The Growing Out-of-School Time Field

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

Helen Janc Malone is Editor in Chief of a new book series entitled Current Issues in Out-of-School Time (OST). Her complete bio is below. Dr. Malone was invited to share her thoughts and lead a small group session at the How Kids Learn VII conference on the future of afterschool. She agreed to answer a few interview questions for this blog post. 

Q: What inspired you to put together this book series on out-of-school time? 

A: It was a confluence of events that came together with perfect timing... As my

Dr. Helen Janc Malone

officers and I were preparing for the 10th anniversary celebration of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Out-of-School Time Special Interest Group (OST SIG), I began conversations with colleagues about the best ways to bring voices from across the OST field into a conversation about where we are today and where we should be heading as a field. Simultaneously, Information Age Publishing reached out and asked me to create a book series that would serve as a platform to bridge research and practice and to engage the field in a dialogue about salient OST issues. 

The first book in this new series is The Growing Out-of-School Time Field: Past, Present, and Future (2018). The volume is designed to set the foundation for the book series, to address the progress, challenges, and opportunities the field faces, to lift-up broader trends, and to point to possible future paths forward. 

This book is a collaboration of 39 scholars, practitioners, and advocates who have dedicated their professional careers to improving research, practices, and policies that support OST. The book is purposely designed to focus on macro trends, to be accessible in content to diverse audiences, and to intentionally push our thinking in new ways, perhaps where we are starting to see emerging work but where we recognize more needs to be done.

The call for ideas for future books in the series is now open through December 15, 2017: http://www.infoagepub.com/series/Current-Issues-in-Out-of-School-Time 

Q: As you look to the next decade, what issues, challenges, or opportunities do you see for the out-of-school time field?

A: This book offers a number of questions to help propel the field further forward. They include:  

• What are the ways in which the field can continue to balance a developmental lens while also broadening a learning frame? 
• What incentive structures and mechanisms should the field invest to attract more professionals of color? 
• How do we build career ladders and ongoing professional and leadership development supports for OST staff?
• How do we build and align data systems that are responsive to the young people, families, and practitioners involved? 
• How do we create meaningful research-practice partnerships? 
• How do we more intentionally engage in an international dialogue and exchange of ideas to strengthen OST? 

Q: As you look to the future of out-of-school time, what advice do you have for the field?

A: The OST field has benefited over the years from being both malleable and adaptable in its terminology and approach. Whether before- or after-school or summer programs, OST has had a long-standing place as a partner to families, communities, and schools. Decades of research and evaluations have helped us define and refine what do we mean by high-quality programs, what is the impact of high-quality programs on development and learning, and what role does the field play in breaking down equity barriers.  

At the same time, as a sub-sector of various dominant sectors (health and human services, education, and labor), OST has had to make an ongoing case for relevance, especially in the policy arena. As we look to the future, there are several themes emerging from the book, including: 

• The need to deepen our research into multi-dimensional identities of youth so that we can better serve and support all young people. 
• Education policy is returning to the whole child frame, an approach that OST field has long fostered. The field has an opportunity to make its case for OST as a partner in both young people’s learning and holistic development. The increased attention to social-emotional learning is a timely vehicle for communicating this message and utilizing the existing spotlight on SEL to deepen both field research and practice. 
• Post-secondary transitions and pathways into workforce are gaining momentum as broadening considerations in education. OST stands to gain by being proactive in exploring transition spaces, with intentional attention to young people who often face systemic and institutional barriers.
• There is an ongoing debate about whether and how should OST professionalize as a field and what does that mean, given the great diversity of programs and contexts that fall under its umbrella. This conversation needs to continue with attention to career ladders and pathways and the meaning and role of youth-serving professionals as a lifelong career.
• While school-community partnerships have a long-standing point of connection for practitioners, research is crossing these spaces only in pockets, with most of the research, professional conferences, and discussions taking place in siloes. Inviting scholars from outside OST stands to enrich the field, broaden connections, and help propel OST in new and innovative ways.

