PSAYDN Resources

Advocacy Toolkit – Tools and Resources to Continue Your Advocacy Efforts: Sounding a Voice for Pennsylvania Afterschool and Youth Development Programs

The Pennsylvania Statewide Afterschool/Youth Development Network presents an afterschool toolkit, Tools and Resources to Continue Your Advocacy Effort: Sounding a Voice for Pennsylvania Afterschool and Youth Development Program, will guide afterschool supporters on how to advocate for his or her programs.

Engaging Youth in Career Programming
During Out-of-School Time: Lessons for Program Design from a Study of Experienced Out-of-School Time Programs

This detailed study of 26 out-of-school time programs in Pennsylvania includes a review of challenges, creative solutions and best practices for career exploration and interest assessment, job search skills,
supervised work experience, and skills development.

A Practitioner’s Guide to Promising Practices for Recruiting and Retaining Older Youth

Out-of-school time (OST) programs across Pennsylvania are looking for ways to improve their recruitment and retention efforts and attract older youth to their programs. This report combines results from a 2010 survey of youth programs in Pennsylvania with findings from a literature review to provide practitioners with information on best practices for recruiting and retaining older youth.

Other Resources

After-School Programs Behavioral Issues Toolkit

A toolkit for youth development professionals and afterschool program staff working with youth who display disruptive behaviors.

Afterschool Alliance

The Afterschool Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of afterschool programs and advocating for quality, affordable programs for all children.

The Afterschool Hours: A New Focus for America’s Cities

This report focuses on the accomplishments of eight cities, the lessons they learned, and recommendations for other municipal officials embarking on this work. Each city story ends with “leadership keys” that were instrumental to that city’s success and that other communities can replicate as they seek to improve and expand local afterschool programs.

America's Promise Alliance

The task of keeping America’s Promise to every child is too big for government or the private sector alone. America's Promise forges the largest and most successful cross-sector alliance for youth. Through Alliance partnerships with mayors and governors, businesses, non-profit's, community leaders, faith groups and young people.

Building Momentum: A Solid Commitment to After School Programs for Pennsylvania Youth

This briefing paper serves as a guide to future efforts to expand and improve afterschool programs for more families across Pennsylvania.

Center for Schools and Communities

The Center for Schools and Communities’ work focuses on prevention and intervention initiatives operated by schools, organizations and agencies serving children, youth and families.

Center for Afterschool Education (CACE) at Foundations, Inc.

The Center for Afterschool Education provides professional development, technical assistance, tools and publications tailored to the unique world of afterschool.

Charles Stewart Mott Foundation

The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation pursues the vision of a world in which each of us is in partnership with the rest of the human race – where each individual’s quality of life is connected to the well-being of the community, both locally and globally, through creative grant making, thoughtful communication and other activities that enhance community in its many forms.

Communities In Schools

A nationwide network of professionals working in public schools to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life.

Council of Chief State School Officers

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a nonpartisan, nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions.

Education and Afterschool Directory

K12 Academics strives to present a wide spectrum of information related to education for its visitors, in addition to the entire general community.

A Fiscal Map for Expanded Learning Time (ELT)

A fiscal map for ELT developed by the After-School Corporation.

Governors’ Extra Learning Opportunities (ELO) Summits, January – August 2004

In July 2003, the NGA Center for Best Practices awarded funds to 13 states, with support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and The Wallace Foundation, to conduct governors’ summits on extra learning opportunities (ELOs). Summits have focused on a number of goals, such as engaging business partners at the state and local levels, building support among new state leaders, and/or strengthening statewide networks to support ELOs. Read this brief five page report covering summits from these states: Arizona, Connecticut, Kansas, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and Wyoming.

Harnessing Technology in Out-of-School Time Settings

January 2006 report. Harvard Family Research Project’s series of Out-of-School Time Evaluation Snapshots distills the wealth of information compiled in our Out-of-School Time Program Evaluation Database and Bibliography into a single report. Each Snapshot examines a specific aspect of out-of-school time (OST) evaluation. This Snapshot reviews the role of technology in OST programs, highlighting the evaluation methods and findings about implementation and youth outcomes.

