Isolating The "After-School Gene"
Stephen M. Pratt, President
Dear Friends:
We've all read those news accounts of researchers in some bio-tech lab splicing and dicing strands of DNA and announcing that they've isolated the gene that causes a rare disorder, or maybe just baldness or halitosis. As I review the recent publication of several "meta analyses" of the effect of after school on various youth outcomes, I am struck by the sense that we're all pursuing the same conceit: that we can isolate the effects of after-school programming on youth, even as common sense tells us otherwise.
The most significant of these studies, at least if we measure it by the buzz it has created among donors and advocates for after school programming is the Rand Corporation's Making Out-of-School Time Matter: Evidence for an Action Agenda. The report found:
Little evidence of sustained and measurable effects on academic achievement.
No established link between juvenile crime and OST participation.
A marginal effect on parents' ability to remain in the workforce.
Unreliable data on a gap between demand for OST programs and supply.
We have no one to blame but ourselves—and the zero-sum funding game that pits one element of the youth development field against another in state and Federal legislatures. Those of us who have had the privilege of witnessing the magic of an after-school program that works understand how vital our field is to the outcomes we all seek for young people. But in our zeal to advance our field and secure vital resources, we have made assertions that are not supportable: that after-school programs can achieve youth development outcomes on their own.
So should we move the goal posts and assert results that Out-of-School Time programs can achieve in isolation? Or should we identify program models that succeed in aligning with the broader youth development field?
We work in a complex field where multiple interventions affect young people. The key to the success of any one intervention is the degree to which it is aligned with all of the other interventions. Is an academically oriented after-school program trying to achieve results in partnership with the schools or in spite of the schools? Is a program focused on disaffected youth linked to juvenile justice, mental health, and alternative learning programs?
Capturing the effects of these interventions is as much alchemy as it is social science. In the coming months, we hope to use this space to share real-world solutions developed by you and your peers. We invite you to share your stories and to respond to the opinions we feature with opinions of your own.
New Additions on this Topic to our Online Research Library
Making Out-of-School Time Matter: Evidence for an Action Agenda
Prepared for the Wallace Foundation by the RAND Corporation, the report takes a comprehensive look at OST evaluation and literature to frame and assess the relevant issues facing OST. Its goal is to engage the field in how to improve programming by understanding what we know to date and what we need to learn and consider. The report accesses several major issues such as the level of demand for programs, what constitutes quality, and how to encourage participation.
Released by The National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), the case studies profile after-school programs in urban, rural, and suburban communities across the country, with a special emphasis on the various roles principals play in helping to make programs successful. Making the Most of After-School Time is designed to serve as a resource for principals and after-school providers alike. Each case study includes a section on how the program was started, who the key players are, how it is staffed and managed, how it is funded, and what the principal's role in the program is. For more information, visit the after-school resources section of NAESP's website: http://www.naesp.org/afterschool. Here you will also find downloadable resources from the case study sites, including training manuals, registration forms, and evaluation documents.
New Directions for Youth Development
Edited by the Harvard Family Research Project, this issue unpacks the construct of participation in out-of-school time programming, posing a three-part equation: participation = enrollment + attendance + engagement. It draws on the latest research and evaluation literature and provides research-based strategies on how to define, measure, study, and increase participation.
Harvard Family Research Project published this article which can be found in the April 2005 issue of "The Prevention Researcher" journal. The article examines both the incentives and barriers that affect adolescents' participation in out-of-school time programs.
This article offers promising recruitment and retention strategies to school administrators seeking to boost participation rates in their school-based after school programs. Published by Harvard Family Research Project, in the May 2005 issue of "The School Administrator" magazine
Published by the Coalition of Community Foundations for Youth the report is offered as a practical tool for community foundations interested in the development of out of school time systems in their communities.