Out-of-School Time (OST) programs play a crucial role in child and youth development, serving as a bridge between school, home, and the community. They offer structured environments where young people can engage in meaningful activities, build relationships, and develop essential life skills. OST programs foster personal growth, academic support,…

In sports, youth are coached to see persistence and hard work as important paths to personal improvement and success. They come to understand through practice that mistakes are tools to help them improve and that collaboration and teamwork are keys to success in team sports. These ideas about the importance of effort, persistence, mistakes, and…

The federal government has a long history of investing in programs for feeding children, starting with federal aid for school lunch programs in the 1930s. Today, federal child nutrition programs support food served to children in schools and a variety of other settings. This report starts with an overview of child nutrition programs' funding…

This report documents the implementation of a Javits funded project entitled A Matter of Equity 2.0 (MoE) (Award #S206A220031). With this grant, our Javits team collaborated with administrative leaders and faculty in Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) to build the necessary infrastructure to create a solid gifted education program.…

There has been increased focus within the evaluation field on the value of community-engaged research (CER) methods; however, CER is not easily seen as compatible with experimental evaluation methods (or randomized controlled trial, RCT). For instance, in an experimental design, researchers leverage randomization to create a counterfactual; this…

Adolescents face many difficulties when transitioning to high school, particularly when it comes to their social circles and maintaining friendships. As these challenges can have long-term consequences, providing support to youth during this period is essential. The YWCA Youth Education Programs (YEP) in Vancouver, BC offer group-based,…

The Young Olympians Program was developed to further a partnership between a university and the local Boys and Girls Club in central Illinois. The program was developed to improve youth participants' academic efficacy and social and emotional learning, while also engaging them in physical activity. This article shares the project-management stages…

This paper sheds light on the assessment of publicly funded privately managed supplemental education programs for pupils from migrant and low-income households. The paper positions the case study as a form of social enterprise characterized by bricolage. Drawing from existing literature on afterschool program assessment and entrepreneurship…

The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "Building STEM Education Pipelines." Contents include: (1) IDRA Youth TechXperts…

Teen Science Cafés are Out-of-School Time (OST) programs led by teens--for teens--underway at 84 sites in 34 states. Supported by a national network, a new teen leadership opportunity offered youth-focused training and collaborative opportunities to a cohort of 50 teens from 13 Café sites with the goal of sustaining and expanding the impact of…

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has administered the federally-funded Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) grant program, also known as Title IV, Part B, of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) since 2002. The purpose of the program is to create community learning centers that provide students with…

The purpose of this study was to examine the academic impact of two distinct tutoring approaches implemented in a public elementary school in Virginia. The study focused on two tutoring models: a collaboratively designed university-based program that leverages pre-service teachers for in-school tutoring and a state-funded after-school initiative,…

Students in Timor-Leste face low educational outcomes due to sociopolitical factors rooted in the nation's colonial history. This study evaluates the academic impact of a low-resource afterschool supplementary tutoring program designed to address learning gaps and improve school outcomes across rural and urban settings. Using instructional design…

Online professional development (OPD) is a popular professional learning option, especially for those with monetary and time constraints such as afterschool educators. This study reports on the design, implementation, and evaluation of an OPD on preparing 18 afterschool educators to teach a content-heavy, transmedia, STEM curriculum on cryptology…

In 2021, China issued the "Double Reduction" (DR) policy to reduce the within- and outside-school burden on students. The policy requires all compulsory education schools to provide after-school services such as homework tutoring and well-rounded development activities for willing students. Based on student survey data from 13 schools in…