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Dr. Helen Janc Malone’s work within OST has been situated at the nexus of research, practice, and network-building. Over the past 15+ years, she has supported adolescent leadership development research and practice, help support the national network of statewide afterschool networks, conducted research at Harvard on OST (while a doctoral student), and served in 2015-16 as the Chair of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Out-of-School Time Special Interest Group (OST SIG). 

At present, Dr. Malone is an adjunct professorial lecturer at American University teaching nonformal education, serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Expanded Learning Opportunities (among other journals in this arena). OST is also an important component of the Institute for Educational Leadership, where she is the director of education policy. 

A Conversation with UCI Professor and OST Researcher, Deborah Vandell

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

In late 2012 and early 2013, we conducted a number of videotaped interviews with educational and out-of-school experts on the Learning in Afterschool & Summer learning principles. These taped sessions included interviews with Deborah Vandell, State Superintendent Tom Torlakson, neurologist Judy Willis, youth development specialist Karen Pittman, Professor Pedro Noguera, two Bay Area school principals, CDE After School Division Director Michael Funk, and others. These videos will be excellent training tools and will be made available very shortly. The videos were shot by youth videographers and produced by Temescal Associates.

Below is a portion of an interview with UCI Professor and OST researcher, Deborah Vandell. To view two short videotapes of our conversation, click here.

Q: The LIAS learning principles were not intended to apply to strictly afterschool settings. In your experience as an educator and researcher, how are these principles, when taken together, relevant to young people’s learning? 

A: I think that the learning principles in after school and summer really get at the core of learning for students - starting in early childhood, going through to university. So if we think about those core principles, the first is active. We know that young people learn by being active. Many years ago, Piaget started talking about the key to learning being children’s activity. It’s in the context of activity that children and young people develop new skills.  

A second principle is the principle of collaboration. And this is also very important. The most influential of the psychologists would be Vygotsky, who talked to us about collaboration, and that children really learn through what we call the zone of proximal development. What young people can do alone is not as advanced as what they can do with others in a group.  So in a group where they’re collaborating, we're able to actually move them into that zone to develop their skills further.  

A third principle, really important within the learning and after school framework, is that learning needs to be meaningful, it needs to be embedded in activities that are important for young people. When I think about the importance of it being meaningful, what really comes to mind is the work of Reed Larson, who did some really important work looking at development of initiative and engagement. What he found is that when young people are in school, what they often are doing is putting forth a lot of effort, but they’re not really motivated - its not something they really care about. What happens in afterschool activities, when they’re really working, when they’re active, they’re choosing those activities and they are also focused on them, it’s the best combination for learning that is meaningful.  

The fourth principle is that programs and activities should be working towards mastery.  Now the striving towards mastery is not an activity that you can do in one day, in half a day, its really an activity that you’re building over time.  When you’re building for a concert, you're practicing, you're developing those skills. When you are getting out to put together a newspaper, when you’re planning a play, which is a complex activity, it gives young people a chance to put those skills together. Notice many of them are also working with others in a group, often with a culminating event. Jacqueline Echols, in a very important book on the role of positive youth settings for development, as part of the National Academy of Science report back in 2002, talked about this learning to support mastery as a key element to support positive youth development.  

And then the fifth principle is that of expanding horizons. Our young people live in a global society. Our young people are living in a society in which science is becoming increasingly important, mathematics and those activities have to really happen in context.  Part of what students can do in afterschool and in summer, in really fine programs, is that we can expand the horizons, beyond where they are in this moment in time.

(This is only an excerpt of our complete interview. To view a complete videotaped interview, click here.)
_______________________

Deborah Vandell is a Professor of Education and Psychology and Dean of the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine, discusses the relevance of the Learning in Afterschool and Summer Principles. Ms. Vandell has longstanding interests in three areas: (1) early child care and education - its effects on children's social, cognitive, and behavioral development and strategies for improving the quality of early care and education, (2) after school programs and activities - their impact on children and youth and strategies for improving the quality of after-school programs, and (3) children's relationships with peers, parents, siblings, teachers, and mentors as developmental and educational contexts.

