Children who have at least one parent born outside the United States or U.S. territories presently make up almost one-quarter of the children in the country. Moreover, these children represent the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. child population. As of 2006, the majority of children of immigrants were Latino, with 41 percent of all child…

Over the course of several Roundtables held with out-of-school time program providers involving dozens of organizations, Child Trends has learned a lot about the concerns and wishes of the hardworking people who run out-of-school time programs. In this brief, the author and her colleagues share several themes that have emerged from these…

Participants in a recent Child Trends Roundtable explored how evidence-based programs might be integrated into community initiatives to strengthen outcomes for children. Participants discussed both practice and policy implications for this approach. Those attending agreed that it was important for programs and initiatives to be based on research,…

Practitioners, school leaders, and policymakers serving the needs of youth and their families in New Mexico gathered in Albuquerque in June 2009 for four Roundtable discussions on sustaining integrated health, extended learning, and other social services in middle schools across the state that are a part of the Elev8 New Mexico initiative. Elev8…

Many researchers would like to be helpful to out-of-school time programs, and practitioners see a need for good research. Yet communication between researchers and practitioners can be a challenge. In a recent series of Roundtables to discuss program needs and research evaluations held with program practitioners, Child Trends obtained important…

Conflict among peers is common, and not necessarily a bad thing. Disagreement, teasing, and conflict are part of growing up, and children and adolescents need to develop skills to resolve these clashes. However, bullying, an extreme form of peer conflict or teasing, can be physically and psychologically harmful. Therefore, it is important for…

This brief discusses aspects of healthy diets for children in elementary and middle school. It summarizes the current guidelines and recommendations for child nutrition and provides information for schools and out-of-school time programs about how to measure child nutrition. (Contains 27 endnotes.)

A lot has been learned about effective approaches to realizing intended out-of-school time program outcomes. As program practitioners consider fostering evidence-based practices, program administrators, staff, and stakeholders must keep in mind that it is difficult to change behavior overnight, even among children. Efforts to improve outcomes for…

Many programs for youth attribute their successes to the characteristics of their staff members. Accordingly, ensuring the competence of youth workers is essential for all out-of-school time programs. Past research has identified a number of core competencies for youth workers, including professionalism and teamwork; however the increasing racial…

Increasing community involvement in out-of-school time programs can yield significant benefits to programs and the students that they serve. Community partnerships have the potential to meet a wide variety of needs, from improving participant recruitment and attendance to contributing volunteers or other resources to programs. This research brief…

Perhaps one of the fastest ways to improve the quality of out-of-school time programs would be to replace practices that individuals know do not work with practices that appear to be more effective. In this brief, the authors highlight lessons from an expanding body of knowledge about specific program practices that should be avoided or minimized…

Many out-of-school time programs want to learn more about how the children and youth they serve are faring. Outcome evaluations allow programs to do just that. This brief provides a basic review of outcome evaluations, discusses why they are important and when they are useful, and presents guidelines, strategies, and techniques for their use in…

Students who are disengaged from school are at risk for poor academic achievement, skipping classes, sexual activity, substance use, and ultimately dropping out of school. Out-of-school time programs can play a role in increasing school engagement. This brief provides information on the importance of school engagement, how out-of-school time…

This brief represents part 2 in a series on fostering the adoption of evidence-based practices in out-of-school time programs. Many practitioners lack information on how to implement evidence-based practice(s) in their own programs or communities. A major reason for this gap is a lack of research on the process for implementing evidence-based…

Peer relations during middle childhood and adolescence are an important part of children's social and emotional development. Children and adolescents pick up essential social and communication skills from their peers as they move into late adolescence and early adulthood. Peer conflict is not necessarily a bad thing; disagreement and conflict are…