Resource Database

This video from PBS Learning Media highlights a literacy program designed to foster a love of reading among male students through community engagement. Reading Specialist Marilu Bicknell in Glassboro, NJ, was concerned by statistics showing that young boys are more interested in sports than books, so she created the Real Men Read Literacy Project at the Thomas E. Bowe Elementary School. The program consists of regular breakfasts with men in the community (including alumni, the town's mayor, athletes, and school janitors) and an afterschool book club for boys to explore various book genres with their peers. The website includes a video about the program and discussion questions.

This report from The Wallace Foundation profiles five schools that are strengthening access to arts education as part of a strategy to expand the school day. The report finds that educators at the schools considered arts to be central to their mission, organized the school day to support arts instruction, and saw the arts as improving student engagement. While the report focuses on schools that have extended the school day, there is also useful information for afterschool practitioners: different approaches to arts education, cross-curricular connections, funding, and how the programs benefit students.

The American Youth Policy Forum recently hosted a discussion on the role of expanded-learning opportunities in competency-based education systems, including college and career standards. Competency-based education allows students to advance at their own pace and provides differentiated, student-centered instruction and assessment across a full range of competencies. Afterschool programs, which allow students to access unique and engaging learning experiences, can play a valuable role in such systems by augmenting, reinforcing, and applying learning during the school day. This discussion provided an opportunity for afterschool practitioners to hear from leaders who are currently incorporating expanded-learning opportunities into competency-based systems. A summary of the discussion is now available on the American Youth Policy Forum website.

On November 19, the Developmental Studies Center (DSC) is sponsoring a webinar on the many important uses of the new landmark compendium titled Expanding Minds and Opportunities: Leveraging the Power of Afterschool and Summer Learning for Student Success. The executive editor and publisher will share ideas on using the compendium's articles for professional development, advocacy, and grant and report writing. This event builds on the November 3 webinar, More Than Just Another “To-do” on the List: The Benefits of Strong School, Principal, and Afterschool/Community Relationships, which DSC also sponsored.

This Wallace Foundation report offers guidance to district leaders interested in launching or improving summer learning programs and includes key recommendations that address planning, curriculum and instruction, teacher selection and training, enrichment activities, attendance, academic time on task, and program cost and funding. These recommendations are based on evaluations of summer programs in six urban districts selected for a multi-year demonstration project funded by The Wallace Foundation.

Published by The Wallace Foundation and FHI 360, this report includes profiles of 27 cities that have taken steps to improve coordination among their afterschool providers, creating citywide systems designed to support high-quality programs and increase access. The research report explores the prevalence of afterschool coordination, the extent to which large cities have adopted key afterschool coordination components, and the roles of the mayor, city manager, city agencies, and other organizations in providing reliable information and commitment to quality.

Published by the National Institute on Out-of-School Time, Afterschool Matters is a national, peer-reviewed journal with articles dedicated to promoting professionalism, scholarship, and consciousness in the field of afterschool education. The Fall 2013 issue includes articles on professional development, community service, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).

Published in Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, this journal article examines a model for mental health consultation, training, and support for publicly funded recreational afterschool programs in communities of concentrated urban poverty. The model was designed to improve children’s academic, social, and behavioral functioning. The authors assessed children’s mental health needs and examined the feasibility and impact of intervention on program quality and children’s psychosocial outcomes in three afterschool sites, compared to three demographically matched sites that received no intervention. Findings revealed high staff satisfaction and feasibility of intervention, and modest improvements in observed program quality and staff-reported children’s outcomes.

The National Afterschool Association has pinned several Thanksgiving-related activities on their Pinterest Board. The pinboard includes community service resources, reading and writing activities, and of course food-related activities.

Sponsored by NASA, the Exploration Design Challenge is an opportunity for students to research and design ways to protect astronauts from space radiation. The challenge is linked to NASA and Lockheed Martin’s development of the Orion spacecraft, which will carry astronauts beyond low Earth orbit to an asteroid or to Mars. Protecting astronauts from radiation on these distant travels is an important-and very real-problem that needs solving. There are four challenge categories: grades K-4, grades 5-8, grades 9-12, and individuals or groups.