate parent participation Home
visits and amily assistance can urther solidiy the relationships between the aterschool and its amilies
Evaluation
The contributions o eective internal and external evaluations must not be overlooked Equally important is the
use o the ndings or specic program improvements
Recommendation Federal state and local policies should address and provide unding or systematic evalua-
tion o all programs Evaluation should ideally include internal ormative evaluation as well as annual or biennial external
summative evaluations Multiple perspectives should be sought when gathering evaluation data including parent student andcommunity input Evaluation results should span accountability needs as well as guide continuous program improvement To be
eective all evaluations should be in written ormat
Recommendation For internal evaluation program directors and site coordinators need to clearly defne the pur-
poses o evaluations in their goals Sel-evaluation tools can be used to understand sta proessional development needs
sta utilization o research-based activities and sta knowledge o standards-based curriculum Using these evaluation results
program directors can implement changes allocate resources and design proessional development opportunities to urther
sta expertise in needed areas
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Recommendation External evaluation should ocus on student outcomes ideally using student data rom the regular
day school level that includes both perormance and attendance inormation It is crucial that external evaluation results are
provided in a written ormat so that comparisons may be made over periods o time In order or evaluation data either internal
or external to be used eectively and lead to program improvement results must be well communicated to all stakeholders and
a system created or monitoring evaluation usage
Conclusion ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Even at a time o austere ederal state and local unding ndash we highly encourage policy makers aterschool managers and
school districts to ully budget aterschool programs that will provide high quality leaders and sta Proessional development
and external evaluation should also be included in both budgets and program planning As one program director said
ldquoI think itrsquos very important that everybody understand the power that can come rom an aterschool program in aecting
change not only cultural change on campus but also individually in particular lives The sense o accomplishment that comes
rom being in one o our programs where they have more reedom to explore and have more hands-on experiences
is prooundrdquo
Resources
Links to Various CRESST Afterschool Evaluations
bull Examining Practices of Staff Recruitment and Retention in Four High-Functioning Afterschool ProgramsExtended Study rom the National Aterschool Partnership Report
bull Examining the Relationship between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Academic Achievement of LArsquos BEST Students
bull Identication of Key Indicators of Quality in Afterschool Programs
bull A Circle of Learning Children and Adults Growing Together in LArsquos BEST
bull What Works Common Practices in High Functioning Afterschool Programs Across the Nation in MathReading Science Arts Technology and Homework--A Study by the National Partnership
bull The Afterschool Hours Examining the Relationship between Afterschool Staff-Based Social Capital andStudent Engagement in LArsquos BEST
bull The Afterschool Experience in Salsa Sabor y Salud
bull Exploring the Relationships between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Cognitive Gains of LArsquos BESTStudents
bull Preparing Students for the 21st Century Exploring the Effect of Afterschool Participation on Studentsrsquo
Collaboration Skills Oral Communication Skills and Sel-Ecacy
bull Exploring the Intellectual Social and Organizational Capitals at LArsquos BEST
Link to the Afterschool Toolkit
bull SEDL - National Center for Quality Afterschool Afterschool Training Toolkit
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The remainder o this brie covers each o these ve
components First we provide common evaluation ndings
across most programs We then provide examples
either best practices or useul observations noted by
the CRESST team We conclude with a short list o
recommendations which could help make aterschool
programs even better
Component 1 Goals ________________________________________________________
ldquoEverything that we do in afterschool we try to make it connected to the real worldhellipOne of our many goals is tomake it relevanthellipmake a connection for students to stayin school go to college a reason to be on a particular
career pathhelliprdquo - Afterschool Project Director
Overview
Setting clear goals and desired outcomes is a cornerstone
o aterschool program success (Bodilly and Beckett 2005)
Virtually all o the programs we studied had established
unambiguous goals and structured their programs to
meet those goals At the same time most programs alsorecognized the importance o considering student voices
when making decisions regarding program activities
and content hence many programs allowed students
to provide input especially in the arts and technology
programs As a result students were engaged and excited
to be in their aterschool programs
Key Evaluation Findings
The best programs had
bull clearly dened goals in a written plan
bull curricular design and specic practices aligned toprogram goals and
bull internal and external evaluations (or urther detailssee Component 5 o this report)
ldquoAchievementrdquo ocused programs oten district-aliated werebull usually more structured than other aterschool
program types
bull stressed improvement o academic perormance
bull hired more certied teachers and
bull maintained a more consistent linkage with the dayschool then less achievement-ocused programs
Goals o many high quality aterschool programs also
had a specic emphasis (eg science technology
homework support community involvement or the
arts)
Examples
The site coordinator at one math program described
program goals as ocused on developing studentsrsquo
academic skills within a specic content area ldquoOur
primary goals are to bring the student to grade levelrdquo
Similarly goals or three o the math programs and our
o the reading programs specically targeted students
who were struggling academically
A primary goal o many arts ocused aterschool
programs was to provide students who otherwisewould have little-to-no exposure to the arts with
quality art experiences Many interviewees reported
using an integrative approach to arts instruction that
could help students who were struggling academically
and personally
Similar to arts all science sta responded to questions
about curricular goals by suggesting a primary interest
in oering positive science experiences to students A
ew went urther to explain that their principle goal
was to improve standardized test scores in science
by ocusing on extending day school instruction into
aterschool
Interview data across seven homework-ocused
programs suggested that the primary goals in
aterschool homework were to complete homework
and increase academic achievement
Nearly all o the technology sta had the goal o
teaching students the mechanics o a broad range
o technology skills an interest in encouraging the
students to use those skills to enhance learning in other
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content areas and teaching the students a technical skill
that is relevant to their real lives (both now and in the
uture)
In aligning activities to achieve their program goals nearly
all interviewees described the merits o developing a
curriculum that combined academic skill development with
opportunities to explore and encourage studentsrsquo social
development One program director summed up
ldquoOur goal is to help each child to make sure that itrsquos
an aterschool program thatrsquos un but at the sametime itrsquos enriching so they grow and learn every dayso they can take home more knowledgehelliprdquo
Component 2 Leadership ________________________________________________________
ldquoObviously we try to be democratichellipSo one of thethings we try to do here how we want to make thisa great place to work is in fnding great peoplethen giving the people the power and leeway and theaccountability but also the freedom to do what they
think works best and trusting themhelliprdquo
- Afterschool Project Director
Overview
Our studies ound that directors and managers o high
unctioning aterschool programs usually had many years
o experience in aterschool programs Further the leaders
nearly always shared decision-making with their sta across
aterschool goals programs and evaluation
Key Evaluation Findings
The best programs had leaders who
bull articulated a clear program mission vision statementand goals
bull decentralized decision making used a bottoms upleadership style
bull trusted in the knowledge and skills o sta regardingcurriculum and instruction
bull promoted a team culture o positive relationships
requent communication and sta problem-solvingskills
bull insured that instructors and students had adequatematerials and resources and
bull provided all sta with proessional developmentopportunities that improved individual and team skills
The majority o both site coordinators and instructors
said that aterschool instructors had an active voice in
decisions about curriculum and instruction (44 average
on a 50 point scale) and took active roles in program
leadership and decision-making (41 average)
Administrators consistently described the value o
starsquos content-specic skills and expertise as a result
curriculum development was a group process in which
leaders gave sta members a strong voice in designing
instruction
Leaders and sta across high-quality programs
maintained good relationships with the day school
personnel However ew o them had established
ormal communication systems or that purpose
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently Regularly
P e r c e n t a g e o f I n s t r u c t o r s
2217 19
14
28
Figure 2 Frequency of communication between afterschool program and day-school staff
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Figure 3 Educational levels of afterschool staff
1Currently in High School
19High School GraduateGED
9Associatersquos Degree
24Masterrsquos Degree
47Bachelorrsquos Degree
(as indicated in Figure 2) with less than 50 o
aterschool sta reporting that they had regular or
requent communication with day school teachers (see
Recommendations section)
Examples
One site coordinator expressed appreciation or the sta
by stating
ldquoThese are proessional adultshellipand they are the
best ones to implement the curriculumhellip Theyrsquoreright there with the studentshellipthey know whattheir levels are and their abilitiesrdquo
An arts program instructor explained
ldquoMy experience has been that the aterschoolteachers propose something that wersquod like to dowith the kids aterschool and [the director] then
just talks to us about what our plans are Wehellipreport to her in terms o lesson plans and how weincorporate standards and benchmarks but a lot oreedom is really given to us We teach what wersquorecomortable teaching and what wersquore passionateaboutrdquo
A project director at a technology program said that his
starsquos latitude was evenly balanced by a strong level o
accountability or their curricular choices
ldquoEvery quarter they have to come back to us andtell us how theyrsquore doing They report back asto what is going on at theirhellipprograms In termso actual decision-making and setting goals anddeciding what wersquore going to do thatrsquos much moreo a bottom-up processrdquo
Component 3 Staff _____________________________________
ldquoWe recognized that the other role we (staff) have to play is to get children engaged in the learning process So itrsquos not just about completing the homework but itrsquosabout finding ways outside of the school to get theminterested excited feeling confident and to build theirself-esteem so that they want to come back the next day
and try a little harderrdquo - Afterschool Staff Instructor
Overview We ound that high quality programs recruited qualied
sta and created collegial environments supporting their
programsrsquo missions Aterschool leaders were able to retain
sta and achieve lower turnover rates than other programs
because sta elt respected supported autonomous and
condent in their ability to reach their students In turn
sta and students constructed positive relationships with
each other characterized by warmth and mutual respect
Sta was oten role a model or students creating a norm
o high expectations appropriate student behavior good
school attendance eective work habits and positiveattitudes towards learning
Key Evaluation Findings
Sta rom quality programs generally had high
educational levels Forty-seven percent o all sta had
Bachelorrsquos degrees twenty-our percent had a Masterrsquos
degree (see Figure 3)
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Aterschool sta in quality programs usually had
substantial aterschool experience Sixty-six percent
had more than three years o work experience in
aterschool twenty-three percent had six years or more
o experience
Program sta at high quality sites also tended to
have low turnover The majority o the sta had
been at their current site or three years or more (see
Recommendations section)Positive relationships and interactions between the sta
and the students were observed in virtually all high
quality programs particularly in terms o expectations
or student perormance disciplinary issues and
democracy
All interviewees reported having some orm o
technology-related proessional development available in
their aterschool program
Most proessional development opportunities were or
helping students with reading and math applying state
standards to the curriculum and connecting with theday school Fewer opportunities were oered on topics
o English learners special needs students evaluation
and assessment (see Recommendations section)
A higher percentage o site coordinators reported
receiving proessional development in most categories
(other than working with English language learners)
compared to instructors who reported receiving the
lowest percentage o proessional development in
program and sel-evaluation (see Recommendations
section)
Although sta generally ound proessional developmentuseul only 26 had regular (2-4) opportunities each
year About 50 o the homework program sta
reported that no proessional development was oered
to them (see Recommendations section)
Examples
Nearly all quality aterschool programs approached
decision-making in a democratic ashion One program
allowed students to oer input on where they would
like to conduct their service learning projects others
considered studentsrsquo activities choices and made great
eorts to include them in their program decision-making
Arts- science- and technology-ocused aterschool
programs tended to give students more autonomy
and input into programs compared to homework or
academic ocused programs One arts program sta
stated that student inputs were ldquoalways o great value
student interests had a vast impact on art curriculum
contentrdquo Consequently students took ownership in
their learning and remained engaged
Component 4 Staff ____________________________________________________
ldquoThese are kids who have never been exposed to
anythingmdashour goal is to open their minds to new
things and to show that they can do ithellipWe want a
well-balanced well-rounded program with a lot of
different things to offer to the childrenrdquo - Afterschool
Site Coordinator
Study ndings revealed curricular similarities and
dierences across all programs a majority o which
oered three or more activities each day Most
programs included homework help or tutoring but
other activities ranged rom academic (eg math
reading writing science) to enrichment (eg arts
and crats cooking gardening health and nutrition
cultural activities computers) and recreation (eg
sports dance drill team outdoor games) The
requency and duration o instruction oered by the
programs are provided in Table 1
These ndings suggest that students were receiving
adequate aterschool time or learning and skills
practice Observation reports across the programs also
indicated that students appeared to be mostly engaged
and attentive and enjoyed the activities Virtually all
programs provided substantial time or recreational
and crats activities keeping students engaged while
exercising other parts o their brains
Key Evaluation Findings
The majority o programs employed unique and
innovative strategies to engage students in theaterschool setting placing a particular emphasis on
making learning un
Technology programs reported the most requent
use o research-based practices whereas reading
programs reported the lowest requency
Technology science arts and homework programs
appeared to be more ocused on developing
higher order thinking skills whereas reading and
math programs were more ocused on direct skills
instruction
Most programs shared similar methods odisseminating inormation to parents as well as
a means o encouraging their involvement in the
aterschool programs
Parents were very satised with the programs both
in terms o positive changes in their childrenrsquos
behaviors and attitudes and in general program
unctioning They elt that the sta cared about and
respected their children They also reported that
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Many sites provided character development The site
coordinator at a reading aterschool program described
two character programs that they oered students
The girls get ldquoSmart Girlsrdquo which is also characterbuilding but it deals with those lie changes duringpuberty taking care o your body in terms ohygiene and what does it mean to be a woman insociety For the boys itrsquos ldquoPassport to Manhoodrdquo
Another site coordinator or a math aterschool programmentioned a program called Character Developmentwhich ocused on teaching students values such ashonesty respect responsibility and caring
Community involvement was common in the programs
such as making get well cards or patients in the
hospitals taking trips to nursing homes to sing to the
senior citizens recycling or community beautication
eorts and cultivating community gardens One
aterschool program worked with a local charitable
organization not only to restore a public garden but
also to hike take horticulture classes go rowing and
swim in the lake
Community members oten volunteered in the ater-
school programs oten a result o aliations with local
universities and high schools who requently tutored
students Boy and girl scouts churches and boys
and girls club members also volunteered Aterschool
program sta requently invited science experts rom
the community to visit their programs and share their
own experiences o practical real-world applications or
science As one project director explained
ldquoWhat makes it unique [at our program] is we
have so much community involvement in teachingsciencehellipWersquove really tried to get experts in thefeld to come inhellipI donrsquot think that there is anyprogram that has more community involvement inteaching students science than oursrdquo
Component 5 Evaluation ________________________________________________________
When you look at their assessments on the [statetest]hellipthey werenrsquot measuring up with other statesand because of that we had to go back and revisit ourcurriculum to see where we were falling through the