Harvard Family Research Project

HFRP is working in partnership with other organizations to add value to the out-of-school time (OST) field by promoting strategic use of information to improve quality, accessibility, and sustainability of OST programs across the nation. Our strategy is tailored to support knowledge development, evaluation, and learning in out-of-school time, and draws from an array of our tactical activities including:

Ongoing distillation and dissemination of key OST research and evaluation approaches and findings, using our Out-of-School Time Program Evaluation Database and other relevant research
Networking, convening, and collaborating with other national OST intermediaries to develop and disseminate OST best practices information
Creation of evaluation and professional development tools for OST evaluation to be used at national trainings and disseminated broadly via the Internet
Use of our print and Web publication capacity to get information to and from the key stakeholders

The Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) Out-of-School Time Program Evaluation Bibliography

Contains citations for all the out-of-school time (OST) program evaluations that HFRP is currently tracking. The bibliography currently contains entries for 315 programs and provides basic program information as well as links to relevant evaluation reports.

HAY-Helping America's Youth

Helping America's Youth is a nationwide effort to raise awareness about the challenges facing our youth, particularly at-risk boys, and to motivate caring adults to connect with youth in three key areas: family, school, and community. As the leader of the Helping America's Youth effort, Mrs. Laura Bush is highlighting programs which are effectively helping America's young people.

Hours that Count: Using After-School Programs to Help Prevent Risky Behavior And Keep Kids Safe

This report, a joint effort of the Hamilton Fish Institute on School and Community Violence (HFI) and The After-School Corporation (TASC), offers educators, community leaders, and program operators practical and research-based information about how high-quality after-school programs can help prevent destructive behavior and violence, and protect students from harm and danger.

Journeys into Communities: Transforming Youth Opportunities for Learning and Development

This is the final report from the Minnesota Commission on Out-of-School Time. It offers a blueprint for ensuring Minnesota’s young people have engaging opportunities to learn and develop during the non-school hours. It summarizes the year-long work of the Commission and includes specific recommendations and actions for revitalizing Minnesota’s communities as great places to raise families.

KIT - A Special Needs Resource

Kids Included Together (KIT) is a non-profit organization specializing in providing best practices training for community-based youth organizations committed to including children with disabilities into their existing recreational, social and child care programs. KIT was founded on a promise to increase opportunities for children with and without disabilities to access recreational, child development and youth development programs. KIT established the National Training Center on Inclusion (NTCI), a state-of-the-art training facility and learning lab that creates and disseminates best practice information to the out-of-school time field.NTCI offers live training, eLearning and a library of books, videos/DVDs and other materials related to inclusion and disability for use by youth providers and KIT trainers.

Life as a Teenager - The Graduation Gap

While it wouldn't surprise anyone that the graduation gap is wide in urban districts, it is clear also that this is a statewide issue. To learn more, read this document which is part of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children's Youth in Transition series.

Life as a Teenager - Risk and Protective Factors

A survey of about 75,000 Pennsylvania teens shows many of them do not feel supported or protected by their schools, families, neighbors and communities.To learn more, read this document which is part of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children's Youth in Transition series.

Life as a Teenager - The State of Youth Employment

Work experience is a valuable part of a successful transition from youth to adulthood. Some research studies have demonstrated that young people who work while attending high school are more likely to graduate, less likely to be involved with crime, less likely to become teen parents and more likely to achieve greater lifetime earnings.To learn more, read this document which is part of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children's Youth in Transition series.

Make Summer Learning Count

Low-income students suffer large learning setbacks over summer vacation, but in Making Summer Count: How Summer Programs Can Boost Children's Learning, RAND researchers find evidence of ways to ease the problem, and analyze costs, challenges and opportunities.

Commissioned by the Wallace Foundation, the report shares how summer learning programs can prevent the loss of knowledge and skills that occurs over the summer and asks school districts, providers, policymakers and funders to:

Make planning a year-round effort
Start early to hire quality staff and recruit students
Incorporate best practices from successful programs
Establish partnerships
Seek and support stable funding
Expand the research base on the long-term and cumulative effects of programs

Minnesota Commission on Out-of-School Time

The Minnesota Commission on Out-of-School Time convened in January of 2004. The COmmission is dedicated to crafting the vision and strategies to ensure Minnesota’s young people have engaging opportunities to learn and develop in their non-school hours. The work of the Commission will result in a series of reports and recommendations that summarize what is known, make a case for what is needed, and help frame how we can ensure all young people have engaging opportunities to learn and develop .After a year and a half of meetings, briefing papers, and discussion, the Minnesota Commission on Out-of-School Time has released its final report entitled, Journeys into Community: Transforming Youth Opportunities for Learning and Development.

