A substantive body of research demonstrates that programs for young people have a range of positive benefits including academic achievement, career exploration and development, and social, emotional and civic skills. However, many programs do not realize this potential -- often due to the lack of coordination and support about how to assess and…

The current College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) framework lacks spaces to practice civic discourse. Afterschool clubs, however, could be spaces where discourse could flourish. Scholars have argued that afterschool clubs are one way to augment civics education (Kirlin, 2002; Neild et al., 2019). Clubs offer an innovative way to integrate the C3…

This paper sheds light on the assessment of publicly funded privately managed supplemental education programs for pupils from migrant and low-income households. The paper positions the case study as a form of social enterprise characterized by bricolage. Drawing from existing literature on afterschool program assessment and entrepreneurship…

Purpose: This qualitative case study examines the ways youth participatory action research (YPAR) represents a tool that could promote educational dignity. This study focuses on 11 elementary-aged students, all identified as Black or Latinx, who participated in an after-school YPAR project at their Title I elementary school. Research Methods:…

This study examines the relationship between Japanese children's inquiry skills and their participation in various after-school programs. Inquiry skills--encompassing the ability to explore, analyze, and synthesize information--are essential competencies in 21st-century education. However, limited research has explored how different types of…

In Sweden, many children between the ages of 6 and 9 years attend Swedish school-age educare (SAEC) institutions before and after school, when their parents work or study. This study aimed to explore and compare safe and unsafe spaces in children's everyday lives at SAEC institutions. Ethnographic fieldwork, including observations and interviews…

In this paper, we analyse a group of 6 and 7 year olds' interactions during a literacy event. We explore the complexities of their meaning-making following a read aloud of Where the Wild Things Are (Sendak 1963). Our focus is on discourses of gender/sex/uality, a term that acknowledges the complex relationship between gender, sex and sexuality,…

Tulsa (Okla.) Public Schools is a model for quality afterschool and summer out-of-school time. With pillars of capacity building, quality improvement of programs and creating a year-round engagement, its program structures have fostered familiarity, normalcy and whole-child support. TPS's education and out-of-school time values focus on the…

When playwork settings re-opened in July 2020 after the first lockdown in March 2020, playwork as a profession demonstrated its adaptable and flexible nature for children to access the provision. This included open access provision becoming closed access and bookable, a reduction in the number of children, resources, and space to play, and…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) impacts approximately 1 in 44 children in the United States. Common characteristics of ASD are marked deficits in communication and social connectedness. As autistic children approach adolescence, there is a lack of interventions available to them. Mentoring can provide adolescents with a relationship that…

In the context of an afterschool program in which students explore relatively large authentic datasets, we investigated how 11- to 14-year old students worked with categorical variables. During the program, students learned to use the Common Online Data Analysis Platform (CODAP), a statistical analysis platform specifically designed for middle and…

By age 18, students have spent on average 85 percent of their waking hours outside of school. Their use of that time--constructive or not--helps direct their futures. In afterschool and summer programs, young people explore new interests, develop new skill sets, and create lasting relationships with peers and caring adults that shape who they are,…

Drawing on research in the context of Swedish school-age educare and adopting a post-humanist theoretical--methodological approach, we put forward the notion of mathemat-ing to conceptualise mathematical events that emerge in out-of-school configurations of practice. In them, ethical sensibilities as affects of engagement and rejection may be…

Background: Schools in impoverished communities on the Cape Flats experience challenges related to high levels of poverty, crime and gang violence that can adversely affect learners' psycho-social and academic development. After-school programmes (ASPs) represent one form of intervention to address these issues. Aim: This study explored the…

The purpose of this study is to examine how a virtual after-school PA program impacts social-emotional competency (SEC) among elementary school students. Students (N=122) participated, and SEC was measured at the beginning and end of the program. Data analysis included descriptive analysis of demographic variables and SEC. A dependent sample…