cracks - Afterschool Program Principal
Overview
As outlined in the CRESST aterschool model ongoing
evaluation is necessary to measure program perormance
and make continuous improvement While evaluation data
serves many stakeholders including students parents and
aterschool stamdash unding agencies (who are making a
growing investment in aterschool programs) increasingly
want to know i their outlays are making measureable
improvements
We ound that nearly all aterschool programs used
internal evaluation to identiy program strengths and
weaknesses Internal evaluation oten called ormativeevaluation was usually done by the programrsquos own sta or
sta within its unding agencies governance structure The
stakes or consequences were usually low ndash with program
improvement the key goal An external evaluation
on the other hand typically had higher consequences
or programs and was nearly always conducted by a
disinterested third party In some cases accreditation or
even program continuance may be decided by an unbiased
outside ldquoexternalrdquo evaluation expert
Interview and survey responses across our studies indicated
that even though rigorous examination o data was rarenearly all o the aterschool programs conducted internal
or external evaluations o their programs
Key Evaluation Findings
All but two programs reported having conducted
internal evaluations Evaluation varied rom inormal
conversations between aterschool sta day school
sta and parents to a ormal administration o surveys
to students parents sta and tracking o test scores
grades and attendance records (see Recommendations
section)
Responses rom interviewees suggested that many o
the programs were evaluated externally sometimes
by an evaluation organization experienced in program
evaluation Interviewees consistently indicated that most
o the evaluations were o the entire program
External evaluation methodologies typically included
pre-post testing or classroom evaluations comparison
groups surveys ocus groups observational
assessments or a combination o methods
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
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7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1215 National Center for Research on Evaluation Standards amp Student Testing | Full Policy Brief No 11 | Summer 2011
ldquo
Recommendations ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Our ndings point to the contributions o goals leadership sta programs and evaluation to high quality aterschool
programs Nevertheless we noticed consistent areas o weaknesses in even the best aterschool programs We oer the
ollowing research-based recommendations that we believe will help improve any aterschool program
Staff Stability
Our studyrsquos results indicated that high unctioning programs tend to have low sta turnover rates Over 60
o the sta had between 1ndash7 years o experience at the current site and over 30 o the sta had over 4 yearso experiences at the current site Sta stability is important or relationship building and a basis or students to
build trust positive attitudes and ecacy toward learning
Recommendation Funders and aterschool administrators should consider incentives or building sta retention rang-
ing rom educational opportunities (eg tuition grants) to ldquooutstanding aterschool teams or teachersrdquo nominated and
selected by parents teachers and students A pay scale incentive or years o service and a possible career ladder may also
improve sta retention
Collaboration with the Day School
In our studies all o the programs maintained positive relationships with the day school However despite
the importance o this relationship too ew programs had strategic systems established that supported and
strengthened this connection Recommendation Formal agreements and written plans (ideally in early stages) should address day school
collaboration Time or day school teachers and aterschool sta to meet and plan lessons together plus a communicationssystem (eg homework log between day school teachers and aterschool sta) should be included in both school andaterschool plans Funding agencies should budget additional resources or aterschool programs that will acilitate linkagessuch as shared proessional development sta retreats or workshops that jointly support students
Space and Technology
Many programs relied on access to common space such as an auditorium or a classroom shared with day
school teachers which oten caused logistical problems and sometimes prevented planned activities rom taking
place Furthermore some programs expressed diculty with not having consistent access to classrooms A
site coordinator illuminated the problem ldquoI would say physical space would be denitely a big thing with ourprogramhellipThat is probably one o the hardest things to work with just because every 6 weeks we are readjusting
the classroom to new classroom seating charts new areas in which the students can and cannot gordquo
Recommendation Aterschool space issues should be addressed early in the planning process and reviewed each
year or adequacy Technology too especially with shared equipment should also be addressed recognizing the growing role
that technology plays in both learning and recreational activities
ldquoFormal agreementsand written plans
ideally in early stagesshould address dayschool collaboration
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1315 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Professional Development
We ound that proessional development was not regularly oered at all program sites and when oered
participation rates were oten low Moreover project directors and site coordinators appeared to attend
conerences and workshops more requently than program sta
Recommendation Because proessional development has a strong correlation with sta ecacy instructional quality and
student outcomes (Ingvarson Meiers amp Beavis 2005) ederal and state policies guiding the development and operations o
aterschool programs should provide additional guidelines for sufcient quality professional development for all after -
school staff especially at the instructor level
Recommendation Aterschool programs should include proessional development in their written plansThose
plans should address unding issues or substitutes or example I there is a ldquotraining-o-the-trainerrdquo approach at the sites
written guidelines should include evaluation to ensure proessional development delity When planning the yearly calendar
proessional development or all sta should be included Topics should address program evaluation assessment and data use
plus needs o English learners and students with disabilities
Content and Curriculum
Our study ndings showed that although most program sta were aware o the standards within their specic
content areas they were less knowledgeable about the links between the standards and successul instructional
practices Proessional development can help address this need which is increasingly important with most statersquos
recent adoptions o the common core standards
Recommendation Proessional development should help all program sta expand their knowledge o content
standards and instructional methods or aligning those standards to instruction Program goals should include content and
curriculum enhancement or sta as a key purpose plus implementation and evaluation methods
Parent Involvement
Although the research literature continuously stresses the importance o parent involvement in infuencing
childrenrsquos academic outcomes our study repeatedly ound that parents though very satised with the programs
were generally not involved in attending events or volunteering in aterschool programs
Recommendation Despite the time constraints amilies ace aterschool leaders should continue to include parent in-
volvement as a central program goal oering specic late aternoon or early evening times or parent involved events as
well as using both social networks and websites to support positive communication between parents and sta Parents should
be included in an active program committee or evaluation team when possible thereby enhancing parent involvement and
contributions to the aterschool program Open houses and parent-teacher conerences can acilitate parent participation Home
visits and amily assistance can urther solidiy the relationships between the aterschool and its amilies
Evaluation
The contributions o eective internal and external evaluations must not be overlooked Equally important is the
use o the ndings or specic program improvements
Recommendation Federal state and local policies should address and provide unding or systematic evalua-
tion o all programs Evaluation should ideally include internal ormative evaluation as well as annual or biennial external
summative evaluations Multiple perspectives should be sought when gathering evaluation data including parent student andcommunity input Evaluation results should span accountability needs as well as guide continuous program improvement To be
eective all evaluations should be in written ormat
Recommendation For internal evaluation program directors and site coordinators need to clearly defne the pur-
poses o evaluations in their goals Sel-evaluation tools can be used to understand sta proessional development needs
sta utilization o research-based activities and sta knowledge o standards-based curriculum Using these evaluation results
program directors can implement changes allocate resources and design proessional development opportunities to urther
sta expertise in needed areas
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1415 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Recommendation External evaluation should ocus on student outcomes ideally using student data rom the regular
day school level that includes both perormance and attendance inormation It is crucial that external evaluation results are
provided in a written ormat so that comparisons may be made over periods o time In order or evaluation data either internal
or external to be used eectively and lead to program improvement results must be well communicated to all stakeholders and
a system created or monitoring evaluation usage
Conclusion ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Even at a time o austere ederal state and local unding ndash we highly encourage policy makers aterschool managers and
school districts to ully budget aterschool programs that will provide high quality leaders and sta Proessional development
and external evaluation should also be included in both budgets and program planning As one program director said
ldquoI think itrsquos very important that everybody understand the power that can come rom an aterschool program in aecting
change not only cultural change on campus but also individually in particular lives The sense o accomplishment that comes
rom being in one o our programs where they have more reedom to explore and have more hands-on experiences
is prooundrdquo
Resources
Links to Various CRESST Afterschool Evaluations
bull Examining Practices of Staff Recruitment and Retention in Four High-Functioning Afterschool ProgramsExtended Study rom the National Aterschool Partnership Report
bull Examining the Relationship between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Academic Achievement of LArsquos BEST Students
bull Identication of Key Indicators of Quality in Afterschool Programs
bull A Circle of Learning Children and Adults Growing Together in LArsquos BEST
bull What Works Common Practices in High Functioning Afterschool Programs Across the Nation in MathReading Science Arts Technology and Homework--A Study by the National Partnership
bull The Afterschool Hours Examining the Relationship between Afterschool Staff-Based Social Capital andStudent Engagement in LArsquos BEST
bull The Afterschool Experience in Salsa Sabor y Salud
bull Exploring the Relationships between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Cognitive Gains of LArsquos BESTStudents
bull Preparing Students for the 21st Century Exploring the Effect of Afterschool Participation on Studentsrsquo
Collaboration Skills Oral Communication Skills and Sel-Ecacy
bull Exploring the Intellectual Social and Organizational Capitals at LArsquos BEST
Link to the Afterschool Toolkit
bull SEDL - National Center for Quality Afterschool Afterschool Training Toolkit
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
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7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 615 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
content areas and teaching the students a technical skill
that is relevant to their real lives (both now and in the
uture)
In aligning activities to achieve their program goals nearly
all interviewees described the merits o developing a
curriculum that combined academic skill development with
opportunities to explore and encourage studentsrsquo social
development One program director summed up
ldquoOur goal is to help each child to make sure that itrsquos
an aterschool program thatrsquos un but at the sametime itrsquos enriching so they grow and learn every dayso they can take home more knowledgehelliprdquo
Component 2 Leadership ________________________________________________________
ldquoObviously we try to be democratichellipSo one of thethings we try to do here how we want to make thisa great place to work is in fnding great peoplethen giving the people the power and leeway and theaccountability but also the freedom to do what they
think works best and trusting themhelliprdquo
- Afterschool Project Director
Overview
Our studies ound that directors and managers o high
unctioning aterschool programs usually had many years
o experience in aterschool programs Further the leaders
nearly always shared decision-making with their sta across
aterschool goals programs and evaluation
Key Evaluation Findings
The best programs had leaders who
bull articulated a clear program mission vision statementand goals
bull decentralized decision making used a bottoms upleadership style
bull trusted in the knowledge and skills o sta regardingcurriculum and instruction
bull promoted a team culture o positive relationships
requent communication and sta problem-solvingskills
bull insured that instructors and students had adequatematerials and resources and
bull provided all sta with proessional developmentopportunities that improved individual and team skills
The majority o both site coordinators and instructors
said that aterschool instructors had an active voice in
decisions about curriculum and instruction (44 average
on a 50 point scale) and took active roles in program
leadership and decision-making (41 average)
Administrators consistently described the value o
starsquos content-specic skills and expertise as a result
curriculum development was a group process in which
leaders gave sta members a strong voice in designing
instruction
Leaders and sta across high-quality programs
maintained good relationships with the day school
personnel However ew o them had established
ormal communication systems or that purpose
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Never Rarely Sometimes Frequently Regularly
P e r c e n t a g e o f I n s t r u c t o r s
2217 19
14
28
Figure 2 Frequency of communication between afterschool program and day-school staff
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
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Figure 3 Educational levels of afterschool staff
1Currently in High School
19High School GraduateGED
9Associatersquos Degree
24Masterrsquos Degree
47Bachelorrsquos Degree
(as indicated in Figure 2) with less than 50 o
aterschool sta reporting that they had regular or
requent communication with day school teachers (see
Recommendations section)
Examples
One site coordinator expressed appreciation or the sta
by stating
ldquoThese are proessional adultshellipand they are the
best ones to implement the curriculumhellip Theyrsquoreright there with the studentshellipthey know whattheir levels are and their abilitiesrdquo
An arts program instructor explained
ldquoMy experience has been that the aterschoolteachers propose something that wersquod like to dowith the kids aterschool and [the director] then
just talks to us about what our plans are Wehellipreport to her in terms o lesson plans and how weincorporate standards and benchmarks but a lot oreedom is really given to us We teach what wersquorecomortable teaching and what wersquore passionateaboutrdquo
A project director at a technology program said that his
starsquos latitude was evenly balanced by a strong level o
accountability or their curricular choices
ldquoEvery quarter they have to come back to us andtell us how theyrsquore doing They report back asto what is going on at theirhellipprograms In termso actual decision-making and setting goals anddeciding what wersquore going to do thatrsquos much moreo a bottom-up processrdquo
Component 3 Staff _____________________________________
ldquoWe recognized that the other role we (staff) have to play is to get children engaged in the learning process So itrsquos not just about completing the homework but itrsquosabout finding ways outside of the school to get theminterested excited feeling confident and to build theirself-esteem so that they want to come back the next day
and try a little harderrdquo - Afterschool Staff Instructor
Overview We ound that high quality programs recruited qualied
sta and created collegial environments supporting their
programsrsquo missions Aterschool leaders were able to retain
sta and achieve lower turnover rates than other programs
because sta elt respected supported autonomous and
condent in their ability to reach their students In turn
sta and students constructed positive relationships with
each other characterized by warmth and mutual respect
Sta was oten role a model or students creating a norm
o high expectations appropriate student behavior good
school attendance eective work habits and positiveattitudes towards learning
Key Evaluation Findings
Sta rom quality programs generally had high
educational levels Forty-seven percent o all sta had
Bachelorrsquos degrees twenty-our percent had a Masterrsquos
degree (see Figure 3)
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Aterschool sta in quality programs usually had
substantial aterschool experience Sixty-six percent
had more than three years o work experience in
aterschool twenty-three percent had six years or more
o experience
Program sta at high quality sites also tended to
have low turnover The majority o the sta had
been at their current site or three years or more (see
Recommendations section)Positive relationships and interactions between the sta
and the students were observed in virtually all high
quality programs particularly in terms o expectations
or student perormance disciplinary issues and
democracy
All interviewees reported having some orm o
technology-related proessional development available in
their aterschool program
Most proessional development opportunities were or
helping students with reading and math applying state
standards to the curriculum and connecting with theday school Fewer opportunities were oered on topics
o English learners special needs students evaluation
and assessment (see Recommendations section)
A higher percentage o site coordinators reported
receiving proessional development in most categories
(other than working with English language learners)
compared to instructors who reported receiving the
lowest percentage o proessional development in
program and sel-evaluation (see Recommendations
section)
Although sta generally ound proessional developmentuseul only 26 had regular (2-4) opportunities each
