Resource Database

This DIY kit offers practical ways to implement social and emotional learning into everyday life. Ready, Set, Soar! presents strategies, tips, and techniques in a fun, easy-to-use format applicable in any setting and for all ages-children and adults. Registration is required on the WINGS website to download the free DIY kit.

This webinar recording is Part 2 of a two-part series on how afterschool programs can support social and emotional learning. The presentation digs into the assessment landscape to help programs recognize whether and how to implement assessments of social and emotional development. Hosted by the Afterschool Alliance, the webinar recording is available on their website along with downloadable resources and related links. Part 1 of the series is also available online.

Having a parent in prison can have an impact on a child’s mental health, social behavior, and educational opportunities. Youth.gov is a website representing 19 federal agencies that support youth-serving programs. The site includes links to information, tools, guides, and resources to assist educators, parents, and programs in supporting children who have an incarcerated parent. Topics include helping kids deal with trauma and exposure to violence, and child welfare services for children and families of prisoners.

A recent report published by Child Trends highlights growth in U.S. Latino students’ reading scores over the last decade. Researchers looked at national and state results as well as selected urban school districts. Among the key findings, Chicago was identified as a top performer over the decade, even though in the last four years state-level progress across the nation has slowed for the fourth- and eighth-grade populations studied. The report will help afterschool literacy program leaders stay informed about current school-day reading trends and efforts.

A new report from Columbia University Teachers College describes developments in the current generation of cross-sector collaborations for education and presents findings from a scan of initiatives across the United States. Commissioned by the Wallace Foundation, the report explores in part the prominent new model of collaboration known as “collective impact” while acknowledging that many thriving partnerships of school systems, governments, and community organizations predate the recent surge of interest in collaboration. The nationwide scan of initiatives found that almost 40 percent of collaborative efforts to improve education are located in the Midwest.

This professional development article from the National AfterSchool Association begins by recognizing that there is no single recipe for building effective leadership. The author, Amanda Meeson, who is vice president of programming with The Leadership Program, reached out to her own team for examples of how she helps build their leadership. She then shares the team’s take on what is working in their community. The exercise serves as a model of how vulnerability and transparency can be an important element of effective leadership.

ACT Now is excited to announce the launch of its Illinois Statewide Quality Standards. ACT Now has undertaken an initiative to develop Quality Standards in order to improve afterschool programming. These Quality Standards capture practices that have been demonstrated, through research, to lead to quality programs and positive outcomes for children. The Quality Standards provide afterschool programs with a common language for describing quality, as well as a “high bar” for individual programs to hold themselves accountable. Starting this month, ACT Now will hold trainings on the Standards around the state. A training is scheduled in Champaign/Urbana on June 14, 2016. More locations for trainings will be announced later this summer. To learn more about ACT Now or the Quality Standards, contact Susan Stanton, Network Lead, at sstanton@voices4kids.org or 312-516-5564, or visit ACT Now’s website.

Extending quality improvement efforts from the school year into the summer is the goal of the Summer Learning Program Quality Intervention (PQI). The continuous improvement intervention was developed as part of an ongoing collaboration between the David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality and National Summer Learning Association. Its approach includes adapting school-year tools to provide high-impact support to summer programs. Hosted by the two collaborating organizations, this webinar recording explains the context of the project, the findings from the 2013-14 pilot, and next steps.

Many schools see student attendance start to decline in spring months. In response to this challenge, ExpandED Schools created Avoiding the Attendance Slump: Strategies to Maximize Learning Time in June. This resource guide offers specific strategies to increase learning time and attendance rates, boost engagement, minimize summer learning loss, and accelerate performance in the next grade.

Scaling up evidence-based programs is not easy, and it is something that program developers and distributors approach in many different ways. This brief from ChildTrends reviews the best practices for the scale up of effective programs from across the literature, identifying recommendations for funders, communities, and program providers. It also describes the experiences of several effective programs that are at varying levels of scale across the country and internationally.