This is the fourth report of a process evaluation of Palm Beach County Prime Time, Inc., an intermediary organization dedicated to improving the quality of afterschool programs, by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. It covers the 2007-2008 program year, which was the inaugural year of Prime Time's formal Quality Improvement System (QIS)…

A review of over 50 studies of afterschool programs conducted by The Afterschool Alliance suggests: (1) quality afterschool programs improved school attendance, engagement in learning, test scores, and grades; (2) frequency and duration of afterschool participation increases benefits; and (3) high-risk youth show the greatest benefits. This fact…

The paper will present findings from a Social Science and Humanities Research (SSHRC) funded participatory evaluation conducted over the past four years in the Cree nation of Wemindji in Quebec, Canada. COOL (Challenging Our Own Limits) or "Nigawchiisuun" in Cree, was launched in 2003 as part of a broader program of governance…

This case study describes a 20-year journey of educational transformation from 1985 to 2005 in a bellwether, or highly developed, instance of one school, family, and community partnership--the Kileely Community Project--situated in a large social housing project in Limerick City in the Midwestern region of the Republic of Ireland. The study is a…

Few early intervention efforts have improved the representation of women in computer science and engineering (CSE) disciplines, but pair programming has shown promise for reducing gender differences among college students. The current study is the first to examine this promising practice in middle school. In an effort to better understand what…

A youth community informatics (YCI) research project intersected an inquiry learning model with the making of audiovisual podcasts to foster personal growth and community engagement in a group of Mexican American youth enrolled in an afterschool program. Specifically, the article describes the cycle of inquiry together with the development of a…

As Taiwan's full-scale e-learning initiatives moved to the seventh year in 2009, the current status and challenges of e-learning development there are yet to be fully understood. Further extending Zhang and Hung's (2006) investigation on e-learning in all universities and colleges in Taiwan, this study investigated the after-school programs (ASPs)…

High-quality out-of-school-time (OST) programs have a positive effect on youth development, but many cities have found it difficult to address the challenges of expanding and improving the quality of programs offered to underserved and high-need students. In response, The Wallace Foundation sponsored an initiative to help five cities increase…

Underserved youths are affected by a variety of circumstances such as poverty, poor nutrition, and low physical activity levels. While many extended-day physical activity programs exist, few focus on the importance of health and wellness. The purpose of this article is to describe the development of an extended-day program for underserved youths…

SEDL is providing analytic and technical support to three large-scale randomized controlled trials assessing the efficacy of promising literacy curriculum in afterschool settings on student academic achievement. In the field of educational research, competition among research organizations and researchers can often impede collaborative efforts in…

In this report, the author shares her perspective on ten years of science-rich programming for high school youth at the American Museum of Natural History. This report includes: (1) A discussion of the theory of action and the rationale that underlies the AMNH youth programs; (2) A description of three of the programs that have been offered and…

Out-of-school time programs provide intervention and prevention services to young people who are deemed "at-risk" with the goal of improving their social, emotional, and academic development. However, research indicates that children and youth who are most "at-risk" are less likely to participate in out-of-school time programs, and do so less…

This paper examines the evolving participation of instructors and learners in an after-school web page-design course intended to improve technology practices. Defined here as technology fluency, these practices emerge through a highly fluctuating dance among social interactions with others and with the technology. In this digital divide…

Administrators in public schools are undoubtedly familiar with their duties under federal law to serve students with disabilities in the educational program. Far fewer, however, are aware of their legal obligations to these same students in after-school athletics and extracurricular activities. Are students with disabilities entitled to…

This article summarizes a unique approach to reducing the achievement gap that strategically blended differentiated curriculum with schoolwide enrichment teaching and learning. The theories of enrichment and instructional differentiation were translated into practice in an elementary school that had previously embraced a remedial paradigm. This…