year About 50 o the homework program sta
reported that no proessional development was oered
to them (see Recommendations section)
Examples
Nearly all quality aterschool programs approached
decision-making in a democratic ashion One program
allowed students to oer input on where they would
like to conduct their service learning projects others
considered studentsrsquo activities choices and made great
eorts to include them in their program decision-making
Arts- science- and technology-ocused aterschool
programs tended to give students more autonomy
and input into programs compared to homework or
academic ocused programs One arts program sta
stated that student inputs were ldquoalways o great value
student interests had a vast impact on art curriculum
contentrdquo Consequently students took ownership in
their learning and remained engaged
Component 4 Staff ____________________________________________________
ldquoThese are kids who have never been exposed to
anythingmdashour goal is to open their minds to new
things and to show that they can do ithellipWe want a
well-balanced well-rounded program with a lot of
different things to offer to the childrenrdquo - Afterschool
Site Coordinator
Study ndings revealed curricular similarities and
dierences across all programs a majority o which
oered three or more activities each day Most
programs included homework help or tutoring but
other activities ranged rom academic (eg math
reading writing science) to enrichment (eg arts
and crats cooking gardening health and nutrition
cultural activities computers) and recreation (eg
sports dance drill team outdoor games) The
requency and duration o instruction oered by the
programs are provided in Table 1
These ndings suggest that students were receiving
adequate aterschool time or learning and skills
practice Observation reports across the programs also
indicated that students appeared to be mostly engaged
and attentive and enjoyed the activities Virtually all
programs provided substantial time or recreational
and crats activities keeping students engaged while
exercising other parts o their brains
Key Evaluation Findings
The majority o programs employed unique and
innovative strategies to engage students in theaterschool setting placing a particular emphasis on
making learning un
Technology programs reported the most requent
use o research-based practices whereas reading
programs reported the lowest requency
Technology science arts and homework programs
appeared to be more ocused on developing
higher order thinking skills whereas reading and
math programs were more ocused on direct skills
instruction
Most programs shared similar methods odisseminating inormation to parents as well as
a means o encouraging their involvement in the
aterschool programs
Parents were very satised with the programs both
in terms o positive changes in their childrenrsquos
behaviors and attitudes and in general program
unctioning They elt that the sta cared about and
respected their children They also reported that
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Many sites provided character development The site
coordinator at a reading aterschool program described
two character programs that they oered students
The girls get ldquoSmart Girlsrdquo which is also characterbuilding but it deals with those lie changes duringpuberty taking care o your body in terms ohygiene and what does it mean to be a woman insociety For the boys itrsquos ldquoPassport to Manhoodrdquo
Another site coordinator or a math aterschool programmentioned a program called Character Developmentwhich ocused on teaching students values such ashonesty respect responsibility and caring
Community involvement was common in the programs
such as making get well cards or patients in the
hospitals taking trips to nursing homes to sing to the
senior citizens recycling or community beautication
eorts and cultivating community gardens One
aterschool program worked with a local charitable
organization not only to restore a public garden but
also to hike take horticulture classes go rowing and
swim in the lake
Community members oten volunteered in the ater-
school programs oten a result o aliations with local
universities and high schools who requently tutored
students Boy and girl scouts churches and boys
and girls club members also volunteered Aterschool
program sta requently invited science experts rom
the community to visit their programs and share their
own experiences o practical real-world applications or
science As one project director explained
ldquoWhat makes it unique [at our program] is we
have so much community involvement in teachingsciencehellipWersquove really tried to get experts in thefeld to come inhellipI donrsquot think that there is anyprogram that has more community involvement inteaching students science than oursrdquo
Component 5 Evaluation ________________________________________________________
When you look at their assessments on the [statetest]hellipthey werenrsquot measuring up with other statesand because of that we had to go back and revisit ourcurriculum to see where we were falling through the
cracks - Afterschool Program Principal
Overview
As outlined in the CRESST aterschool model ongoing
evaluation is necessary to measure program perormance
and make continuous improvement While evaluation data
serves many stakeholders including students parents and
aterschool stamdash unding agencies (who are making a
growing investment in aterschool programs) increasingly
want to know i their outlays are making measureable
improvements
We ound that nearly all aterschool programs used
internal evaluation to identiy program strengths and
weaknesses Internal evaluation oten called ormativeevaluation was usually done by the programrsquos own sta or
sta within its unding agencies governance structure The
stakes or consequences were usually low ndash with program
improvement the key goal An external evaluation
on the other hand typically had higher consequences
or programs and was nearly always conducted by a
disinterested third party In some cases accreditation or
even program continuance may be decided by an unbiased
outside ldquoexternalrdquo evaluation expert
Interview and survey responses across our studies indicated
that even though rigorous examination o data was rarenearly all o the aterschool programs conducted internal
or external evaluations o their programs
Key Evaluation Findings
All but two programs reported having conducted
internal evaluations Evaluation varied rom inormal
conversations between aterschool sta day school
sta and parents to a ormal administration o surveys
to students parents sta and tracking o test scores
grades and attendance records (see Recommendations
section)
Responses rom interviewees suggested that many o
the programs were evaluated externally sometimes
by an evaluation organization experienced in program
evaluation Interviewees consistently indicated that most
o the evaluations were o the entire program
External evaluation methodologies typically included
pre-post testing or classroom evaluations comparison
groups surveys ocus groups observational
assessments or a combination o methods
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ldquo
Recommendations ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Our ndings point to the contributions o goals leadership sta programs and evaluation to high quality aterschool
programs Nevertheless we noticed consistent areas o weaknesses in even the best aterschool programs We oer the
ollowing research-based recommendations that we believe will help improve any aterschool program
Staff Stability
Our studyrsquos results indicated that high unctioning programs tend to have low sta turnover rates Over 60
o the sta had between 1ndash7 years o experience at the current site and over 30 o the sta had over 4 yearso experiences at the current site Sta stability is important or relationship building and a basis or students to
build trust positive attitudes and ecacy toward learning
Recommendation Funders and aterschool administrators should consider incentives or building sta retention rang-
ing rom educational opportunities (eg tuition grants) to ldquooutstanding aterschool teams or teachersrdquo nominated and
selected by parents teachers and students A pay scale incentive or years o service and a possible career ladder may also
improve sta retention
Collaboration with the Day School
In our studies all o the programs maintained positive relationships with the day school However despite
the importance o this relationship too ew programs had strategic systems established that supported and
strengthened this connection Recommendation Formal agreements and written plans (ideally in early stages) should address day school
collaboration Time or day school teachers and aterschool sta to meet and plan lessons together plus a communicationssystem (eg homework log between day school teachers and aterschool sta) should be included in both school andaterschool plans Funding agencies should budget additional resources or aterschool programs that will acilitate linkagessuch as shared proessional development sta retreats or workshops that jointly support students
Space and Technology
Many programs relied on access to common space such as an auditorium or a classroom shared with day
school teachers which oten caused logistical problems and sometimes prevented planned activities rom taking
place Furthermore some programs expressed diculty with not having consistent access to classrooms A
site coordinator illuminated the problem ldquoI would say physical space would be denitely a big thing with ourprogramhellipThat is probably one o the hardest things to work with just because every 6 weeks we are readjusting
the classroom to new classroom seating charts new areas in which the students can and cannot gordquo
Recommendation Aterschool space issues should be addressed early in the planning process and reviewed each
year or adequacy Technology too especially with shared equipment should also be addressed recognizing the growing role
that technology plays in both learning and recreational activities
ldquoFormal agreementsand written plans
ideally in early stagesshould address dayschool collaboration
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Professional Development
We ound that proessional development was not regularly oered at all program sites and when oered
participation rates were oten low Moreover project directors and site coordinators appeared to attend
conerences and workshops more requently than program sta
Recommendation Because proessional development has a strong correlation with sta ecacy instructional quality and
student outcomes (Ingvarson Meiers amp Beavis 2005) ederal and state policies guiding the development and operations o
aterschool programs should provide additional guidelines for sufcient quality professional development for all after -
school staff especially at the instructor level
Recommendation Aterschool programs should include proessional development in their written plansThose
plans should address unding issues or substitutes or example I there is a ldquotraining-o-the-trainerrdquo approach at the sites
written guidelines should include evaluation to ensure proessional development delity When planning the yearly calendar
proessional development or all sta should be included Topics should address program evaluation assessment and data use
plus needs o English learners and students with disabilities
Content and Curriculum
Our study ndings showed that although most program sta were aware o the standards within their specic
content areas they were less knowledgeable about the links between the standards and successul instructional
practices Proessional development can help address this need which is increasingly important with most statersquos
recent adoptions o the common core standards
Recommendation Proessional development should help all program sta expand their knowledge o content
standards and instructional methods or aligning those standards to instruction Program goals should include content and
curriculum enhancement or sta as a key purpose plus implementation and evaluation methods
Parent Involvement
Although the research literature continuously stresses the importance o parent involvement in infuencing
childrenrsquos academic outcomes our study repeatedly ound that parents though very satised with the programs
were generally not involved in attending events or volunteering in aterschool programs
Recommendation Despite the time constraints amilies ace aterschool leaders should continue to include parent in-
volvement as a central program goal oering specic late aternoon or early evening times or parent involved events as
well as using both social networks and websites to support positive communication between parents and sta Parents should
be included in an active program committee or evaluation team when possible thereby enhancing parent involvement and
contributions to the aterschool program Open houses and parent-teacher conerences can acilitate parent participation Home
visits and amily assistance can urther solidiy the relationships between the aterschool and its amilies
Evaluation
The contributions o eective internal and external evaluations must not be overlooked Equally important is the
use o the ndings or specic program improvements
Recommendation Federal state and local policies should address and provide unding or systematic evalua-
tion o all programs Evaluation should ideally include internal ormative evaluation as well as annual or biennial external
summative evaluations Multiple perspectives should be sought when gathering evaluation data including parent student andcommunity input Evaluation results should span accountability needs as well as guide continuous program improvement To be
eective all evaluations should be in written ormat
Recommendation For internal evaluation program directors and site coordinators need to clearly defne the pur-
poses o evaluations in their goals Sel-evaluation tools can be used to understand sta proessional development needs
sta utilization o research-based activities and sta knowledge o standards-based curriculum Using these evaluation results
program directors can implement changes allocate resources and design proessional development opportunities to urther
sta expertise in needed areas
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1415 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Recommendation External evaluation should ocus on student outcomes ideally using student data rom the regular
day school level that includes both perormance and attendance inormation It is crucial that external evaluation results are
provided in a written ormat so that comparisons may be made over periods o time In order or evaluation data either internal
or external to be used eectively and lead to program improvement results must be well communicated to all stakeholders and
a system created or monitoring evaluation usage
Conclusion ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Even at a time o austere ederal state and local unding ndash we highly encourage policy makers aterschool managers and
school districts to ully budget aterschool programs that will provide high quality leaders and sta Proessional development
and external evaluation should also be included in both budgets and program planning As one program director said
ldquoI think itrsquos very important that everybody understand the power that can come rom an aterschool program in aecting
change not only cultural change on campus but also individually in particular lives The sense o accomplishment that comes
rom being in one o our programs where they have more reedom to explore and have more hands-on experiences
is prooundrdquo
Resources
Links to Various CRESST Afterschool Evaluations
bull Examining Practices of Staff Recruitment and Retention in Four High-Functioning Afterschool ProgramsExtended Study rom the National Aterschool Partnership Report
bull Examining the Relationship between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Academic Achievement of LArsquos BEST Students
bull Identication of Key Indicators of Quality in Afterschool Programs
bull A Circle of Learning Children and Adults Growing Together in LArsquos BEST
bull What Works Common Practices in High Functioning Afterschool Programs Across the Nation in MathReading Science Arts Technology and Homework--A Study by the National Partnership
bull The Afterschool Hours Examining the Relationship between Afterschool Staff-Based Social Capital andStudent Engagement in LArsquos BEST
bull The Afterschool Experience in Salsa Sabor y Salud
bull Exploring the Relationships between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Cognitive Gains of LArsquos BESTStudents
bull Preparing Students for the 21st Century Exploring the Effect of Afterschool Participation on Studentsrsquo
Collaboration Skills Oral Communication Skills and Sel-Ecacy
bull Exploring the Intellectual Social and Organizational Capitals at LArsquos BEST
Link to the Afterschool Toolkit
bull SEDL - National Center for Quality Afterschool Afterschool Training Toolkit
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
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7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 715 National Center for Research on Evaluation Standards amp Student Testing | Full Policy Brief No 11 | Summer 2011
Figure 3 Educational levels of afterschool staff
1Currently in High School
19High School GraduateGED
9Associatersquos Degree
24Masterrsquos Degree
47Bachelorrsquos Degree
(as indicated in Figure 2) with less than 50 o
aterschool sta reporting that they had regular or
requent communication with day school teachers (see
Recommendations section)
Examples
One site coordinator expressed appreciation or the sta
by stating
ldquoThese are proessional adultshellipand they are the
best ones to implement the curriculumhellip Theyrsquoreright there with the studentshellipthey know whattheir levels are and their abilitiesrdquo
An arts program instructor explained
ldquoMy experience has been that the aterschoolteachers propose something that wersquod like to dowith the kids aterschool and [the director] then
just talks to us about what our plans are Wehellipreport to her in terms o lesson plans and how weincorporate standards and benchmarks but a lot oreedom is really given to us We teach what wersquorecomortable teaching and what wersquore passionateaboutrdquo
A project director at a technology program said that his
starsquos latitude was evenly balanced by a strong level o
accountability or their curricular choices
ldquoEvery quarter they have to come back to us andtell us how theyrsquore doing They report back asto what is going on at theirhellipprograms In termso actual decision-making and setting goals anddeciding what wersquore going to do thatrsquos much moreo a bottom-up processrdquo
Component 3 Staff _____________________________________
ldquoWe recognized that the other role we (staff) have to play is to get children engaged in the learning process So itrsquos not just about completing the homework but itrsquosabout finding ways outside of the school to get theminterested excited feeling confident and to build theirself-esteem so that they want to come back the next day
and try a little harderrdquo - Afterschool Staff Instructor
Overview We ound that high quality programs recruited qualied
sta and created collegial environments supporting their
programsrsquo missions Aterschool leaders were able to retain
sta and achieve lower turnover rates than other programs