Moving Towards Success: Framework for After-School Programs

On June 5 - 6, 2003, an After-School Summit hosted by the U.S. Department of Education and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and sponsored by the C. S. Mott Foundation, was held in Washington, DC. As follow-up to the Summit, a committee of researchers and program experts (the Committee) developed this document to further articulate why intentionally linking program goals, program elements, participant outcomes, and evaluation is critical to improving the effectiveness of after-school programs. This document provides overall recommendations and guidelines to after-school staff and others about why such a framework is important in developing and sustaining an effective program. It describes a theory of change approach to help guide the thinking and implementation of program goals and elements, outlines a broad range of desired participant outcomes to consider, and discusses conditions most suitable for achieving positive results that meet the needs of the after-school participants.

National Governors Association Center for Best Practices

The NGA Center for Best Practices is the nation's only dedicated consulting firm for governors and their key policy staff. The Center's mission is to develop and implement innovative solutions to public policy challenges. The Center tracks, evaluates, and disseminates information on state innovations and best practices by: surveying states on key issues and providing assessments of current activities for individual states; cataloging innovative programs and sharing this information via reports, briefs, and a variety of online and printed materials; and hosting seminars, academies, and workshops to allow state executives to share ideas and experiences.

The One Stop Shop for Child Care Licensing in Philadelphia

A project of The Nonprofit Finance Fund, the One Stop Shop for Child Care Licensing in Philadelphia hosts child care licensing workshops on various issues related to running a high quality child care program in Philadelphia. Workshop topics include the details of starting a child care business (caring for 1 – 6 children) in your own home; information and assistance regarding city requirements including orientation, zoning, building codes, health codes and fire codes and information and assistance on state requirements; how group care differs from family care; and Zoning 101 for child care providers. Workshops are held at various locations throughout the city.

For more information, email Marion Brown or call 215-475-3030.

The Out-of-School Time Clearinghouse

In the past decade, The Finance Project has developed unparalleled resources that help leaders address financing and sustainability issues for out-of-school time programs. The Out-of-School Time clearinghouse brings together The Finance Project’s resources with resources developed by other organizations dedicated to building better after-school programs.

The Out-of-School Time Resource Center

Funded primarily by a grant from the William Penn Foundation, the Out-of-School Time Resource Center (OSTRC) is part of the University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Policy & Practice and is housed in its Center for Research on Youth and Social Policy (CRYSP). The OSTRC promotes out-of-school time student achievement by conducting research on and providing access to staff resources and professional development.

The Out-of-School Time Resource Center Document Library

The OSTRC has sorted over 200 reports, articles, studies and other documents into 9 Staff Competencies (major headings) and 52 Content Areas (subheadings). The documents have been gathered from the fields of out-of-school time, afterschool, school-age care, positive youth development, formal education, staff development, nonprofit management and many more. Please send OST related documents to the OSTRC (ostrc@sp2.upenn.edu) as either Word Documents, PDFs, or links. Documents should be no more than 5 years old and should be accessible to the public.

Outcomes and Research in Out-of-School Time Program Design

The purpose of this paper is to suggest reasons and mechanisms for integrating outcomes and research into quality program design. To arrive at its conclusions, the paper follows this sequence of steps:

It provides basic background information on "out-of-school time" (OST) programming and its current prevalence in the United States.
It explains and promotes the integration of outcomes and research into program development.
It provides examples of research-based Best Practices.
It links specific Best Practices to priority student outcomes, and explains how these can be utilized in program design.

Pennsylvania Department of Education

Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare

Pew Partnership for Civic Change

The Pew Partnership for Civic Change is a nonprofit civic research group dedicated to helping communities promote healthy families, develop thriving neighborhoods, create living wage jobs, and grow vibrant economies in order to ensure a high quality of life for all residents. The wiki website was created as part of our Learning to Finish Campaign which seeks to address the dropout epidemic by bringing the resources of entire communities to bear on the problem. For more information on the campaign please click here.

