Dr. Dale Blyth on Afterschool 2020 and Beyond

By Sam Piha

(Note: The COVID-19 pandemic has been very disruptive to afterschool providers and we will cover this topic ongoing. However, as afterschool leaders plan for Summer and next Fall, we will also offer posts that advances thinking for the afterschool movement.)

Dr. Dale Blyth has been a leader in the fields of youth development and afterschool for many years, and has many accomplishments. In late 2019, we asked Dr. Blyth a few questions and to look ahead as we enter a new decade of the afterschool movement. Below are some of his responses.

Q: In looking ahead to 2020 and beyond, what do you see as the important emerging trends in expanded learning programs?

DALE: Three emerging trends are on my radar screen. First, the growing international work on creating a field of youth work and youth development. We have much to learn from other countries and how they support young people and how the workforce working with young people are prepared and supported. It has great implications for our field.

Q: How might international work be collected and disseminated to practitioners?

Dr. Dale Blyth

DALE: There are at least three ways we can increase our knowledge of what is happening internationally in our field: (1) consider joining the new World Education Research Association’s Extended Learning International Research Network.

While more research focused, it does provide a connection to what is happening in other places; (2) consider traveling, particularly to Europe, and explore their rich history in youth work. This can be done through the National Afterschool Association’s International Learning Exchange which travels to a country every June. This year we are going to Berlin, Germany – and also meeting the leads of the Extended Learning group noted above.

This is a great way to make connections and meet new colleagues that can become a great source of international information. The web site also includes information from previous visits; (3) the journals, magazines, and meetings in our field need to seek out and publish more news from abroad in ways that provide insights and ideas for practice. This can happen by inviting international practice leaders and researchers to our conferences as well as devoting space to regular international perspectives or doing a special issue.

Q: What is the second trend you would like to share?

DALE: As schools discover / rediscover the importance of the social and emotional dimensions of learning and development and as more and more national groups bring attention to the science of learning and development, it offers new opportunities for our field.

Our field can shine a light on what we do and build on the capacities we have in these critical areas and help avoid an overly content and school-centric approach to developing these skills. This will help schools and communities find a new and more balanced partnership. Some are calling for new forms of practice research partnerships that are less driven by a research study and more about engaging together to better understand and advance practice.

Q: How might practitioners get involved with researchers to form these partnerships?

DALE: Searching out the right research partner can be difficult but rewarding. Start by identifying what you want to learn and looking at who is doing work in this area in bridging journals such as the Journal of Youth Development. Contact these folks to find out who else might be doing work in this area close to home.  Check with colleges and universities in your area as well as research and evaluation organizations. Look for people interested in applied research and/or evaluation. Also contact your state afterschool network and/or associations for possible leads and perhaps consider joining a learning cohort or professional learning community that is looking at practice issues through many lenses – including research. Like all good partnerships, you need to develop a relationship with the researchers and affirm your mutual commitment to the project which can be time intensive but enormously valuable.

Q: What is the third trend you would like to share? 

DALE: The role of data to both inform, shape and even inspire practice is at a turning point in our field where we need to move from just evaluating what we do to be accountable to others to the point where we are using data to complement our deep and rich understanding of youth and the ways we work with them.

Q: Can you give an example of what this might look like?

Dr. Gil Noam

DALE: The work of Gil Noam and colleagues at the PEAR (Partnerships for Education and Resilience) Institute at Harvard is a good example of how getting data on STEM and social emotional learning can both inform and change practice. Seeing the youth in your program through data that you can sort by topic and look at individuals can reshape how you approach practice. Another good set of examples comes from the work on social and emotional learning that was part of the SEL Challenge created by the Susan Crown Exchange and captured in Preparing Youth to Thrive.

Q: Looking ahead to 2020 and beyond, what do you see as the most significant challenge facing the field of expanded learning? 

DALE: The major challenge I see is the very fragmented nature of the field's people working with youth and the lack of a clear taxonomy that addresses our commonalities as well as unique contributions as professionals and as programs and activities of different types. This includes the lack of a coherent identity for youth workers.  Understanding the workforce - from paid to volunteers - and the settings and purposes of their work with young people requires our attention.

If we are to be a force in the future and mobilize the types of resources needed to both open education and support high quality youth work, we need to better understand, promote and improve the workforce delivering opportunities to young people.

Q: We know that improving the afterschool work force is challenging because of the lack of program funding (due to the reduced number of funders interested in youth development and the increase in minimum wage), the lack of time, and staff turnover. Do you have any thoughts on how these challenges can be overcome?

DALE: While the challenges are real and difficult to meet one program at a time, I am inspired by the work of intermediaries, local systems, networks, and associations to create meaningful opportunities.  Also some of the national youth serving programs offer training that others can sometimes tap – for example, 4-H and related university extension services and the YMCA Character Development Learning Institute. I would start by making sure my organization was connected to these networks and local leaders to best discover what I need.
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For a full bio on Dr. Dale Blyth, click here.

Recent Events of Violence - What Can We Do?

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

The nation has been rocked by the tragic and violent events of the last two weeks. This includes the afterschool community. In fact, we received an unprecedented number of emails from national and local afterschool organizations offering suggestions and resources of how to deal with the violence we have seen in Baton Rouge, Minnesota, and Dallas. 

It is important that we consider the impact of these events on our staff as well as our youth, and that staff are well-equipped to address the issues if they choose to engage youth. In a subsequent blog post, the LIAS project will offer our own response.  

We reached out to some of our colleagues to respond to a question regarding the role of afterschool and summer youth programs in responding to this unspeakable violence. Below are some of their responses. 

Q: Young people are directly exposed to violence in their community, experience the threat of violence and/or bear witness to horrific violence via social media. Do you believe that afterschool and summer youth programs should, in some way, help young people process their experiences?