because sta elt respected supported autonomous and
condent in their ability to reach their students In turn
sta and students constructed positive relationships with
each other characterized by warmth and mutual respect
Sta was oten role a model or students creating a norm
o high expectations appropriate student behavior good
school attendance eective work habits and positiveattitudes towards learning
Key Evaluation Findings
Sta rom quality programs generally had high
educational levels Forty-seven percent o all sta had
Bachelorrsquos degrees twenty-our percent had a Masterrsquos
degree (see Figure 3)
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Aterschool sta in quality programs usually had
substantial aterschool experience Sixty-six percent
had more than three years o work experience in
aterschool twenty-three percent had six years or more
o experience
Program sta at high quality sites also tended to
have low turnover The majority o the sta had
been at their current site or three years or more (see
Recommendations section)Positive relationships and interactions between the sta
and the students were observed in virtually all high
quality programs particularly in terms o expectations
or student perormance disciplinary issues and
democracy
All interviewees reported having some orm o
technology-related proessional development available in
their aterschool program
Most proessional development opportunities were or
helping students with reading and math applying state
standards to the curriculum and connecting with theday school Fewer opportunities were oered on topics
o English learners special needs students evaluation
and assessment (see Recommendations section)
A higher percentage o site coordinators reported
receiving proessional development in most categories
(other than working with English language learners)
compared to instructors who reported receiving the
lowest percentage o proessional development in
program and sel-evaluation (see Recommendations
section)
Although sta generally ound proessional developmentuseul only 26 had regular (2-4) opportunities each
year About 50 o the homework program sta
reported that no proessional development was oered
to them (see Recommendations section)
Examples
Nearly all quality aterschool programs approached
decision-making in a democratic ashion One program
allowed students to oer input on where they would
like to conduct their service learning projects others
considered studentsrsquo activities choices and made great
eorts to include them in their program decision-making
Arts- science- and technology-ocused aterschool
programs tended to give students more autonomy
and input into programs compared to homework or
academic ocused programs One arts program sta
stated that student inputs were ldquoalways o great value
student interests had a vast impact on art curriculum
contentrdquo Consequently students took ownership in
their learning and remained engaged
Component 4 Staff ____________________________________________________
ldquoThese are kids who have never been exposed to
anythingmdashour goal is to open their minds to new
things and to show that they can do ithellipWe want a
well-balanced well-rounded program with a lot of
different things to offer to the childrenrdquo - Afterschool
Site Coordinator
Study ndings revealed curricular similarities and
dierences across all programs a majority o which
oered three or more activities each day Most
programs included homework help or tutoring but
other activities ranged rom academic (eg math
reading writing science) to enrichment (eg arts
and crats cooking gardening health and nutrition
cultural activities computers) and recreation (eg
sports dance drill team outdoor games) The
requency and duration o instruction oered by the
programs are provided in Table 1
These ndings suggest that students were receiving
adequate aterschool time or learning and skills
practice Observation reports across the programs also
indicated that students appeared to be mostly engaged
and attentive and enjoyed the activities Virtually all
programs provided substantial time or recreational
and crats activities keeping students engaged while
exercising other parts o their brains
Key Evaluation Findings
The majority o programs employed unique and
innovative strategies to engage students in theaterschool setting placing a particular emphasis on
making learning un
Technology programs reported the most requent
use o research-based practices whereas reading
programs reported the lowest requency
Technology science arts and homework programs
appeared to be more ocused on developing
higher order thinking skills whereas reading and
math programs were more ocused on direct skills
instruction
Most programs shared similar methods odisseminating inormation to parents as well as
a means o encouraging their involvement in the
aterschool programs
Parents were very satised with the programs both
in terms o positive changes in their childrenrsquos
behaviors and attitudes and in general program
unctioning They elt that the sta cared about and
respected their children They also reported that
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 915
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1015 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Many sites provided character development The site
coordinator at a reading aterschool program described
two character programs that they oered students
The girls get ldquoSmart Girlsrdquo which is also characterbuilding but it deals with those lie changes duringpuberty taking care o your body in terms ohygiene and what does it mean to be a woman insociety For the boys itrsquos ldquoPassport to Manhoodrdquo
Another site coordinator or a math aterschool programmentioned a program called Character Developmentwhich ocused on teaching students values such ashonesty respect responsibility and caring
Community involvement was common in the programs
such as making get well cards or patients in the
hospitals taking trips to nursing homes to sing to the
senior citizens recycling or community beautication
eorts and cultivating community gardens One
aterschool program worked with a local charitable
organization not only to restore a public garden but
also to hike take horticulture classes go rowing and
swim in the lake
Community members oten volunteered in the ater-
school programs oten a result o aliations with local
universities and high schools who requently tutored
students Boy and girl scouts churches and boys
and girls club members also volunteered Aterschool
program sta requently invited science experts rom
the community to visit their programs and share their
own experiences o practical real-world applications or
science As one project director explained
ldquoWhat makes it unique [at our program] is we
have so much community involvement in teachingsciencehellipWersquove really tried to get experts in thefeld to come inhellipI donrsquot think that there is anyprogram that has more community involvement inteaching students science than oursrdquo
Component 5 Evaluation ________________________________________________________
When you look at their assessments on the [statetest]hellipthey werenrsquot measuring up with other statesand because of that we had to go back and revisit ourcurriculum to see where we were falling through the
cracks - Afterschool Program Principal
Overview
As outlined in the CRESST aterschool model ongoing
evaluation is necessary to measure program perormance
and make continuous improvement While evaluation data
serves many stakeholders including students parents and
aterschool stamdash unding agencies (who are making a
growing investment in aterschool programs) increasingly
want to know i their outlays are making measureable
improvements
We ound that nearly all aterschool programs used
internal evaluation to identiy program strengths and
weaknesses Internal evaluation oten called ormativeevaluation was usually done by the programrsquos own sta or
sta within its unding agencies governance structure The
stakes or consequences were usually low ndash with program
improvement the key goal An external evaluation
on the other hand typically had higher consequences
or programs and was nearly always conducted by a
disinterested third party In some cases accreditation or
even program continuance may be decided by an unbiased
outside ldquoexternalrdquo evaluation expert
Interview and survey responses across our studies indicated
that even though rigorous examination o data was rarenearly all o the aterschool programs conducted internal
or external evaluations o their programs
Key Evaluation Findings
All but two programs reported having conducted
internal evaluations Evaluation varied rom inormal
conversations between aterschool sta day school
sta and parents to a ormal administration o surveys
to students parents sta and tracking o test scores
grades and attendance records (see Recommendations
section)
Responses rom interviewees suggested that many o
the programs were evaluated externally sometimes
by an evaluation organization experienced in program
evaluation Interviewees consistently indicated that most
o the evaluations were o the entire program
External evaluation methodologies typically included
pre-post testing or classroom evaluations comparison
groups surveys ocus groups observational
assessments or a combination o methods
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1115
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1215 National Center for Research on Evaluation Standards amp Student Testing | Full Policy Brief No 11 | Summer 2011
ldquo
Recommendations ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Our ndings point to the contributions o goals leadership sta programs and evaluation to high quality aterschool
programs Nevertheless we noticed consistent areas o weaknesses in even the best aterschool programs We oer the
ollowing research-based recommendations that we believe will help improve any aterschool program
Staff Stability
Our studyrsquos results indicated that high unctioning programs tend to have low sta turnover rates Over 60
o the sta had between 1ndash7 years o experience at the current site and over 30 o the sta had over 4 yearso experiences at the current site Sta stability is important or relationship building and a basis or students to
build trust positive attitudes and ecacy toward learning
Recommendation Funders and aterschool administrators should consider incentives or building sta retention rang-
ing rom educational opportunities (eg tuition grants) to ldquooutstanding aterschool teams or teachersrdquo nominated and
selected by parents teachers and students A pay scale incentive or years o service and a possible career ladder may also
improve sta retention
Collaboration with the Day School
In our studies all o the programs maintained positive relationships with the day school However despite
the importance o this relationship too ew programs had strategic systems established that supported and
strengthened this connection Recommendation Formal agreements and written plans (ideally in early stages) should address day school
collaboration Time or day school teachers and aterschool sta to meet and plan lessons together plus a communicationssystem (eg homework log between day school teachers and aterschool sta) should be included in both school andaterschool plans Funding agencies should budget additional resources or aterschool programs that will acilitate linkagessuch as shared proessional development sta retreats or workshops that jointly support students
Space and Technology
Many programs relied on access to common space such as an auditorium or a classroom shared with day
school teachers which oten caused logistical problems and sometimes prevented planned activities rom taking
place Furthermore some programs expressed diculty with not having consistent access to classrooms A
site coordinator illuminated the problem ldquoI would say physical space would be denitely a big thing with ourprogramhellipThat is probably one o the hardest things to work with just because every 6 weeks we are readjusting
the classroom to new classroom seating charts new areas in which the students can and cannot gordquo
Recommendation Aterschool space issues should be addressed early in the planning process and reviewed each
year or adequacy Technology too especially with shared equipment should also be addressed recognizing the growing role
that technology plays in both learning and recreational activities
ldquoFormal agreementsand written plans
ideally in early stagesshould address dayschool collaboration
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1315 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Professional Development
We ound that proessional development was not regularly oered at all program sites and when oered
participation rates were oten low Moreover project directors and site coordinators appeared to attend
conerences and workshops more requently than program sta
Recommendation Because proessional development has a strong correlation with sta ecacy instructional quality and
student outcomes (Ingvarson Meiers amp Beavis 2005) ederal and state policies guiding the development and operations o
aterschool programs should provide additional guidelines for sufcient quality professional development for all after -
school staff especially at the instructor level
Recommendation Aterschool programs should include proessional development in their written plansThose
plans should address unding issues or substitutes or example I there is a ldquotraining-o-the-trainerrdquo approach at the sites
written guidelines should include evaluation to ensure proessional development delity When planning the yearly calendar
proessional development or all sta should be included Topics should address program evaluation assessment and data use
plus needs o English learners and students with disabilities
Content and Curriculum
Our study ndings showed that although most program sta were aware o the standards within their specic
content areas they were less knowledgeable about the links between the standards and successul instructional
practices Proessional development can help address this need which is increasingly important with most statersquos
recent adoptions o the common core standards
Recommendation Proessional development should help all program sta expand their knowledge o content
standards and instructional methods or aligning those standards to instruction Program goals should include content and
curriculum enhancement or sta as a key purpose plus implementation and evaluation methods
Parent Involvement
Although the research literature continuously stresses the importance o parent involvement in infuencing
childrenrsquos academic outcomes our study repeatedly ound that parents though very satised with the programs
were generally not involved in attending events or volunteering in aterschool programs
Recommendation Despite the time constraints amilies ace aterschool leaders should continue to include parent in-
volvement as a central program goal oering specic late aternoon or early evening times or parent involved events as
well as using both social networks and websites to support positive communication between parents and sta Parents should
be included in an active program committee or evaluation team when possible thereby enhancing parent involvement and
contributions to the aterschool program Open houses and parent-teacher conerences can acilitate parent participation Home
visits and amily assistance can urther solidiy the relationships between the aterschool and its amilies
Evaluation
The contributions o eective internal and external evaluations must not be overlooked Equally important is the
use o the ndings or specic program improvements
Recommendation Federal state and local policies should address and provide unding or systematic evalua-
tion o all programs Evaluation should ideally include internal ormative evaluation as well as annual or biennial external
summative evaluations Multiple perspectives should be sought when gathering evaluation data including parent student andcommunity input Evaluation results should span accountability needs as well as guide continuous program improvement To be
eective all evaluations should be in written ormat
Recommendation For internal evaluation program directors and site coordinators need to clearly defne the pur-
poses o evaluations in their goals Sel-evaluation tools can be used to understand sta proessional development needs
sta utilization o research-based activities and sta knowledge o standards-based curriculum Using these evaluation results
program directors can implement changes allocate resources and design proessional development opportunities to urther
sta expertise in needed areas
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1415 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Recommendation External evaluation should ocus on student outcomes ideally using student data rom the regular
day school level that includes both perormance and attendance inormation It is crucial that external evaluation results are
provided in a written ormat so that comparisons may be made over periods o time In order or evaluation data either internal
or external to be used eectively and lead to program improvement results must be well communicated to all stakeholders and
a system created or monitoring evaluation usage
Conclusion ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Even at a time o austere ederal state and local unding ndash we highly encourage policy makers aterschool managers and
school districts to ully budget aterschool programs that will provide high quality leaders and sta Proessional development
and external evaluation should also be included in both budgets and program planning As one program director said
ldquoI think itrsquos very important that everybody understand the power that can come rom an aterschool program in aecting
change not only cultural change on campus but also individually in particular lives The sense o accomplishment that comes
rom being in one o our programs where they have more reedom to explore and have more hands-on experiences
is prooundrdquo
Resources
Links to Various CRESST Afterschool Evaluations
bull Examining Practices of Staff Recruitment and Retention in Four High-Functioning Afterschool ProgramsExtended Study rom the National Aterschool Partnership Report
bull Examining the Relationship between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Academic Achievement of LArsquos BEST Students
bull Identication of Key Indicators of Quality in Afterschool Programs
bull A Circle of Learning Children and Adults Growing Together in LArsquos BEST
bull What Works Common Practices in High Functioning Afterschool Programs Across the Nation in MathReading Science Arts Technology and Homework--A Study by the National Partnership
bull The Afterschool Hours Examining the Relationship between Afterschool Staff-Based Social Capital andStudent Engagement in LArsquos BEST
bull The Afterschool Experience in Salsa Sabor y Salud
bull Exploring the Relationships between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Cognitive Gains of LArsquos BESTStudents
bull Preparing Students for the 21st Century Exploring the Effect of Afterschool Participation on Studentsrsquo
Collaboration Skills Oral Communication Skills and Sel-Ecacy
bull Exploring the Intellectual Social and Organizational Capitals at LArsquos BEST
Link to the Afterschool Toolkit
bull SEDL - National Center for Quality Afterschool Afterschool Training Toolkit
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1515
