Why do after school programs work

It is important to note that access to high-quality programs is not always equitable. There can be significant disparities based on income and education, 17 transportation, cultural and developmental appropriateness of programming, and neighborhood safety, among other factors.

While nationwide 9 in 10 adults reported that afterschool programs are important to their community, more than 19 million children are unable to enroll in an afterschool program.

Benefits of SEL This webpage from CASEL shares findings from more than two decades of research from multiple fields and sources — including student achievement, neuroscience, health, employment, psychology, classroom management, learning theory, economics, and the prevention of youth problem behaviors — demonstrating that education promoting social and emotional learning SEL gets results.

The repository of readings, websites, videos, and more are categorized below to help users gain the knowledge necessary to understanding fundamental areas of SEL. Opportunity, Responsibility, and Security: A Consensus Plan for Reducing Poverty and Restoring the American Dream PDF, 88 pages This report by the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research and the Brookings Institution makes twelve recommendations on how to strengthen families in ways that will prepare children for success in education and work, to improve the quantity and quality of work in ways that will better prepare young people — men as well as women — to assume the responsibilities of adult life and parenthood, and to improve education in ways that will better help poor children avail themselves of opportunities for self-advancement.

Supporting Social and Emotional Development Through Quality Afterschool Programs PDF, 12 pages This brief from the American Institutes for Research focuses on how afterschool programs contribute to the development of social and emotional competencies in youth. Youth who receive special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act IDEA and especially young adults of transition age, should be involved in planning for life after high school as early as possible and no later than age Research links early leadership with increased self-efficacy and suggests that leadership can help youth to develop decision making and interpersonal skills that support successes in the workforce and adulthood.

In addition, young leaders tend to be more involved in their communities, and have lower dropout rates than their peers. Youth leaders also show considerable benefits for their communities, providing valuable insight into the needs and interests of young people.

Nearly 30, youth aged out of foster care in Fiscal Year , which represents nine percent of the young people involved in the foster care system that year. This transition can be challenging for youth, especially youth who have grown up in the child welfare system.

Read about how coordination between public service agencies can improve treatment for these youth. Civic engagement has the potential to empower young adults, increase their self-determination, and give them the skills and self-confidence they need to enter the workforce. We need your ideas! Click here to share. Benefits for Youth, Families, and Communities. Attending high-quality afterschool programs and regular participation can lead to improved social and emotional competencies, including prosocial behavior, intrinsic motivation, better concentration efforts, and higher sense of self-worth.

SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions. SEL is an integral part of education and human development that advances educational equity and excellence through authentic school- family -community partnerships to establish learning environments and experiences that feature trusting and collaborative relationships, rigorous and meaningful curriculum and instruction, and ongoing evaluation.

SEL can help address various forms of inequity and empower young people and adults to co-create thriving schools and contribute to safe, healthy, and just communities. A national evaluation found that more than 40 percent of students attending 21st Century Community Learning Center programs improved their reading and math grades, and that those who attended more regularly were more likely to make gains. Attending afterschool programs leads to improvement in class participation, better adjustment as young people move to the next phase of schooling, increased school day attendance and participation, and reduced school dropout rates.

Participating in afterschool programs leads to increased adult supervision which makes youth feel safer and reduces instances of being left unsupervised with peers out of school. It also means that younger children are supervised by older siblings less often. Supporting Working Families. Working families and businesses also benefit from afterschool programs that ensure that youth have a safe place to go while parents or guardians are at work.

Even though the OSNAP Initiative did not allot significantly more time for physical activity, it successfully made existing time more vigorously active for children receiving the intervention. Afterschool programs can also provide opportunities to develop early exposure to the labor market. Work-based learning programs with a focus on apprenticeships, internships, and mentorship with older youth between leads to higher quality employment at age Health Resources and Services Administration.

National Institutes of Health. Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Many parents feel one of the greatest benefits of these programs is that their children are able to complete their homework at school, so they can have a more relaxing evening at home.

Another benefit is they allow children to have fun in a relaxed atmosphere, promote new interests, and inspire intellectual curiosity. It is hard to list every possible positive outcome in a short blog post, but here are some of the main benefits your child can gain from participating in before and after school programs.

Most children are very likely to feel more comfortable working on an assignment when they are in a less formal, low pressure environment but still are able to get help if they need it in finishing the assignment. Whenever a child notices some progress and the positive effects of their extracurricular activities, they will gain more confidence and self-esteem and become motivated to be more active in the class. Greater interest leads to a stronger effort in school and less zoning out in subjects they find boring.

If the program is located at your school, then your child will get the chance to connect with familiar faces but in a different environment.

By doing so, children get extra opportunities to use their social skills and build new relationships. In most after school programs, children participate in group activities with their peers.

This helps kids discover new ways to learn and play. In addition, these activities can be a major benefit to children that are shy or more reserved. A quality program will have staff who are trained to promote cooperation, support, and mutual respect. According to the statistics from the Advancement Project, teens who do not take part in after school programs are more likely to use drugs, drink alcohol, and smoke cigarettes.

This encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning, and allows the program staff to better meet the needs of all their students. Provide Opportunities for Student Input: By working with students to develop curriculum activities, you will allow them to develop a sense of ownership of the program, develop responsibility, and select activities that reflect their interests as they help plan and lead activities. Pay Attention to the Particular Needs of Your Program: A thorough knowledge of the needs and desires of your students, staff, families, and community will allow you to fine-tune activities for the best possible fit with your unique population.

