Best Practice Research and Evaluation

Resources

• Outcomes Linked to High-Quality Afterschool Programs: Longitudinal Findings from the Study of Promising Afterschool Programs [PDF 79,846kb]
  A new study finds that regular participation in high-quality afterschool programs is linked to significant gains in standardized test scores and work habits as well as reductions in behavior problems among disadvantages students.
  
• After-School Programs and Academics: Implication for Policy, Practice, and Research [PDF 508,737kb]
  After-school programs are often expected to incorporate academic achievement as an important goal. This focus on acadamic achievement is producing heated debates. This report focuses on the debate using program-evaluation literature, observational studies, and commentaries.
  
• A Community for All Children: A Guide to Inclusion for Out-of-School Time [PDF 1,043,851kb]
  The guide begins by describing what inclusion is and why it is important. The authors' definition of inclusion as a philosophy, process, and result, is one of the the most powerful statements in the guide.
  
• A Decade of Results [PDF 76,943kb]
  The impact of the LA's BEST After-School Enrichment Program and subsequent student achievement and performance.
  
• America After 3 PM: A Household Survey on Afterschool in America [PPT 427,008kb]
  An in-depth study that explore how America's children spend their afternoons, shows that our nation is failing to give its children safe, supervised activities during the often-dangerous afternoon hours.
  
• ASBJ Research Article: Learning After School [PDF 168,314kb]
  This article from the June 2004 issue of "American School Board Journal" synthesizes current research on after-school program quality.
  
• ASBJ Research Article: Summer Programs [PDF 244,816kb]
  What Did You Learn Last Summer? For many children, summer is a time for forgetting, but good programs can help.
  
• California's next After-School Challenge: Keeping High School Teens Off the Street and On the Right Track [PDF 980,242kb]
  This report examines research from California and across the nation showing the effectiveness of after-school programs for high school students in preventing crime and other risky behavior, as well as increasing academic achievement.
  
• Documenting Progress and Demonstrating Results [PDF 491,720kb]
  The Finance Project produced this guide to provide practioners with techniques, tools, and strategies and to improve their programs and track their effectiveness over time.
  
• Elements of Effective Practice [PDF 158,067kb]
  This newly revised and updated guideline provides the latest in quality mentoring research, policies, and practices.
  
• Helping Youth Succeed Through Out-of-School Time Programs [PDF 1,993,763kb]
  This report reviews the current research and literature on after-school programs especially with regard to their effectiveness; explores the range of programs and activities as employed by the various youth-serving sectors; considers the untapped possibilities of after-school programs to meet the needs of young people, including academic enhancement, career and college preparation, leadership development, and civic engagement; and provides policy guidance on how to support and sustain high quality programs as part of a system of supports for older youth.
  
• Making The Difference: Research and Practice in Community Schools [PDF 931,199kb]
  This report by the Coalition for Community Schools, synthesizes research from the fields of health, mental health, youth development, family and community engagement and community building and demonstrates the connection to student learning. By integrating existing community resources with the assets of the school, 15 community schools highlighted in the report produced remarkable improvements in efficiency and results.
  
• Mapping, Monitoring and Research [PDF 86,218kb]
  This task brief from the Forum for Youth Investment assists cities looking to track the information relevant to out-of-school hours – children, dollars, programming and outcomes.
  
• Moving Beyond The Barriers: Attracting and Sustaining Youth Participation in Out-of-School Time Programs [PDF 139,358kb]
  This brief culls information from several implementation and impact evaluations of out-of-school time programs to develop a set of promising strategies to attract and sustain youth participation in the programs.
  
• Moving Towards Success: Framework for After-School Programs [PDF 2,957,153kb]
  The following document contain examples of how a program can move from identifying goals to implementing program elements to measuring short - and long-term outcomes. The four sections include Academic and Other Learning Goals, Social and Emotional Goals, Health and Safety Goals, and Community Engagement Goals.
  
• Multiple Choices After School: Findings from the Extended-Service Schools Initiative [PDF 547,030kb]
  Public/Private Ventures has produced a study that aims to put policymakers on firmer ground as they make decisions regarding after-school programs.
  
• Noteworthy Perspectives: Out of School Time: Programs for At-Risk Students [PDF 3,447,926kb]
  McRel's latest issue of Noteworthy is intended to bring a research-based perspective to educators who are interested in enhancing their understanding of out-of-school time programming for at-risk or low achieving students. Noteworthy Perspectives: Out-of-School Time Programs for At-Risk Students, which is based on McRel's recent research synthesis on OST strategies, highlights the characteristics of effective OST reading and mathematics programs.
  
• Outcomes and Research in Out-of-School Time Program Design. [PDF 84,308kb]
  The Best Practices Institute suggests reasons and mechanisms for integrating outcomes and research into quality after-school program design.
  
• Quality Standards project: For Out of School Time Programs [PDF 228,257kb]
  This guide provides research based performance standards with a focus to build capacity and ensure accountability among service providers.
  
• People, Places and Possibilities: Integrating Mentoring and After-School [PDF 139,144kb]
  This commentary explores the relationship between mentoring and after-school, two fields that have garnered significant policy attention and momentum over the past several years.
  
• Serving Older Youth Through a Comprehensive Out-of-School Time System: Lessons from the AYPF Philadelphia Field Trip [PDF 504,989kb]
  This short publication highlights lessons learned by participants at the May 2006 AYPF field trip to Philadelphia about the best practices the city uses to sustain its comprehensive out-of-school time system.
  
• Study on Parental After-School Stress [PDF 108,579kb]
  This report presents the findings from a study of stress among working parents of school-age children.
  
• WHAT HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS DO IN THEIR OUT-OF-SCHOOL TIME: 2003-2005 [PDF 698,235kb]
  This report provides a descriptive overview of what students in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) do in their out-of-school time, based on responses to a questionnaire administered to ninth, tenth, and eleventh graders.
  
• 2003 Survey Results
  Results of the 2003 NSBA survey of board presidents on after-school programs.