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 815 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Aterschool sta in quality programs usually had
substantial aterschool experience Sixty-six percent
had more than three years o work experience in
aterschool twenty-three percent had six years or more
o experience
Program sta at high quality sites also tended to
have low turnover The majority o the sta had
been at their current site or three years or more (see
Recommendations section)Positive relationships and interactions between the sta
and the students were observed in virtually all high
quality programs particularly in terms o expectations
or student perormance disciplinary issues and
democracy
All interviewees reported having some orm o
technology-related proessional development available in
their aterschool program
Most proessional development opportunities were or
helping students with reading and math applying state
standards to the curriculum and connecting with theday school Fewer opportunities were oered on topics
o English learners special needs students evaluation
and assessment (see Recommendations section)
A higher percentage o site coordinators reported
receiving proessional development in most categories
(other than working with English language learners)
compared to instructors who reported receiving the
lowest percentage o proessional development in
program and sel-evaluation (see Recommendations
section)
Although sta generally ound proessional developmentuseul only 26 had regular (2-4) opportunities each
year About 50 o the homework program sta
reported that no proessional development was oered
to them (see Recommendations section)
Examples
Nearly all quality aterschool programs approached
decision-making in a democratic ashion One program
allowed students to oer input on where they would
like to conduct their service learning projects others
considered studentsrsquo activities choices and made great
eorts to include them in their program decision-making
Arts- science- and technology-ocused aterschool
programs tended to give students more autonomy
and input into programs compared to homework or
academic ocused programs One arts program sta
stated that student inputs were ldquoalways o great value
student interests had a vast impact on art curriculum
contentrdquo Consequently students took ownership in
their learning and remained engaged
Component 4 Staff ____________________________________________________
ldquoThese are kids who have never been exposed to
anythingmdashour goal is to open their minds to new
things and to show that they can do ithellipWe want a
well-balanced well-rounded program with a lot of
different things to offer to the childrenrdquo - Afterschool
Site Coordinator
Study ndings revealed curricular similarities and
dierences across all programs a majority o which
oered three or more activities each day Most
programs included homework help or tutoring but
other activities ranged rom academic (eg math
reading writing science) to enrichment (eg arts
and crats cooking gardening health and nutrition
cultural activities computers) and recreation (eg
sports dance drill team outdoor games) The
requency and duration o instruction oered by the
programs are provided in Table 1
These ndings suggest that students were receiving
adequate aterschool time or learning and skills
practice Observation reports across the programs also
indicated that students appeared to be mostly engaged
and attentive and enjoyed the activities Virtually all
programs provided substantial time or recreational
and crats activities keeping students engaged while
exercising other parts o their brains
Key Evaluation Findings
The majority o programs employed unique and
innovative strategies to engage students in theaterschool setting placing a particular emphasis on
making learning un
Technology programs reported the most requent
use o research-based practices whereas reading
programs reported the lowest requency
Technology science arts and homework programs
appeared to be more ocused on developing
higher order thinking skills whereas reading and
math programs were more ocused on direct skills
instruction
Most programs shared similar methods odisseminating inormation to parents as well as
a means o encouraging their involvement in the
aterschool programs
Parents were very satised with the programs both
in terms o positive changes in their childrenrsquos
behaviors and attitudes and in general program
unctioning They elt that the sta cared about and
respected their children They also reported that
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 915
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1015 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Many sites provided character development The site
coordinator at a reading aterschool program described
two character programs that they oered students
The girls get ldquoSmart Girlsrdquo which is also characterbuilding but it deals with those lie changes duringpuberty taking care o your body in terms ohygiene and what does it mean to be a woman insociety For the boys itrsquos ldquoPassport to Manhoodrdquo
Another site coordinator or a math aterschool programmentioned a program called Character Developmentwhich ocused on teaching students values such ashonesty respect responsibility and caring
Community involvement was common in the programs
such as making get well cards or patients in the
hospitals taking trips to nursing homes to sing to the
senior citizens recycling or community beautication
eorts and cultivating community gardens One
aterschool program worked with a local charitable
organization not only to restore a public garden but
also to hike take horticulture classes go rowing and
swim in the lake
Community members oten volunteered in the ater-
school programs oten a result o aliations with local
universities and high schools who requently tutored
students Boy and girl scouts churches and boys
and girls club members also volunteered Aterschool
program sta requently invited science experts rom
the community to visit their programs and share their
own experiences o practical real-world applications or
science As one project director explained
ldquoWhat makes it unique [at our program] is we
have so much community involvement in teachingsciencehellipWersquove really tried to get experts in thefeld to come inhellipI donrsquot think that there is anyprogram that has more community involvement inteaching students science than oursrdquo
Component 5 Evaluation ________________________________________________________
When you look at their assessments on the [statetest]hellipthey werenrsquot measuring up with other statesand because of that we had to go back and revisit ourcurriculum to see where we were falling through the
cracks - Afterschool Program Principal
Overview
As outlined in the CRESST aterschool model ongoing
evaluation is necessary to measure program perormance
and make continuous improvement While evaluation data
serves many stakeholders including students parents and
aterschool stamdash unding agencies (who are making a
growing investment in aterschool programs) increasingly
want to know i their outlays are making measureable
improvements
We ound that nearly all aterschool programs used
internal evaluation to identiy program strengths and
weaknesses Internal evaluation oten called ormativeevaluation was usually done by the programrsquos own sta or
sta within its unding agencies governance structure The
stakes or consequences were usually low ndash with program
improvement the key goal An external evaluation
on the other hand typically had higher consequences
or programs and was nearly always conducted by a
disinterested third party In some cases accreditation or
even program continuance may be decided by an unbiased
outside ldquoexternalrdquo evaluation expert
Interview and survey responses across our studies indicated
that even though rigorous examination o data was rarenearly all o the aterschool programs conducted internal
or external evaluations o their programs
Key Evaluation Findings
All but two programs reported having conducted
internal evaluations Evaluation varied rom inormal
conversations between aterschool sta day school
sta and parents to a ormal administration o surveys
to students parents sta and tracking o test scores
grades and attendance records (see Recommendations
section)
Responses rom interviewees suggested that many o
the programs were evaluated externally sometimes
by an evaluation organization experienced in program
evaluation Interviewees consistently indicated that most
o the evaluations were o the entire program
External evaluation methodologies typically included
pre-post testing or classroom evaluations comparison
groups surveys ocus groups observational
assessments or a combination o methods
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1115
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1215 National Center for Research on Evaluation Standards amp Student Testing | Full Policy Brief No 11 | Summer 2011
ldquo
Recommendations ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Our ndings point to the contributions o goals leadership sta programs and evaluation to high quality aterschool
programs Nevertheless we noticed consistent areas o weaknesses in even the best aterschool programs We oer the
ollowing research-based recommendations that we believe will help improve any aterschool program
Staff Stability
Our studyrsquos results indicated that high unctioning programs tend to have low sta turnover rates Over 60
o the sta had between 1ndash7 years o experience at the current site and over 30 o the sta had over 4 yearso experiences at the current site Sta stability is important or relationship building and a basis or students to
build trust positive attitudes and ecacy toward learning
Recommendation Funders and aterschool administrators should consider incentives or building sta retention rang-
ing rom educational opportunities (eg tuition grants) to ldquooutstanding aterschool teams or teachersrdquo nominated and
selected by parents teachers and students A pay scale incentive or years o service and a possible career ladder may also
improve sta retention
Collaboration with the Day School
In our studies all o the programs maintained positive relationships with the day school However despite
the importance o this relationship too ew programs had strategic systems established that supported and
strengthened this connection Recommendation Formal agreements and written plans (ideally in early stages) should address day school
collaboration Time or day school teachers and aterschool sta to meet and plan lessons together plus a communicationssystem (eg homework log between day school teachers and aterschool sta) should be included in both school andaterschool plans Funding agencies should budget additional resources or aterschool programs that will acilitate linkagessuch as shared proessional development sta retreats or workshops that jointly support students
Space and Technology
Many programs relied on access to common space such as an auditorium or a classroom shared with day
school teachers which oten caused logistical problems and sometimes prevented planned activities rom taking
place Furthermore some programs expressed diculty with not having consistent access to classrooms A
site coordinator illuminated the problem ldquoI would say physical space would be denitely a big thing with ourprogramhellipThat is probably one o the hardest things to work with just because every 6 weeks we are readjusting
the classroom to new classroom seating charts new areas in which the students can and cannot gordquo
Recommendation Aterschool space issues should be addressed early in the planning process and reviewed each
year or adequacy Technology too especially with shared equipment should also be addressed recognizing the growing role
that technology plays in both learning and recreational activities
ldquoFormal agreementsand written plans
ideally in early stagesshould address dayschool collaboration
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1315 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Professional Development
We ound that proessional development was not regularly oered at all program sites and when oered
participation rates were oten low Moreover project directors and site coordinators appeared to attend
conerences and workshops more requently than program sta
Recommendation Because proessional development has a strong correlation with sta ecacy instructional quality and
student outcomes (Ingvarson Meiers amp Beavis 2005) ederal and state policies guiding the development and operations o
aterschool programs should provide additional guidelines for sufcient quality professional development for all after -
school staff especially at the instructor level
Recommendation Aterschool programs should include proessional development in their written plansThose
plans should address unding issues or substitutes or example I there is a ldquotraining-o-the-trainerrdquo approach at the sites
written guidelines should include evaluation to ensure proessional development delity When planning the yearly calendar
proessional development or all sta should be included Topics should address program evaluation assessment and data use
plus needs o English learners and students with disabilities
Content and Curriculum
Our study ndings showed that although most program sta were aware o the standards within their specic
content areas they were less knowledgeable about the links between the standards and successul instructional
practices Proessional development can help address this need which is increasingly important with most statersquos
recent adoptions o the common core standards
Recommendation Proessional development should help all program sta expand their knowledge o content
standards and instructional methods or aligning those standards to instruction Program goals should include content and
curriculum enhancement or sta as a key purpose plus implementation and evaluation methods
Parent Involvement
Although the research literature continuously stresses the importance o parent involvement in infuencing
childrenrsquos academic outcomes our study repeatedly ound that parents though very satised with the programs
were generally not involved in attending events or volunteering in aterschool programs
Recommendation Despite the time constraints amilies ace aterschool leaders should continue to include parent in-
volvement as a central program goal oering specic late aternoon or early evening times or parent involved events as
well as using both social networks and websites to support positive communication between parents and sta Parents should
be included in an active program committee or evaluation team when possible thereby enhancing parent involvement and
contributions to the aterschool program Open houses and parent-teacher conerences can acilitate parent participation Home
visits and amily assistance can urther solidiy the relationships between the aterschool and its amilies
Evaluation
The contributions o eective internal and external evaluations must not be overlooked Equally important is the
use o the ndings or specic program improvements
Recommendation Federal state and local policies should address and provide unding or systematic evalua-
tion o all programs Evaluation should ideally include internal ormative evaluation as well as annual or biennial external
summative evaluations Multiple perspectives should be sought when gathering evaluation data including parent student andcommunity input Evaluation results should span accountability needs as well as guide continuous program improvement To be
eective all evaluations should be in written ormat
Recommendation For internal evaluation program directors and site coordinators need to clearly defne the pur-
poses o evaluations in their goals Sel-evaluation tools can be used to understand sta proessional development needs
sta utilization o research-based activities and sta knowledge o standards-based curriculum Using these evaluation results
program directors can implement changes allocate resources and design proessional development opportunities to urther
sta expertise in needed areas
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1415 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Recommendation External evaluation should ocus on student outcomes ideally using student data rom the regular
day school level that includes both perormance and attendance inormation It is crucial that external evaluation results are
provided in a written ormat so that comparisons may be made over periods o time In order or evaluation data either internal
or external to be used eectively and lead to program improvement results must be well communicated to all stakeholders and
a system created or monitoring evaluation usage
Conclusion ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Even at a time o austere ederal state and local unding ndash we highly encourage policy makers aterschool managers and
school districts to ully budget aterschool programs that will provide high quality leaders and sta Proessional development
and external evaluation should also be included in both budgets and program planning As one program director said
ldquoI think itrsquos very important that everybody understand the power that can come rom an aterschool program in aecting
change not only cultural change on campus but also individually in particular lives The sense o accomplishment that comes
rom being in one o our programs where they have more reedom to explore and have more hands-on experiences
is prooundrdquo
Resources
Links to Various CRESST Afterschool Evaluations
bull Examining Practices of Staff Recruitment and Retention in Four High-Functioning Afterschool ProgramsExtended Study rom the National Aterschool Partnership Report
bull Examining the Relationship between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Academic Achievement of LArsquos BEST Students
bull Identication of Key Indicators of Quality in Afterschool Programs
bull A Circle of Learning Children and Adults Growing Together in LArsquos BEST
bull What Works Common Practices in High Functioning Afterschool Programs Across the Nation in MathReading Science Arts Technology and Homework--A Study by the National Partnership
bull The Afterschool Hours Examining the Relationship between Afterschool Staff-Based Social Capital andStudent Engagement in LArsquos BEST
bull The Afterschool Experience in Salsa Sabor y Salud
bull Exploring the Relationships between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Cognitive Gains of LArsquos BESTStudents
bull Preparing Students for the 21st Century Exploring the Effect of Afterschool Participation on Studentsrsquo
Collaboration Skills Oral Communication Skills and Sel-Ecacy
bull Exploring the Intellectual Social and Organizational Capitals at LArsquos BEST
Link to the Afterschool Toolkit
bull SEDL - National Center for Quality Afterschool Afterschool Training Toolkit
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1515
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 915
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1015 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Many sites provided character development The site
coordinator at a reading aterschool program described
two character programs that they oered students
The girls get ldquoSmart Girlsrdquo which is also characterbuilding but it deals with those lie changes duringpuberty taking care o your body in terms ohygiene and what does it mean to be a woman insociety For the boys itrsquos ldquoPassport to Manhoodrdquo
