This article highlights recently resettled refugee teenagers' visions for their futures and their aims to improve the lives of their loved ones and transform society. Data collected in an afterschool writing workshop called Writing Our Identities for Successful Endeavors was analyzed using temporal facets of agency as a main lens to examine…

This article offers a qualitative analysis of infrastructural in/justice in a community-partnered design intervention focused on developing high-tech low-cost Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) projects. We examined the kinds of infrastructural injustices that were present in three afterschool programs and how it shaped STEAM…

Background: The relation between physical activity (PA), motor skills and cognitive function in children is receiving considerable attention. To transition scientific evidence into pedagogical practice, however, we need to further our understanding of which qualitative PA characteristics are best suited to stimulate motor skills and executive…

The child nutrition programs support meals and snacks served to children in schools, child care, summer programs, and other institutional settings in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories. This report starts with an overview of child nutrition programs' funding structure and then provides detail on each program,…

The Action Mapping Project (AMP) is a youth-oriented participatory action project that conducts research and education programs in high schools and middle schools in Tacoma, Washington. AMP uses participatory community mapping to generate new forms of data and conducts educational programs with high school students that center on the use of GIS…

Hyde Park Neighborhood Club (HPNC) is a small, hyper-local community-based organization that, before the pandemic, provided after-school care and enrichment to children living on the South Side of Chicago. During the pandemic, HPNC created a learning pod for children in grades K-8 to provide parents in the community with childcare and students…

Challenges to developing staff quality include limited staff hours and lack of funding for training. However, even organizations that have enough time and money still may not develop their people effectively. Traditionally, organizations send staff to trainings without offering follow-up support to enable them to apply the learning (Hirsh, 2009;…

Over the last decade the 21st Century Community Learning Center program (21st CCLC) funded by the U.S. Department of Education has served over 100,000 Texas students annually in after-school centers. Approximately 779 local Texas 21st CCLC programs served students from over 800 schools during the 2012-13, and/or 2013-14 academic years. Statewide…

This reflective narrative explores two university professors and one preservice teacher's attempts to teach for social justice through justice-oriented children's literature in an introductory level education course. Situated in a predominantly White context, the teacher educators reflect on their experiences piloting Book to Art, an afterschool…

Social and emotional learning (SEL) has proven to be an effective conduit to improved attendance scores, grades, and graduation rates; to adaptive behaviors and gainful employment in adulthood; and to a wide variety of other measurable factors spanning the spectrum of human adaptiveness and wellness (Aspen Institute, 2018). Although SEL has been…

Learning environments that enable young people to participate in and engage with diverse science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) practices hold promise for reimagining what counts as STEM and, ultimately, for broadening participation (Eisenhart & Allen, 2020). Out-of-school time (OST) STEM learning experiences have great…

We used community partnerships to develop an integrated science-learning program focused on two groups of learners -- university and middle school (MS) students -- to increase students' interest and confidence in science as well as motivation to pursue science. Key program elements include a university course for undergraduate and graduate…

Afterschool educators sometimes encourage program participants to write heartfelt stories that make them feel better about the work they are doing. They want to feel they are making a difference, that they are empowering young people to speak truth to power and win. In some cases, they might be. But they must respect each young person's journey…

Although shadowed by the institutionalization of contemporary schooling, out-of-school time and space encompass a variety of learning possibilities and are socially organized to enable and maintain educational privileges for some students but not for others. Out-of-school time (OST) curricular instructions have been expanding globally and more…

A common pedagogical approach to foster creativity and develop talents among gifted students is after-school enrichment programs. However, in practice, there are several issues concerning the conceptualization and implementation of such programs. Since these enrichment programs are typically not part of the core curriculum and scheduled outside…