If out-of-school-time (OST) programs are to achieve success in promoting positive youth development and learning, they must attract young people and maintain their consistent participation and long-term attendance. It is generally perceived that recruitment can be difficult, especially as youth grow older. A commentary on several recent large…

Adolescents face a number of obstacles on the way to adulthood, from time-crunched parents, dangerous substances and behaviors, overburdened schools and a more demanding job market. Consequently, many believe that adolescents should no longer fend for themselves during the non-school hours. Growing public support for more structured activities…

Students who are chronically absent are more likely than other students to drop out of school. Many schools have goals to reduce student truancy and to help chronically absent students attend school regularly. Few studies, however, have focused on whether or how family and community involvement help reduce rates of chronic absenteeism. In this…

This publication is part of a series of tools and resources on financing and sustaining youth programming. These tools and resources are intended to help policymakers, program developers, and community leaders develop innovative strategies for implementing, financing, and sustaining effective programs and policies. This strategy brief presents a…

This year's "Report Card" breaks new ground by providing "The Children's Agenda", which details the top ten high-priority, high-impact actions California policymakers should take to reverse the declining status of children. It's clear any sound plan to revitalize the state must prioritize children's development. California's history backs this up,…

School districts are central players in the child care delivery system: they operate a mix of child care centers and programs, serve a range of children of different ages, and fund their programs from a variety of federal, state, and local sources. This report provides a range of programmatic and fiscal information about the federal and state…

This report presents results from a multisite, quantitative evaluation of the international Spirituality for Kids (SFK) after-school program. Despite its name, SFK is a nonreligious program that seeks to build resilience in children by teaching them to access inner resources and build positive connections with others. The SFK program is unlike…

This report covers the second year of a 3-year process evaluation of the Prime Time Initiative of Palm Beach County, Florida, a system-building effort to strengthen the availability and quality of after-school programs in the county. During the past two decades, the after-school field has expanded enormously. This growth has occurred partly in…

With support from the William T. Grant Foundation, Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) is conducting a research study on the factors associated with whether children and youth participate in out-of-school time (OST) programs and activities. Building on our previous work, we are using national data to examine the many factors and contexts in…

Under the No Child Left Behind Act, districts that have failed to demonstrate adequate yearly progress for two years in a row must pay for low-income students' private-sector tutoring. As No Child Left Behind enters its fifth year, a report by the Washington, DC, nonprofit Center on Education Policy found that of about 300 districts surveyed, 10…

The purpose of this study was to develop the Scale for Program Facilitators (SPF) to assess the effectiveness of after school achievement programs through four steps: (a) identification of a theoretical framework, (b) formulation of the initial scale, (c) test of content validity, and (d) conducting confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). A…

Out-of-school programs provide a context for enriching academic experiences. This study describes a 12-week after-school reading program, Project Expanding Horizons, which is based on the Schoolwide Enrichment Model-Reading (SEM-R) framework. SEM-R has three phases: exposure, supported independent reading, and choice. The exposure phase is…

Issue papers that focus on improving and expanding quality early childhood services in Louisiana are presented in this report. Each paper includes a description of current practice, several questions and answers concerning the issue, and a list of recommendations and strategies. Following an executive summary and introduction (which includes a…

This publication explores the need for child care, particularly for low income families, and the social importance of high quality child care. These factors are the impetus for the Campaign for Child Care NOW! organized by the Children's Defense Fund. This advocacy program is urging Congress to approve legislation that will guarantee funds to help…

As a preliminary step within a comprehensive evaluation plan, direct observation of a "safety-net" academic enrichment component of the College Board's Equity 2000 Program, in the form of the Saturday Academy, was conducted by researchers from the Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk/Howard University…