Another site coordinator or a math aterschool programmentioned a program called Character Developmentwhich ocused on teaching students values such ashonesty respect responsibility and caring
Community involvement was common in the programs
such as making get well cards or patients in the
hospitals taking trips to nursing homes to sing to the
senior citizens recycling or community beautication
eorts and cultivating community gardens One
aterschool program worked with a local charitable
organization not only to restore a public garden but
also to hike take horticulture classes go rowing and
swim in the lake
Community members oten volunteered in the ater-
school programs oten a result o aliations with local
universities and high schools who requently tutored
students Boy and girl scouts churches and boys
and girls club members also volunteered Aterschool
program sta requently invited science experts rom
the community to visit their programs and share their
own experiences o practical real-world applications or
science As one project director explained
ldquoWhat makes it unique [at our program] is we
have so much community involvement in teachingsciencehellipWersquove really tried to get experts in thefeld to come inhellipI donrsquot think that there is anyprogram that has more community involvement inteaching students science than oursrdquo
Component 5 Evaluation ________________________________________________________
When you look at their assessments on the [statetest]hellipthey werenrsquot measuring up with other statesand because of that we had to go back and revisit ourcurriculum to see where we were falling through the
cracks - Afterschool Program Principal
Overview
As outlined in the CRESST aterschool model ongoing
evaluation is necessary to measure program perormance
and make continuous improvement While evaluation data
serves many stakeholders including students parents and
aterschool stamdash unding agencies (who are making a
growing investment in aterschool programs) increasingly
want to know i their outlays are making measureable
improvements
We ound that nearly all aterschool programs used
internal evaluation to identiy program strengths and
weaknesses Internal evaluation oten called ormativeevaluation was usually done by the programrsquos own sta or
sta within its unding agencies governance structure The
stakes or consequences were usually low ndash with program
improvement the key goal An external evaluation
on the other hand typically had higher consequences
or programs and was nearly always conducted by a
disinterested third party In some cases accreditation or
even program continuance may be decided by an unbiased
outside ldquoexternalrdquo evaluation expert
Interview and survey responses across our studies indicated
that even though rigorous examination o data was rarenearly all o the aterschool programs conducted internal
or external evaluations o their programs
Key Evaluation Findings
All but two programs reported having conducted
internal evaluations Evaluation varied rom inormal
conversations between aterschool sta day school
sta and parents to a ormal administration o surveys
to students parents sta and tracking o test scores
grades and attendance records (see Recommendations
section)
Responses rom interviewees suggested that many o
the programs were evaluated externally sometimes
by an evaluation organization experienced in program
evaluation Interviewees consistently indicated that most
o the evaluations were o the entire program
External evaluation methodologies typically included
pre-post testing or classroom evaluations comparison
groups surveys ocus groups observational
assessments or a combination o methods
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1115
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1215 National Center for Research on Evaluation Standards amp Student Testing | Full Policy Brief No 11 | Summer 2011
ldquo
Recommendations ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Our ndings point to the contributions o goals leadership sta programs and evaluation to high quality aterschool
programs Nevertheless we noticed consistent areas o weaknesses in even the best aterschool programs We oer the
ollowing research-based recommendations that we believe will help improve any aterschool program
Staff Stability
Our studyrsquos results indicated that high unctioning programs tend to have low sta turnover rates Over 60
o the sta had between 1ndash7 years o experience at the current site and over 30 o the sta had over 4 yearso experiences at the current site Sta stability is important or relationship building and a basis or students to
build trust positive attitudes and ecacy toward learning
Recommendation Funders and aterschool administrators should consider incentives or building sta retention rang-
ing rom educational opportunities (eg tuition grants) to ldquooutstanding aterschool teams or teachersrdquo nominated and
selected by parents teachers and students A pay scale incentive or years o service and a possible career ladder may also
improve sta retention
Collaboration with the Day School
In our studies all o the programs maintained positive relationships with the day school However despite
the importance o this relationship too ew programs had strategic systems established that supported and
strengthened this connection Recommendation Formal agreements and written plans (ideally in early stages) should address day school
collaboration Time or day school teachers and aterschool sta to meet and plan lessons together plus a communicationssystem (eg homework log between day school teachers and aterschool sta) should be included in both school andaterschool plans Funding agencies should budget additional resources or aterschool programs that will acilitate linkagessuch as shared proessional development sta retreats or workshops that jointly support students
Space and Technology
Many programs relied on access to common space such as an auditorium or a classroom shared with day
school teachers which oten caused logistical problems and sometimes prevented planned activities rom taking
place Furthermore some programs expressed diculty with not having consistent access to classrooms A
site coordinator illuminated the problem ldquoI would say physical space would be denitely a big thing with ourprogramhellipThat is probably one o the hardest things to work with just because every 6 weeks we are readjusting
the classroom to new classroom seating charts new areas in which the students can and cannot gordquo
Recommendation Aterschool space issues should be addressed early in the planning process and reviewed each
year or adequacy Technology too especially with shared equipment should also be addressed recognizing the growing role
that technology plays in both learning and recreational activities
ldquoFormal agreementsand written plans
ideally in early stagesshould address dayschool collaboration
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1315 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Professional Development
We ound that proessional development was not regularly oered at all program sites and when oered
participation rates were oten low Moreover project directors and site coordinators appeared to attend
conerences and workshops more requently than program sta
Recommendation Because proessional development has a strong correlation with sta ecacy instructional quality and
student outcomes (Ingvarson Meiers amp Beavis 2005) ederal and state policies guiding the development and operations o
aterschool programs should provide additional guidelines for sufcient quality professional development for all after -
school staff especially at the instructor level
Recommendation Aterschool programs should include proessional development in their written plansThose
plans should address unding issues or substitutes or example I there is a ldquotraining-o-the-trainerrdquo approach at the sites
written guidelines should include evaluation to ensure proessional development delity When planning the yearly calendar
proessional development or all sta should be included Topics should address program evaluation assessment and data use
plus needs o English learners and students with disabilities
Content and Curriculum
Our study ndings showed that although most program sta were aware o the standards within their specic
content areas they were less knowledgeable about the links between the standards and successul instructional
practices Proessional development can help address this need which is increasingly important with most statersquos
recent adoptions o the common core standards
Recommendation Proessional development should help all program sta expand their knowledge o content
standards and instructional methods or aligning those standards to instruction Program goals should include content and
curriculum enhancement or sta as a key purpose plus implementation and evaluation methods
Parent Involvement
Although the research literature continuously stresses the importance o parent involvement in infuencing
childrenrsquos academic outcomes our study repeatedly ound that parents though very satised with the programs
were generally not involved in attending events or volunteering in aterschool programs
Recommendation Despite the time constraints amilies ace aterschool leaders should continue to include parent in-
volvement as a central program goal oering specic late aternoon or early evening times or parent involved events as
well as using both social networks and websites to support positive communication between parents and sta Parents should
be included in an active program committee or evaluation team when possible thereby enhancing parent involvement and
contributions to the aterschool program Open houses and parent-teacher conerences can acilitate parent participation Home
visits and amily assistance can urther solidiy the relationships between the aterschool and its amilies
Evaluation
The contributions o eective internal and external evaluations must not be overlooked Equally important is the
use o the ndings or specic program improvements
Recommendation Federal state and local policies should address and provide unding or systematic evalua-
tion o all programs Evaluation should ideally include internal ormative evaluation as well as annual or biennial external
summative evaluations Multiple perspectives should be sought when gathering evaluation data including parent student andcommunity input Evaluation results should span accountability needs as well as guide continuous program improvement To be
eective all evaluations should be in written ormat
Recommendation For internal evaluation program directors and site coordinators need to clearly defne the pur-
poses o evaluations in their goals Sel-evaluation tools can be used to understand sta proessional development needs
sta utilization o research-based activities and sta knowledge o standards-based curriculum Using these evaluation results
program directors can implement changes allocate resources and design proessional development opportunities to urther
sta expertise in needed areas
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1415 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Recommendation External evaluation should ocus on student outcomes ideally using student data rom the regular
day school level that includes both perormance and attendance inormation It is crucial that external evaluation results are
provided in a written ormat so that comparisons may be made over periods o time In order or evaluation data either internal
or external to be used eectively and lead to program improvement results must be well communicated to all stakeholders and
a system created or monitoring evaluation usage
Conclusion ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Even at a time o austere ederal state and local unding ndash we highly encourage policy makers aterschool managers and
school districts to ully budget aterschool programs that will provide high quality leaders and sta Proessional development
and external evaluation should also be included in both budgets and program planning As one program director said
ldquoI think itrsquos very important that everybody understand the power that can come rom an aterschool program in aecting
change not only cultural change on campus but also individually in particular lives The sense o accomplishment that comes
rom being in one o our programs where they have more reedom to explore and have more hands-on experiences
is prooundrdquo
Resources
Links to Various CRESST Afterschool Evaluations
bull Examining Practices of Staff Recruitment and Retention in Four High-Functioning Afterschool ProgramsExtended Study rom the National Aterschool Partnership Report
bull Examining the Relationship between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Academic Achievement of LArsquos BEST Students
bull Identication of Key Indicators of Quality in Afterschool Programs
bull A Circle of Learning Children and Adults Growing Together in LArsquos BEST
bull What Works Common Practices in High Functioning Afterschool Programs Across the Nation in MathReading Science Arts Technology and Homework--A Study by the National Partnership
bull The Afterschool Hours Examining the Relationship between Afterschool Staff-Based Social Capital andStudent Engagement in LArsquos BEST
bull The Afterschool Experience in Salsa Sabor y Salud
bull Exploring the Relationships between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Cognitive Gains of LArsquos BESTStudents
bull Preparing Students for the 21st Century Exploring the Effect of Afterschool Participation on Studentsrsquo
Collaboration Skills Oral Communication Skills and Sel-Ecacy
bull Exploring the Intellectual Social and Organizational Capitals at LArsquos BEST
Link to the Afterschool Toolkit
bull SEDL - National Center for Quality Afterschool Afterschool Training Toolkit
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1515
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1015 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Many sites provided character development The site
coordinator at a reading aterschool program described
two character programs that they oered students
The girls get ldquoSmart Girlsrdquo which is also characterbuilding but it deals with those lie changes duringpuberty taking care o your body in terms ohygiene and what does it mean to be a woman insociety For the boys itrsquos ldquoPassport to Manhoodrdquo
Another site coordinator or a math aterschool programmentioned a program called Character Developmentwhich ocused on teaching students values such ashonesty respect responsibility and caring
Community involvement was common in the programs
such as making get well cards or patients in the
hospitals taking trips to nursing homes to sing to the
senior citizens recycling or community beautication
eorts and cultivating community gardens One
aterschool program worked with a local charitable
organization not only to restore a public garden but
also to hike take horticulture classes go rowing and
swim in the lake
Community members oten volunteered in the ater-
school programs oten a result o aliations with local
universities and high schools who requently tutored
students Boy and girl scouts churches and boys
and girls club members also volunteered Aterschool
program sta requently invited science experts rom
the community to visit their programs and share their
own experiences o practical real-world applications or
science As one project director explained
ldquoWhat makes it unique [at our program] is we
have so much community involvement in teachingsciencehellipWersquove really tried to get experts in thefeld to come inhellipI donrsquot think that there is anyprogram that has more community involvement inteaching students science than oursrdquo
Component 5 Evaluation ________________________________________________________
When you look at their assessments on the [statetest]hellipthey werenrsquot measuring up with other statesand because of that we had to go back and revisit ourcurriculum to see where we were falling through the
cracks - Afterschool Program Principal
Overview
As outlined in the CRESST aterschool model ongoing
evaluation is necessary to measure program perormance
and make continuous improvement While evaluation data
serves many stakeholders including students parents and
aterschool stamdash unding agencies (who are making a
growing investment in aterschool programs) increasingly
want to know i their outlays are making measureable
improvements
We ound that nearly all aterschool programs used
internal evaluation to identiy program strengths and
weaknesses Internal evaluation oten called ormativeevaluation was usually done by the programrsquos own sta or
sta within its unding agencies governance structure The
stakes or consequences were usually low ndash with program
improvement the key goal An external evaluation
on the other hand typically had higher consequences
or programs and was nearly always conducted by a
disinterested third party In some cases accreditation or
even program continuance may be decided by an unbiased
outside ldquoexternalrdquo evaluation expert
Interview and survey responses across our studies indicated
that even though rigorous examination o data was rarenearly all o the aterschool programs conducted internal
or external evaluations o their programs
Key Evaluation Findings
All but two programs reported having conducted
internal evaluations Evaluation varied rom inormal
conversations between aterschool sta day school
sta and parents to a ormal administration o surveys
to students parents sta and tracking o test scores
grades and attendance records (see Recommendations
section)
Responses rom interviewees suggested that many o
the programs were evaluated externally sometimes
by an evaluation organization experienced in program
evaluation Interviewees consistently indicated that most
o the evaluations were o the entire program
External evaluation methodologies typically included
pre-post testing or classroom evaluations comparison
groups surveys ocus groups observational
assessments or a combination o methods
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1115
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1215 National Center for Research on Evaluation Standards amp Student Testing | Full Policy Brief No 11 | Summer 2011
ldquo
Recommendations ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Our ndings point to the contributions o goals leadership sta programs and evaluation to high quality aterschool
programs Nevertheless we noticed consistent areas o weaknesses in even the best aterschool programs We oer the
ollowing research-based recommendations that we believe will help improve any aterschool program
Staff Stability
Our studyrsquos results indicated that high unctioning programs tend to have low sta turnover rates Over 60
o the sta had between 1ndash7 years o experience at the current site and over 30 o the sta had over 4 yearso experiences at the current site Sta stability is important or relationship building and a basis or students to
build trust positive attitudes and ecacy toward learning
Recommendation Funders and aterschool administrators should consider incentives or building sta retention rang-
ing rom educational opportunities (eg tuition grants) to ldquooutstanding aterschool teams or teachersrdquo nominated and
selected by parents teachers and students A pay scale incentive or years o service and a possible career ladder may also
improve sta retention
Collaboration with the Day School
In our studies all o the programs maintained positive relationships with the day school However despite
