Many young people would benefit from having a mentor, but some out-of-school time programs face the challenge of recruiting mentors to meet the needs of these young people. This brief summarizes steps that programs can use to recruit mentors and recommends resources that can be used in this process. (Contains 38 endnotes.)

This brief represents part 1 in a series on fostering the adoption of evidence-based practices in out-of-school time programs. The lag between discovering effective practices and using them "on the ground" can be unnecessarily long, sometimes taking 15 to 20 years! The purpose of this brief is to provide practitioners with a better understanding…

Marzano (2003) identified 11 factors that positively influence student achievement. Those factors can be divided into three categories: school-level practices, teacher-level practices, and student-level characteristics. Interestingly, Marzano (2000) found that school- and teacher-level influences account for only 20% of the variance in student…

Middle school students' experiences at after-school programs were compared as they participated in different types of activities and with different social partners. The students (N = 165) attended eight programs in three Midwestern states. A total of 1,596 experiences were randomly sampled using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) during 1 week…

The purpose of this study was to determine what, if any, associations exist between students' academic success on achievement tests and the predictor variables of students' socioeconomic status, participation in an after-school program, and gender. Middlesboro Intermediate School contains a high number of students who participate in the federal…

Under the larger scope of the National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning, SEDL funded three awardees to carry out large-scale randomized controlled trials (RCT) assessing the efficacy of promising literacy curricula in afterschool settings on student academic achievement. SEDL provided analytic and technical support to the RCT studies…

This paper arises from an evaluation of the study support programme developed in a midlands city in the UK, in the context of the national extended schools initiative. It offers a framework based on activity theory to explain how and why "out-of-lesson-time learning" is felt by many students to impact positively on their self-esteem and…

In this article, we explore how two informal educational contexts--an aquarium and an after-school science program--enabled disenfranchised learners to adopt an identity as insiders to the world of science. We tell the stories of four youth, relating what doing science meant to them and how they positioned themselves in relation to science. We…

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit significant academic impairments, as evidenced by poor academic achievement, grade retention, and school dropout. Deficits in organization skills may contribute to these academic impairments, as children with ADHD frequently lose assignments, misplace their completed work, and…

Play therapists, school counselors, and play developmentalists have much in common as they work with children in clinical, classroom settings, and after school programs. A strong relationship can be forged among the developmentalists (those trained in early child development/education) and those who work with children in program settings (e.g.,…

This paper describes the development of an after-school program for middle-school students that simultaneously addressed issues of efficacy and effectiveness in an effort to create an evidence-based intervention (EBI) that can be implemented in school settings. The topics highlighted in this case example are intended to address the growing concern…

Academically oriented after-school programs can be an effective way to provide extra help to students who need it. Research points to the importance of well-designed programs established to meet specific goals. The report lists and describes the elements of successful after-school programs. (Contains 4 online resources.)

In these days where "accountability" is the byword, organizations more and more frequently seek to evaluate their programs. They often hire outside evaluators to help them assess the effectiveness of their programs, to find out what works and what doesn't, and to determine what programmatic changes would be beneficial. ActKnowledge, a…

This brief discusses diet, exercise, body image, and weight and also provides information for practitioners on how to measure these factors among youth in their program. It summarizes (1) what it means to be overweight; (2) what are body image and eating disorders; (3) what to do if you suspect that someone in your program is suffering from an…

Research has long shown that parents' positive involvement with their children's schooling is related to many positive outcomes. However, less research has been done on the involvement of parents and families in out-of-school time programs. Nevertheless, the research that does exist suggests that family involvement can be an important component of…