Pay Attention to Time, Environmental, and Staffing Constraints: Make sure activities work within the time allotted for the program, and for the environment in which it will be performed. There should be a sufficient number of qualified staff to meet the requirements of the activities. Pay Attention to the Budget: Make sure activities work within the budget allotted for the program. Before the planning process begins: things to consider.

Addressing the needs and interests of students and staff. Before you start to plan activities for your program, it is essential that you take time to consider the specific needs and interests of the students you serve, as well as the interests of the staff who will supervise and teach them.

What do your students like to do? What are the specific interests of your staff? Ideally you want to plan activities that will appeal to both. It is also important to consider the needs, wishes and distinct culture of the community you live in when designing programming. Are the children or youth in your program from families who are recent immigrants to this country?

If so, you could do an activity which focuses on exploring cultural diversity. Students could prepare or bring in native dishes to share with their peers. They could talk about and play games from different countries. Staff could read or provide books to children about what it is like to move to a new place, and the students could follow this up by writing about their own memories of dislocation. Thus, before we discuss planning activities for your program, it is important for program staff members to take a step back and put some thought into what their own goals and desires are for the program.

Our experts at NIOST developed the following exercise as a way to help afterschool staff approach this introductory stage of the planning process:. Here is a list of factors that might influence how you plan afterschool activities: your teaching interests and philosophy your sense of the kinds of things that appeal to kids of different ages the experiences you wish the students to have the time, type of space, and materials needed for any given activity the number of students the program budget While the list of afterschool activities to choose from is endless, taking the time to consider both your and your students' preferences will bring you closer towards constructing a program that works for everyone.

According to our experts at NIOST, choosing the curriculum activities for an afterschool program should be based on these eight concepts:. An understanding of how children develop and learn Attention to children's needs and interests The goals of the program The limitations and assets of the space you are in, and the resources you have The group leader's teaching style The day's schedule The group leader's understanding of the activity A sense of what the kids must know, or be able to do, in order to successfully participate in the activity.

All of these things should play a part in your planning decisions. Choices about which activities to pursue are often made without an understanding of why that particular choice was made. Choosing an activity because you like it, or the kids like it, or because it is easy and fun to do is fine, but this is just a starting point in planning. To be a really effective leader and planner, it is necessary to develop your understanding of why you are doing any particular activity; this will help you choose activities that meet the full range of your kids' needs.

As we emphasized earlier, it is very important that the kids in your program have fun, but this should not be the sole criterion by which an activity is judged. It takes time to learn to choose activities with this level of thoughtfulness. By evaluating the effectiveness of the activities you choose, soliciting and paying attention to the feedback you get from the kids, and looking at your own response to the activity, you will become more sophisticated in your choices and be able to develop activities with greater ease and effectiveness.

Common Obstacles to Implementation. Despite your best intentions, there are a number of common obstacles that can stand in the way of implementing quality afterschool activities. It is important to consider these obstacles early in the planning process, allowing time to brainstorm ways of dealing with them.

These obstacles include the following:. Child Dynamics : There may be challenges associated with the number, ages, gender, or behavior of the children in your program.

Do you anticipate any such problems with the children in your own program that could affect the success of your chosen activities? If so, think about ways to address such problems. Maybe you need to divide the group into several smaller groups, or plan activities that allow for a wider range of abilities. Are there any constraints of the space that would prevent certain activities? For instance, if you are in a classroom with a rug, will that prevent large-scale painting projects that might stain it?

Content Knowledge : Do the activities you want to do require specific knowledge on the part of the kids or the instructors that they may not possess? If you want to build rockets that you can launch, for example, you have to know the building and safety requirements such a project demands. Storage : Are there places you can keep projects that are still 'in the works'?

Is there space to store materials and reference works? If children can't leave a project and get back to it in the next session, that will limit the kinds of projects you can consider. Administration and Staff : How committed is the staff to the goals of the program?

Do all staff members feel they have a stake in its success? If the support of the administration or staff is lacking, you need to address the reasons why they are not supportive. Materials : Is there enough money to buy and space to store the materials your activities will require?

Time : How is the program time structured, and how will this affect the kinds of programs you can do? For instance, if no session lasts longer than 50 minutes, you will either have to alter the schedule or eliminate activities that take more time to complete.

Once you've put some thought into the specific interests and needs of your staff, your students, your families and your community, and brainstormed ways to overcome obstacles you may face, it is time to take the next step in designing a curriculum: scheduling. But, before you construct a schedule to fit the needs of your particular program, we suggest you find your monthly planner, or another schedule that you feel comfortable with, and fill it in as you go along.

Structure and Flexibility Ideally, this schedule should include daily, weekly, and monthly routines, as well as time for celebrations and special events. Kids like to know what to expect, so it is important to have an established routine that everyone understands. This also allows your students to look forward to regularly scheduled events that they particularly enjoy, such as art, outdoor games, etc.

At the same time, the established routine that you design for your program must also allow a degree of flexibility. Structure is essential for making a program work, but when students are not in school, they need time to choose activities, explore their interests, hang out with their friends, and relax.

A good schedule will include blocks of time where this is possible. Transition Time The period when kids make the transition from their school day to their afterschool activities is a time when flexibility is particularly important. When adults finish work for the day, most feel the need to unwind--for some this means going for a run or to the gym.