the importance o this relationship too ew programs had strategic systems established that supported and
strengthened this connection Recommendation Formal agreements and written plans (ideally in early stages) should address day school
collaboration Time or day school teachers and aterschool sta to meet and plan lessons together plus a communicationssystem (eg homework log between day school teachers and aterschool sta) should be included in both school andaterschool plans Funding agencies should budget additional resources or aterschool programs that will acilitate linkagessuch as shared proessional development sta retreats or workshops that jointly support students
Space and Technology
Many programs relied on access to common space such as an auditorium or a classroom shared with day
school teachers which oten caused logistical problems and sometimes prevented planned activities rom taking
place Furthermore some programs expressed diculty with not having consistent access to classrooms A
site coordinator illuminated the problem ldquoI would say physical space would be denitely a big thing with ourprogramhellipThat is probably one o the hardest things to work with just because every 6 weeks we are readjusting
the classroom to new classroom seating charts new areas in which the students can and cannot gordquo
Recommendation Aterschool space issues should be addressed early in the planning process and reviewed each
year or adequacy Technology too especially with shared equipment should also be addressed recognizing the growing role
that technology plays in both learning and recreational activities
ldquoFormal agreementsand written plans
ideally in early stagesshould address dayschool collaboration
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1315 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Professional Development
We ound that proessional development was not regularly oered at all program sites and when oered
participation rates were oten low Moreover project directors and site coordinators appeared to attend
conerences and workshops more requently than program sta
Recommendation Because proessional development has a strong correlation with sta ecacy instructional quality and
student outcomes (Ingvarson Meiers amp Beavis 2005) ederal and state policies guiding the development and operations o
aterschool programs should provide additional guidelines for sufcient quality professional development for all after -
school staff especially at the instructor level
Recommendation Aterschool programs should include proessional development in their written plansThose
plans should address unding issues or substitutes or example I there is a ldquotraining-o-the-trainerrdquo approach at the sites
written guidelines should include evaluation to ensure proessional development delity When planning the yearly calendar
proessional development or all sta should be included Topics should address program evaluation assessment and data use
plus needs o English learners and students with disabilities
Content and Curriculum
Our study ndings showed that although most program sta were aware o the standards within their specic
content areas they were less knowledgeable about the links between the standards and successul instructional
practices Proessional development can help address this need which is increasingly important with most statersquos
recent adoptions o the common core standards
Recommendation Proessional development should help all program sta expand their knowledge o content
standards and instructional methods or aligning those standards to instruction Program goals should include content and
curriculum enhancement or sta as a key purpose plus implementation and evaluation methods
Parent Involvement
Although the research literature continuously stresses the importance o parent involvement in infuencing
childrenrsquos academic outcomes our study repeatedly ound that parents though very satised with the programs
were generally not involved in attending events or volunteering in aterschool programs
Recommendation Despite the time constraints amilies ace aterschool leaders should continue to include parent in-
volvement as a central program goal oering specic late aternoon or early evening times or parent involved events as
well as using both social networks and websites to support positive communication between parents and sta Parents should
be included in an active program committee or evaluation team when possible thereby enhancing parent involvement and
contributions to the aterschool program Open houses and parent-teacher conerences can acilitate parent participation Home
visits and amily assistance can urther solidiy the relationships between the aterschool and its amilies
Evaluation
The contributions o eective internal and external evaluations must not be overlooked Equally important is the
use o the ndings or specic program improvements
Recommendation Federal state and local policies should address and provide unding or systematic evalua-
tion o all programs Evaluation should ideally include internal ormative evaluation as well as annual or biennial external
summative evaluations Multiple perspectives should be sought when gathering evaluation data including parent student andcommunity input Evaluation results should span accountability needs as well as guide continuous program improvement To be
eective all evaluations should be in written ormat
Recommendation For internal evaluation program directors and site coordinators need to clearly defne the pur-
poses o evaluations in their goals Sel-evaluation tools can be used to understand sta proessional development needs
sta utilization o research-based activities and sta knowledge o standards-based curriculum Using these evaluation results
program directors can implement changes allocate resources and design proessional development opportunities to urther
sta expertise in needed areas
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1415 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Recommendation External evaluation should ocus on student outcomes ideally using student data rom the regular
day school level that includes both perormance and attendance inormation It is crucial that external evaluation results are
provided in a written ormat so that comparisons may be made over periods o time In order or evaluation data either internal
or external to be used eectively and lead to program improvement results must be well communicated to all stakeholders and
a system created or monitoring evaluation usage
Conclusion ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Even at a time o austere ederal state and local unding ndash we highly encourage policy makers aterschool managers and
school districts to ully budget aterschool programs that will provide high quality leaders and sta Proessional development
and external evaluation should also be included in both budgets and program planning As one program director said
ldquoI think itrsquos very important that everybody understand the power that can come rom an aterschool program in aecting
change not only cultural change on campus but also individually in particular lives The sense o accomplishment that comes
rom being in one o our programs where they have more reedom to explore and have more hands-on experiences
is prooundrdquo
Resources
Links to Various CRESST Afterschool Evaluations
bull Examining Practices of Staff Recruitment and Retention in Four High-Functioning Afterschool ProgramsExtended Study rom the National Aterschool Partnership Report
bull Examining the Relationship between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Academic Achievement of LArsquos BEST Students
bull Identication of Key Indicators of Quality in Afterschool Programs
bull A Circle of Learning Children and Adults Growing Together in LArsquos BEST
bull What Works Common Practices in High Functioning Afterschool Programs Across the Nation in MathReading Science Arts Technology and Homework--A Study by the National Partnership
bull The Afterschool Hours Examining the Relationship between Afterschool Staff-Based Social Capital andStudent Engagement in LArsquos BEST
bull The Afterschool Experience in Salsa Sabor y Salud
bull Exploring the Relationships between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Cognitive Gains of LArsquos BESTStudents
bull Preparing Students for the 21st Century Exploring the Effect of Afterschool Participation on Studentsrsquo
Collaboration Skills Oral Communication Skills and Sel-Ecacy
bull Exploring the Intellectual Social and Organizational Capitals at LArsquos BEST
Link to the Afterschool Toolkit
bull SEDL - National Center for Quality Afterschool Afterschool Training Toolkit
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1515
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1115
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1215 National Center for Research on Evaluation Standards amp Student Testing | Full Policy Brief No 11 | Summer 2011
ldquo
Recommendations ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Our ndings point to the contributions o goals leadership sta programs and evaluation to high quality aterschool
programs Nevertheless we noticed consistent areas o weaknesses in even the best aterschool programs We oer the
ollowing research-based recommendations that we believe will help improve any aterschool program
Staff Stability
Our studyrsquos results indicated that high unctioning programs tend to have low sta turnover rates Over 60
o the sta had between 1ndash7 years o experience at the current site and over 30 o the sta had over 4 yearso experiences at the current site Sta stability is important or relationship building and a basis or students to
build trust positive attitudes and ecacy toward learning
Recommendation Funders and aterschool administrators should consider incentives or building sta retention rang-
ing rom educational opportunities (eg tuition grants) to ldquooutstanding aterschool teams or teachersrdquo nominated and
selected by parents teachers and students A pay scale incentive or years o service and a possible career ladder may also
improve sta retention
Collaboration with the Day School
In our studies all o the programs maintained positive relationships with the day school However despite
the importance o this relationship too ew programs had strategic systems established that supported and
strengthened this connection Recommendation Formal agreements and written plans (ideally in early stages) should address day school
collaboration Time or day school teachers and aterschool sta to meet and plan lessons together plus a communicationssystem (eg homework log between day school teachers and aterschool sta) should be included in both school andaterschool plans Funding agencies should budget additional resources or aterschool programs that will acilitate linkagessuch as shared proessional development sta retreats or workshops that jointly support students
Space and Technology
Many programs relied on access to common space such as an auditorium or a classroom shared with day
school teachers which oten caused logistical problems and sometimes prevented planned activities rom taking
place Furthermore some programs expressed diculty with not having consistent access to classrooms A
site coordinator illuminated the problem ldquoI would say physical space would be denitely a big thing with ourprogramhellipThat is probably one o the hardest things to work with just because every 6 weeks we are readjusting
the classroom to new classroom seating charts new areas in which the students can and cannot gordquo
Recommendation Aterschool space issues should be addressed early in the planning process and reviewed each
year or adequacy Technology too especially with shared equipment should also be addressed recognizing the growing role
that technology plays in both learning and recreational activities
ldquoFormal agreementsand written plans
ideally in early stagesshould address dayschool collaboration
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1315 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Professional Development
We ound that proessional development was not regularly oered at all program sites and when oered
participation rates were oten low Moreover project directors and site coordinators appeared to attend
conerences and workshops more requently than program sta
Recommendation Because proessional development has a strong correlation with sta ecacy instructional quality and
student outcomes (Ingvarson Meiers amp Beavis 2005) ederal and state policies guiding the development and operations o
aterschool programs should provide additional guidelines for sufcient quality professional development for all after -
school staff especially at the instructor level
Recommendation Aterschool programs should include proessional development in their written plansThose
plans should address unding issues or substitutes or example I there is a ldquotraining-o-the-trainerrdquo approach at the sites
written guidelines should include evaluation to ensure proessional development delity When planning the yearly calendar
proessional development or all sta should be included Topics should address program evaluation assessment and data use
plus needs o English learners and students with disabilities
Content and Curriculum
Our study ndings showed that although most program sta were aware o the standards within their specic
content areas they were less knowledgeable about the links between the standards and successul instructional
practices Proessional development can help address this need which is increasingly important with most statersquos
recent adoptions o the common core standards
Recommendation Proessional development should help all program sta expand their knowledge o content
standards and instructional methods or aligning those standards to instruction Program goals should include content and
curriculum enhancement or sta as a key purpose plus implementation and evaluation methods
Parent Involvement
Although the research literature continuously stresses the importance o parent involvement in infuencing
childrenrsquos academic outcomes our study repeatedly ound that parents though very satised with the programs
were generally not involved in attending events or volunteering in aterschool programs
Recommendation Despite the time constraints amilies ace aterschool leaders should continue to include parent in-
volvement as a central program goal oering specic late aternoon or early evening times or parent involved events as
well as using both social networks and websites to support positive communication between parents and sta Parents should
be included in an active program committee or evaluation team when possible thereby enhancing parent involvement and
contributions to the aterschool program Open houses and parent-teacher conerences can acilitate parent participation Home
visits and amily assistance can urther solidiy the relationships between the aterschool and its amilies
Evaluation
The contributions o eective internal and external evaluations must not be overlooked Equally important is the
use o the ndings or specic program improvements
Recommendation Federal state and local policies should address and provide unding or systematic evalua-
tion o all programs Evaluation should ideally include internal ormative evaluation as well as annual or biennial external
summative evaluations Multiple perspectives should be sought when gathering evaluation data including parent student andcommunity input Evaluation results should span accountability needs as well as guide continuous program improvement To be
eective all evaluations should be in written ormat
Recommendation For internal evaluation program directors and site coordinators need to clearly defne the pur-
poses o evaluations in their goals Sel-evaluation tools can be used to understand sta proessional development needs
sta utilization o research-based activities and sta knowledge o standards-based curriculum Using these evaluation results
program directors can implement changes allocate resources and design proessional development opportunities to urther
sta expertise in needed areas
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1415 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Recommendation External evaluation should ocus on student outcomes ideally using student data rom the regular
day school level that includes both perormance and attendance inormation It is crucial that external evaluation results are
provided in a written ormat so that comparisons may be made over periods o time In order or evaluation data either internal
or external to be used eectively and lead to program improvement results must be well communicated to all stakeholders and
a system created or monitoring evaluation usage
Conclusion ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Even at a time o austere ederal state and local unding ndash we highly encourage policy makers aterschool managers and
school districts to ully budget aterschool programs that will provide high quality leaders and sta Proessional development
and external evaluation should also be included in both budgets and program planning As one program director said
ldquoI think itrsquos very important that everybody understand the power that can come rom an aterschool program in aecting
change not only cultural change on campus but also individually in particular lives The sense o accomplishment that comes
rom being in one o our programs where they have more reedom to explore and have more hands-on experiences
is prooundrdquo
Resources
Links to Various CRESST Afterschool Evaluations
bull Examining Practices of Staff Recruitment and Retention in Four High-Functioning Afterschool ProgramsExtended Study rom the National Aterschool Partnership Report
bull Examining the Relationship between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Academic Achievement of LArsquos BEST Students
bull Identication of Key Indicators of Quality in Afterschool Programs
bull A Circle of Learning Children and Adults Growing Together in LArsquos BEST
bull What Works Common Practices in High Functioning Afterschool Programs Across the Nation in MathReading Science Arts Technology and Homework--A Study by the National Partnership
bull The Afterschool Hours Examining the Relationship between Afterschool Staff-Based Social Capital andStudent Engagement in LArsquos BEST
bull The Afterschool Experience in Salsa Sabor y Salud
bull Exploring the Relationships between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Cognitive Gains of LArsquos BESTStudents
bull Preparing Students for the 21st Century Exploring the Effect of Afterschool Participation on Studentsrsquo
Collaboration Skills Oral Communication Skills and Sel-Ecacy
bull Exploring the Intellectual Social and Organizational Capitals at LArsquos BEST
Link to the Afterschool Toolkit
bull SEDL - National Center for Quality Afterschool Afterschool Training Toolkit
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1515
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1215 National Center for Research on Evaluation Standards amp Student Testing | Full Policy Brief No 11 | Summer 2011
ldquo
Recommendations ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Our ndings point to the contributions o goals leadership sta programs and evaluation to high quality aterschool
programs Nevertheless we noticed consistent areas o weaknesses in even the best aterschool programs We oer the
ollowing research-based recommendations that we believe will help improve any aterschool program