Dr. Pedro Noguera,
UCLA

Regardless of whether you teach during the school day or after school, all educators have an obligation to help their students make sense of the violence in our society. The children are certainly aware of it so it is important for them to process and discuss it in a safe and caring setting. Beyond going over the facts related to the incident we must address the moral implications. Violence should never be condoned but to the degree that we can, we should try to understand why it is occurring at such an alarming rate in America today. Silence suggest that violence is "normal" and we must never allow our fear of violence to be interpreted as acquiescence. 

Gina Warner,
National AfterSchool
Association

Events this week have left our small team at the National AfterSchool Association and the members of our community sad, frightened and asking, "What can we do?"

To all who work in this field, our answer is this: Keep doing what you are doing. Keep teaching children that love is greater than hate. Help them understand that violence is never an answer. Teach them to build bridges, not walls. Teach them to love and respect every single person. And above all, keep up the laser focus on developing their skills to acknowledge and manage feelings and use communication, compassion and curiosity to work through adversity.To read more, click here. 

Dr. Gil Noam,
PEAR at Harvard
University

If children and adolescents are coming into their programs with a need to talk, of course, one should reduce stress by letting them know they are part of a group that cares about the well-being of its members, their families, and their communities. But it should be guided by a sense of what the young people need and it will be quite different depending on age and level of stress (if stress is too high, professionals will be needed).

As with any political matter, opinions will vary and there will have to be room for those students who think differently, or don’t want to engage at all. Afterschool and summer programs are not places for indoctrination, but for dialogue, the emergence of diverse opinions in a civic and democratic process in small communities of learning. So there is the issue of reducing trauma and secondary trauma which is best done through a focus on safety and belonging, not necessarily through deep discussions that can arouse more fear. 

And then there is the issue of thinking about racial inequities and the social fabric of our country. Current events should lead us to strengthen both strands. Trauma sensitivity training can help in regard to the first (the PEAR Institute at Harvard can help with that). Simultaneously, we should think about how to increase the dialogue about social and racial equity in all parts of our lives. But that cannot be done without strong parent and community involvement and needs to be respectful of all and stay away from pushing an agenda that would undermine a pluralistic approach to all voices of staff, students and parents. Better for programs not to rush into this, but to be deliberate and planful.

Unfortunately, those problems will stay with us for a while. And the opportunities for afterschool and summer programs are great.

Joe Hudson,
Region 4 Regional Lead

The goal of human services agencies and programs (including expanded learning/out-of-school time programs) is to promote positive youth development and enhance academic and social/emotional welfare of youth. Youth services staff must possess skills and knowledge that enable them to assist others. Due to the nature of the relationship between youth workers and both children and families, I assert we do have an obligation to 1) prevent and remove harms, and 2) weigh and balance possible benefits against possible risks of an action. 

I contend that providing youth opportunities express their feelings and thoughts, fears and hopes, in safe and constructive manners which is age appropriate, and can be facilitated during after school and/or summer programs. However, I feel it’s best done not as stand-alone activities in response to the crises of the day but rather integrated into high quality arts, music literacy, math and other learning activities with appropriate time provided for large and small group discussions including current events. I also support facilitated community meetings to hear from other stakeholders including parents and to share with them approaches being considered to promote a safe and positive learning environment, which acknowledges current challenges and takes constructive action to promote the heathy social and emotional welfare of youth. 

I’m obliged to caution programs that we must also take care to assess and address “Vicarious Trauma” among the youth workers and other staff undertaking this type of transformative work with youth. Every time we interact from a position of compassion, controlling our empathic response with our clients, colleagues, friends or strangers, we are putting ourselves at risk. Vicarious Trauma is what happens to your neurological (or cognitive), physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual health when you listen to traumatic stories day after day or respond to traumatic situations while having to control your reaction. 

Jodi Grant,
Afterschool Alliance

Afterschool programs provide a safe, supportive setting for children and youth, and are often one of the first places youth feel comfortable asking questions, sharing views and expressing emotions on tough issues like violence and racism. For some, program staff are even like extended family. Such supports are all the more important during challenging times, and we are ever thankful afterschool and summer programs are there for our kids. That said, helping youth address violence, fear, grief and racism is a considerable responsibility and can be challenging itself. Thankfully some excellent resources exist, such as PASE’s list of resources for difficult conversations and Dr. David J. Schonfeld’s advice for afterschool educators on nurturing grieving children. Afterschool programs also serve as a sort of “glue” in the community, bringing various community partners together to support youth. Often law enforcement are one of those partners, and are an increasingly vital one. When police and youth get to know each other in a fun, informal setting, they build positive, personal relationships. Those bridges can help break down stereotypes, provide youth with new trusted mentors and build bonds that strengthen communities. 

Lucy Friedman,
ExpandED Schools

Last week's tragedies deeply impact our communities. In addition to expressing our condolences to those touched personally by these events, we want to share our thinking about how best to move forward. After reflection and discussion, ExpandED Schools is committed to taking action that will help play a modest part in a much needed larger effort in our country. To read more, click here. 



Resources recommended by ExpandED Schools:

• Oakland Public Library - Talking to Kids About Racism and Justice: a list for parents, caregivers & educators

• Child Development Institute - How to Talk to Kids About Tragedies in the Media 
• Child Mind Institute - Helping Children Cope with Frightening News
• Kidpower - Helping Children Regain Their Emotional Safety After a Tragedy
• Teaching Tolerance - Teaching About Race, Racism and Police Violence
• Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility - Teaching about Controversial or Difficult Issues
• Parent Toolkit - How to Talk to Your Kids About Shootings and Terror
• PBS Parents - Talking to Kids About News
• Stonehill College - Teaching about Race and Criminal Justice