Professional Development Series
Building Authentic Relationships with Youth at Risk

Establishing an authentic relationship with each student, and especially those who are at risk of dropping out of school, is vital if significant learning is to take place. Traditional strategies are not always effective, and in these ten sessions of the Professional Development Series, Gayle McGrane, an alternative school principal who is also a social worker, introduces participants to a new approach to relationship building that has proven extremely successful.

This DVD provides you with a complete package of professional development sessions and resources for school leaders to use in guiding administrators, faculty, and staff towards the goal of making those important connections to these youth.

This component is available for Network members for only $40 (or $50 for non-Network members) with life-changing material commonly valued at over $400.

To order, click here.

Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children

Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children promotes public policies that improve children's health, education, and well-being.

Resources for a Legislative Visit

House and Senate members will be on summer recess and in their district offices from July until mid-September. Site visits in August can be critical – particularly this year – as lawmakers debate the future of education reform. This is the perfect opportunity for you to schedule a visit. Click here for tools and details.

'Smarter Summers' Initiative Shows Student Progress

The National Summer Learning Association has just released results of its "Smarter Summers" initiative. The three-year project is supported by a $11.5 grant from the Walmart Foundation, which is used to expand and enhance summer programs in 10 cities, serving around 20,000 middle school students.

Some highlights from participating programs:

Summer Advantage USA's students gained an average of 2.1 months of grade-level equivalency in literacy and math skills over the summer. The program also enhanced parent involvement; more than 90 percent of the students' parents had at least one contact with a teacher to discuss his or her child's performance.
At THINK Together, close to 90 percent of sites demonstrated student growth from pre-test to post-test in math vocabulary.
At Higher Achievement, 65 percent of students have increased their math grades or maintained A or B averages in school from last year. Around 70 percent had fewer school absences.

Supporting Student Success: A Governor’s Guide to Extra Learning Opportunities

With many forms and purposes, extra learning opportunities are a key part of many state policy efforts to support the long-term success of children, families, and communities. State policymakers increasingly recognize the important contributions that high-quality extra learning opportunities can make toward education, youth development, workforce, and prevention priorities.

Using NCLB Funds to Support Extended Learning Time: Opportunities for Afterschool Programs

This strategy brief describes several funding streams included in the
No Child Left Behind Act—other than the 21st Century Community
Learning Centers Program—that can support extended learning
opportunities. These funding streams include Title I (general Title I,
School Improvement, and Supplemental Educational Services), Safe
and Drug-Free Schools and Communities (SDFSC), Comprehensive
School Reform (CSR), and Innovative Programs. The brief first discusses NCLB to help afterschool program leaders understand the context and tenets of the law and its funding streams. It describes each funding stream and discusses how each could be used to support extended learning in afterschool programs. Finally, the brief includes considerations and examples to help program leaders interested in pursuing education dollars to support extended learning programs.

United States Department of Education: 21st Century Community Learning Centers

The focus of this program is to provide expanded academic enrichment opportunities for children attending low performing schools. Tutorial services and academic enrichment activities are designed to help students meet local and state academic standards in subjects such as reading and math. In addition 21st CCLC programs provide youth development activities, drug and violence prevention programs, technology education programs, art, music and recreation programs, counseling and character education to enhance the academic component of the program. U.S. Department of Education 21st CCLC Resource Page.

Youth Outcomes Inventory for Afterschool Programs

Partnership for After School Education

The Partnership for After School Education, based in New York City, recently published a Youth Outcomes Inventory for afterschool programs.It is a comprehensive list of outcomes and suggested tools that can be used to measure them.The publication also offers guidance on how to use and measure outcomes in afterschool settings.The inventory was developed by a committee of afterschool practitioners, researchers, leaders and network staff. Click here to download a copy of the publication.

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Afterschool in Pennsylvania

Click here to download the fact sheet.

Click here for the PowerPoint presentation (PDF format) of the Recruiting and Retaining Older Youth Workshop - National Afterschool Association April 2011.