Staff Stability
Our studyrsquos results indicated that high unctioning programs tend to have low sta turnover rates Over 60
o the sta had between 1ndash7 years o experience at the current site and over 30 o the sta had over 4 yearso experiences at the current site Sta stability is important or relationship building and a basis or students to
build trust positive attitudes and ecacy toward learning
Recommendation Funders and aterschool administrators should consider incentives or building sta retention rang-
ing rom educational opportunities (eg tuition grants) to ldquooutstanding aterschool teams or teachersrdquo nominated and
selected by parents teachers and students A pay scale incentive or years o service and a possible career ladder may also
improve sta retention
Collaboration with the Day School
In our studies all o the programs maintained positive relationships with the day school However despite
the importance o this relationship too ew programs had strategic systems established that supported and
strengthened this connection Recommendation Formal agreements and written plans (ideally in early stages) should address day school
collaboration Time or day school teachers and aterschool sta to meet and plan lessons together plus a communicationssystem (eg homework log between day school teachers and aterschool sta) should be included in both school andaterschool plans Funding agencies should budget additional resources or aterschool programs that will acilitate linkagessuch as shared proessional development sta retreats or workshops that jointly support students
Space and Technology
Many programs relied on access to common space such as an auditorium or a classroom shared with day
school teachers which oten caused logistical problems and sometimes prevented planned activities rom taking
place Furthermore some programs expressed diculty with not having consistent access to classrooms A
site coordinator illuminated the problem ldquoI would say physical space would be denitely a big thing with ourprogramhellipThat is probably one o the hardest things to work with just because every 6 weeks we are readjusting
the classroom to new classroom seating charts new areas in which the students can and cannot gordquo
Recommendation Aterschool space issues should be addressed early in the planning process and reviewed each
year or adequacy Technology too especially with shared equipment should also be addressed recognizing the growing role
that technology plays in both learning and recreational activities
ldquoFormal agreementsand written plans
ideally in early stagesshould address dayschool collaboration
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
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Professional Development
We ound that proessional development was not regularly oered at all program sites and when oered
participation rates were oten low Moreover project directors and site coordinators appeared to attend
conerences and workshops more requently than program sta
Recommendation Because proessional development has a strong correlation with sta ecacy instructional quality and
student outcomes (Ingvarson Meiers amp Beavis 2005) ederal and state policies guiding the development and operations o
aterschool programs should provide additional guidelines for sufcient quality professional development for all after -
school staff especially at the instructor level
Recommendation Aterschool programs should include proessional development in their written plansThose
plans should address unding issues or substitutes or example I there is a ldquotraining-o-the-trainerrdquo approach at the sites
written guidelines should include evaluation to ensure proessional development delity When planning the yearly calendar
proessional development or all sta should be included Topics should address program evaluation assessment and data use
plus needs o English learners and students with disabilities
Content and Curriculum
Our study ndings showed that although most program sta were aware o the standards within their specic
content areas they were less knowledgeable about the links between the standards and successul instructional
practices Proessional development can help address this need which is increasingly important with most statersquos
recent adoptions o the common core standards
Recommendation Proessional development should help all program sta expand their knowledge o content
standards and instructional methods or aligning those standards to instruction Program goals should include content and
curriculum enhancement or sta as a key purpose plus implementation and evaluation methods
Parent Involvement
Although the research literature continuously stresses the importance o parent involvement in infuencing
childrenrsquos academic outcomes our study repeatedly ound that parents though very satised with the programs
were generally not involved in attending events or volunteering in aterschool programs
Recommendation Despite the time constraints amilies ace aterschool leaders should continue to include parent in-
volvement as a central program goal oering specic late aternoon or early evening times or parent involved events as
well as using both social networks and websites to support positive communication between parents and sta Parents should
be included in an active program committee or evaluation team when possible thereby enhancing parent involvement and
contributions to the aterschool program Open houses and parent-teacher conerences can acilitate parent participation Home
visits and amily assistance can urther solidiy the relationships between the aterschool and its amilies
Evaluation
The contributions o eective internal and external evaluations must not be overlooked Equally important is the
use o the ndings or specic program improvements
Recommendation Federal state and local policies should address and provide unding or systematic evalua-
tion o all programs Evaluation should ideally include internal ormative evaluation as well as annual or biennial external
summative evaluations Multiple perspectives should be sought when gathering evaluation data including parent student andcommunity input Evaluation results should span accountability needs as well as guide continuous program improvement To be
eective all evaluations should be in written ormat
Recommendation For internal evaluation program directors and site coordinators need to clearly defne the pur-
poses o evaluations in their goals Sel-evaluation tools can be used to understand sta proessional development needs
sta utilization o research-based activities and sta knowledge o standards-based curriculum Using these evaluation results
program directors can implement changes allocate resources and design proessional development opportunities to urther
sta expertise in needed areas
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
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Recommendation External evaluation should ocus on student outcomes ideally using student data rom the regular
day school level that includes both perormance and attendance inormation It is crucial that external evaluation results are
provided in a written ormat so that comparisons may be made over periods o time In order or evaluation data either internal
or external to be used eectively and lead to program improvement results must be well communicated to all stakeholders and
a system created or monitoring evaluation usage
Conclusion ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Even at a time o austere ederal state and local unding ndash we highly encourage policy makers aterschool managers and
school districts to ully budget aterschool programs that will provide high quality leaders and sta Proessional development
and external evaluation should also be included in both budgets and program planning As one program director said
ldquoI think itrsquos very important that everybody understand the power that can come rom an aterschool program in aecting
change not only cultural change on campus but also individually in particular lives The sense o accomplishment that comes
rom being in one o our programs where they have more reedom to explore and have more hands-on experiences
is prooundrdquo
Resources
Links to Various CRESST Afterschool Evaluations
bull Examining Practices of Staff Recruitment and Retention in Four High-Functioning Afterschool ProgramsExtended Study rom the National Aterschool Partnership Report
bull Examining the Relationship between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Academic Achievement of LArsquos BEST Students
bull Identication of Key Indicators of Quality in Afterschool Programs
bull A Circle of Learning Children and Adults Growing Together in LArsquos BEST
bull What Works Common Practices in High Functioning Afterschool Programs Across the Nation in MathReading Science Arts Technology and Homework--A Study by the National Partnership
bull The Afterschool Hours Examining the Relationship between Afterschool Staff-Based Social Capital andStudent Engagement in LArsquos BEST
bull The Afterschool Experience in Salsa Sabor y Salud
bull Exploring the Relationships between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Cognitive Gains of LArsquos BESTStudents
bull Preparing Students for the 21st Century Exploring the Effect of Afterschool Participation on Studentsrsquo
Collaboration Skills Oral Communication Skills and Sel-Ecacy
bull Exploring the Intellectual Social and Organizational Capitals at LArsquos BEST
Link to the Afterschool Toolkit
bull SEDL - National Center for Quality Afterschool Afterschool Training Toolkit
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1515
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1315 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Professional Development
We ound that proessional development was not regularly oered at all program sites and when oered
participation rates were oten low Moreover project directors and site coordinators appeared to attend
conerences and workshops more requently than program sta
Recommendation Because proessional development has a strong correlation with sta ecacy instructional quality and
student outcomes (Ingvarson Meiers amp Beavis 2005) ederal and state policies guiding the development and operations o
aterschool programs should provide additional guidelines for sufcient quality professional development for all after -
school staff especially at the instructor level
Recommendation Aterschool programs should include proessional development in their written plansThose
plans should address unding issues or substitutes or example I there is a ldquotraining-o-the-trainerrdquo approach at the sites
written guidelines should include evaluation to ensure proessional development delity When planning the yearly calendar
proessional development or all sta should be included Topics should address program evaluation assessment and data use
plus needs o English learners and students with disabilities
Content and Curriculum
Our study ndings showed that although most program sta were aware o the standards within their specic
content areas they were less knowledgeable about the links between the standards and successul instructional
practices Proessional development can help address this need which is increasingly important with most statersquos
recent adoptions o the common core standards
Recommendation Proessional development should help all program sta expand their knowledge o content
standards and instructional methods or aligning those standards to instruction Program goals should include content and
curriculum enhancement or sta as a key purpose plus implementation and evaluation methods
Parent Involvement
Although the research literature continuously stresses the importance o parent involvement in infuencing
childrenrsquos academic outcomes our study repeatedly ound that parents though very satised with the programs
were generally not involved in attending events or volunteering in aterschool programs
Recommendation Despite the time constraints amilies ace aterschool leaders should continue to include parent in-
volvement as a central program goal oering specic late aternoon or early evening times or parent involved events as
well as using both social networks and websites to support positive communication between parents and sta Parents should
be included in an active program committee or evaluation team when possible thereby enhancing parent involvement and
contributions to the aterschool program Open houses and parent-teacher conerences can acilitate parent participation Home
visits and amily assistance can urther solidiy the relationships between the aterschool and its amilies
Evaluation
The contributions o eective internal and external evaluations must not be overlooked Equally important is the
use o the ndings or specic program improvements
Recommendation Federal state and local policies should address and provide unding or systematic evalua-
tion o all programs Evaluation should ideally include internal ormative evaluation as well as annual or biennial external
summative evaluations Multiple perspectives should be sought when gathering evaluation data including parent student andcommunity input Evaluation results should span accountability needs as well as guide continuous program improvement To be
eective all evaluations should be in written ormat
Recommendation For internal evaluation program directors and site coordinators need to clearly defne the pur-
poses o evaluations in their goals Sel-evaluation tools can be used to understand sta proessional development needs
sta utilization o research-based activities and sta knowledge o standards-based curriculum Using these evaluation results
program directors can implement changes allocate resources and design proessional development opportunities to urther
sta expertise in needed areas
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1415 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Recommendation External evaluation should ocus on student outcomes ideally using student data rom the regular
day school level that includes both perormance and attendance inormation It is crucial that external evaluation results are
provided in a written ormat so that comparisons may be made over periods o time In order or evaluation data either internal
or external to be used eectively and lead to program improvement results must be well communicated to all stakeholders and
a system created or monitoring evaluation usage
Conclusion ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Even at a time o austere ederal state and local unding ndash we highly encourage policy makers aterschool managers and
school districts to ully budget aterschool programs that will provide high quality leaders and sta Proessional development
and external evaluation should also be included in both budgets and program planning As one program director said
ldquoI think itrsquos very important that everybody understand the power that can come rom an aterschool program in aecting
change not only cultural change on campus but also individually in particular lives The sense o accomplishment that comes
rom being in one o our programs where they have more reedom to explore and have more hands-on experiences
is prooundrdquo
Resources
Links to Various CRESST Afterschool Evaluations
bull Examining Practices of Staff Recruitment and Retention in Four High-Functioning Afterschool ProgramsExtended Study rom the National Aterschool Partnership Report
bull Examining the Relationship between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Academic Achievement of LArsquos BEST Students
bull Identication of Key Indicators of Quality in Afterschool Programs
bull A Circle of Learning Children and Adults Growing Together in LArsquos BEST
bull What Works Common Practices in High Functioning Afterschool Programs Across the Nation in MathReading Science Arts Technology and Homework--A Study by the National Partnership
bull The Afterschool Hours Examining the Relationship between Afterschool Staff-Based Social Capital andStudent Engagement in LArsquos BEST
bull The Afterschool Experience in Salsa Sabor y Salud
bull Exploring the Relationships between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Cognitive Gains of LArsquos BESTStudents
bull Preparing Students for the 21st Century Exploring the Effect of Afterschool Participation on Studentsrsquo
Collaboration Skills Oral Communication Skills and Sel-Ecacy
bull Exploring the Intellectual Social and Organizational Capitals at LArsquos BEST
Link to the Afterschool Toolkit
bull SEDL - National Center for Quality Afterschool Afterschool Training Toolkit
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1515
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1415 Making Afterschool Programs Better | Denise Huang and Ron Dietel
Recommendation External evaluation should ocus on student outcomes ideally using student data rom the regular
day school level that includes both perormance and attendance inormation It is crucial that external evaluation results are
provided in a written ormat so that comparisons may be made over periods o time In order or evaluation data either internal
or external to be used eectively and lead to program improvement results must be well communicated to all stakeholders and
a system created or monitoring evaluation usage
Conclusion ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Even at a time o austere ederal state and local unding ndash we highly encourage policy makers aterschool managers and
school districts to ully budget aterschool programs that will provide high quality leaders and sta Proessional development
and external evaluation should also be included in both budgets and program planning As one program director said
ldquoI think itrsquos very important that everybody understand the power that can come rom an aterschool program in aecting
change not only cultural change on campus but also individually in particular lives The sense o accomplishment that comes
rom being in one o our programs where they have more reedom to explore and have more hands-on experiences
is prooundrdquo
Resources
Links to Various CRESST Afterschool Evaluations
bull Examining Practices of Staff Recruitment and Retention in Four High-Functioning Afterschool ProgramsExtended Study rom the National Aterschool Partnership Report
bull Examining the Relationship between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Academic Achievement of LArsquos BEST Students
bull Identication of Key Indicators of Quality in Afterschool Programs
bull A Circle of Learning Children and Adults Growing Together in LArsquos BEST
bull What Works Common Practices in High Functioning Afterschool Programs Across the Nation in MathReading Science Arts Technology and Homework--A Study by the National Partnership
bull The Afterschool Hours Examining the Relationship between Afterschool Staff-Based Social Capital andStudent Engagement in LArsquos BEST
bull The Afterschool Experience in Salsa Sabor y Salud
bull Exploring the Relationships between LArsquos BEST Program Attendance and Cognitive Gains of LArsquos BESTStudents
bull Preparing Students for the 21st Century Exploring the Effect of Afterschool Participation on Studentsrsquo
Collaboration Skills Oral Communication Skills and Sel-Ecacy
bull Exploring the Intellectual Social and Organizational Capitals at LArsquos BEST
Link to the Afterschool Toolkit
bull SEDL - National Center for Quality Afterschool Afterschool Training Toolkit
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1515
7272019 huang_MAPB_v5pdf
httpslidepdfcomreaderfullhuangmapbv5pdf 1515