Supervising youth workers is a challenging, demanding job in a complex field. Too frequently youth workers get mired in reacting to the everyday crises that dominate their work, finding it difficult to rise above the daily demands to reach a place where reflection can help guide their work. Strategies based in action research can empower youth…

This article describes a new paradigm for accountability that envisions afterschool programs as learning organizations continually engaged in improving quality. Nearly 20 years into the era of results-based accountability, a new generation of afterschool accountability systems is emerging. Rather than aiming to test whether programs have produced…

During the author's first year of teaching, she connected with her students and their families but hardly talked with anyone outside her grade level, which is kindergarten. As she started her second year of teaching, she reached out to communicate with other professionals. She also became a part of the Afterschool Matters Practitioner Research…

Over the past 10 years, afterschool and youth development programming has moved from providing childcare for working parents to being an integral component of the learning day, supporting the academic, social, and emotional development of young people. An important part of that transition has been a growing emphasis on improving program quality.…

Self-esteem has been problematic for researchers because it is complex, stable, and hard to measure. When assessing the self-esteem of out-of-school time (OST) program participants, some researchers may think their instruments will not detect changes, either because the program does not last long enough to make a difference or because self-esteem…

Dramatic changes in the labor market in the United States over the past 50 years have raised tremendous concern that many of the nation's youth are unprepared for the labor force. Policymakers and youth advocates are looking for strategies to improve the education system so that fewer youth drop out of high school and more have the skills and…

Although the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 requires accommodations for individuals with disabilities in community settings, many out-of-school time (OST) programs struggle to successfully support youth with special needs. Programs that fully include children with special needs are less available for school-age children and…

The author is a site manager employed by a small community-based organization (CBO) that provides afterschool programming at a number of school-based sites scattered throughout southern King County in Washington State. As such, he belongs to one-half of the afterschool youth development (AYD) workforce: the (for the most part) full-time, salaried…

As framed by national education policy priorities, the dominant metaphor describing participation and achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is a "pipeline." The STEM workforce requires a "pipeline" of future scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. This pipeline begins in childhood and carries students through…

"Co-design"--including youth development staff along with curriculum designers--is the key to developing an effective program that is both scalable and sustainable. This article describes Build IT, a two-year afterschool and summer curriculum designed to help middle school girls develop fluency in information technology (IT), interest in…

Case studies have documented the impact of family-school-community collaboration in afterschool programs on increasing awareness about the problems of at-risk youth, initiating dialogue among leaders and community representatives, developing rich school-based information systems, and demonstrating how to build strong relationships between public…

In the space of an afternoon, an afterschool worker may perform many roles--homework tutor, mentor, athletic director, games master, role model, reading coach, top chef, bridge to parents, and, above all, an adult who develops positive relationships that can change children's lives. Program staff is a critical ingredient of the quality of…

In the past quarter century, the nation's K-12 public schools have experienced a large influx of students who speak languages other than English. Research has shown that many factors affect how English learner (EL) students acquire English language skills, including their preparation before entering U.S. schools, their out-of-school environments,…

Self-assessment is an often-overlooked alternative to external assessment. Program staff can use self-assessment processes to systematically review the quality of their afterschool programming and to facilitate discussions on ways to enhance it. Self-assessment of point-of-service activities, which can provide a wealth of valuable information…

Goal setting is not an innate skill. Adults who are successful at reaching their goals have learned to set realistic goals and to plan to attain them. Afterschool programs, because they have latitude in their curricular offerings and program elements, can provide strong backdrops for goal-setting initiatives. While studies have shown that goal…