Building the Field of Afterschool

More than ever, out of school-time is seen as a resource for children's learning and healthy development. But not just any program will do. Research shows that children need high-quality programs with skilled staff.

For all children to have access to programs that make a difference, high quality has to be the norm and the standard, not the exception. As a field, we need to:

• Identify best practices and effective content for programs with diverse goals, objectives, and resources
• Develop systems of effective education and training for skilled staff at all levels
• Establish indicators or standards for quality of programming, staffing, and training
• Address national policies and sustainability

The Center works to build the field of afterschool education by:

1. Contributing to system building for quality efforts to establish and sustain effective staffing and leadership
2. Developing and building capacity for practical strategies to best reward: using afterschool time to support in-school success
3. Advocating for afterschool as an additional educational space with distinct approaches

2. USING AFTERSCHOOL TIME TO SUPPORT IN-SCHOOL SUCCESS

To build the educational quality of afterschool programming field-wide, the Center promotes afterschool content, approaches, and practices that fit a broad spectrum of programs with diverse program goals and emphases. This includes, for example:

• Concepts and techniques to create an active, deliberately-planned learning environment
• Approaches and techniques to enrich homework time
• Strategies to support English language learning and learners—the fastest growing segment of our school-age population
• Deliberate development of 21st century skills and global literacy
• Linking with specific, locally determined school content, afterschool style

Rather than promoting one particular model, one subject-matter curriculum, or tools that address single school content area, the Center offers strategies to blend a range of content into hands-on, interdisciplinary, afterschool style projects and activities that any staff member can lead. At the same time, we show how to use engaging, youth-centered, developmental approaches to academic skill-building.

In this way, the Center aims to improve quality across the great majority of programs that most children attend.

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