LIAS and Recent Trends in Education and OST (Part 2)

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

There are several new trends or movements as stakeholders look to improve the quality of formal education and learning outside of the classroom. They include the topics of school reform, Common Core Standards, extended learning opportunities, program quality measurement, STEM, 21st century learning skills, and social-emotional learning (SEL). We will dedicate this second blog post to briefly name and describe four more important trends and on the relevance of the LIAS learning principles according to leaders in each of these movements: 



OST PROGRAM QUALITY MEASUREMENT: Given the large federal and state investments in afterschool and summer programs, there has been a call to promote the quality of these programs. To this end, many organizations have developed tools and instruments to gauge the level of quality. The LIAS project conducted a crosswalk between leading quality measurement tools and the LIAS learning principles. This work revealed a high correlation between what the LIAS project calls for and what these instruments measured in the name of quality.   The one LIAS principle that was underrepresented in the program quality tools we examined was: expanding the horizons of program participants. 

Bill Fennessy

“The LIAS principles speak directly to the components required to create a quality instructional delivery framework.  When implemented, programs can truly engage the youth of today.  While many successful afterschool and summer programs already embody and demonstrate the LIAS principles, these principles now being clearly identified, defined, and articulated, will provide for an understandable and intentional approach to attain successful quality programming across the field.  In addition, the LIAS principles provide a common language for the field of afterschool that has been up until now missing and desperately needed.  I have personally seen the LIAS principles easily taught to line staff, which might not have been intuitive to them previously. I have witnessed the empowering affect it has had on them, resulting in improved program quality.  The LIAS principles have also given them the ability to understand for themselves, and communicate with others, their vital role and the value of afterschool and summer programming.”  - Bill Fennessy, THINK Together



STEM: There is a growing movement to increase young people’s interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).  However, STEM activities are meant to be more than just content – they need to be designed to motivate and excite young people so that they will be tempted to pursue STEM activities and eventual careers beyond the life of any one activity or program.

“At the Coalition for Science After School, we find that there is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding as to what high-quality STEM programming afterschool means. But once we apply LIAS principles to examine science afterschool, we can quickly identify what quality should look like and which promising practices we should support that may lead to increased youth interest and engagement in STEM. 

Carol Tang

LIAS principles outline the program characteristics most likely to foster scientific inquiry and sense-making in youth and help them recognize the relevance of science and technology to their future. LIAS principles help clarify what high-quality science in out-of-school settings should look like and makes STEM accessible to youth development and afterschool staff.  What I like best about LIAS is that it allows OST professionals to view STEM as a way to achieve their youth outcomes using existing best practices in youth development--science afterschool is seen as part of good youth development, rather than an added burden on afterschool program staff.”    - Carol Tang, Coalition for Science After School


21st CENTURY LEARNING SKILLS: In order for young people to be competitive in a knowledge-based economy of the 21st century, they need to learn to collaborate with others and connect through technology. The 21st century skills are broken into several categories:

• Ways of thinking - Creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making and learning
• Ways of working - Communication and collaboration
• Tools for working - Information and communications technology (ICT) and information literacy
• Skills for living in the world - Citizenship, life and career, and personal and social responsibility

Bernie Trilling

According to Bernie Trilling, Global Director at Oracle Education Foundation and co-author of 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times, “The five Learning in Afterschool & Summer principles are perfectly aligned with a 21st century learning approach – active, meaningful, collaborative learning projects that provide opportunities to expand one’s horizons and master important knowledge and skills – this is the heart of 21st century learning.” 


SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING (SEL): SEL helps young people develop the skills to handle themselves and their relationships. These are also important skills for the workplace. They include recognizing and managing emotions, developing caring and concern for others, establishing positive relationships, making responsible decisions, and handling challenging situations constructively and ethically. “They are the skills that allow children to calm themselves when angry, make friends, resolve conflicts respectfully, and make ethical and safe choices.”  According to research, having these skills are related to more positive youth outcomes including academic outcomes.   

Joseph Durlak

“The LIAS principles of collaboration, meaningfulness, and expanded horizons are each consistent with the types of skills that compose SEL such as skills relating to managing one’s emotions, developing and maintaining satisfactory relationships with others, and enhancing self-awareness.  In general, the LIAS principles and the five SEL domains allows flexibility and adaptations to occur for work with different types of youth at different developmental stages, and with different needs and interests.” - Joseph Durlak, Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology, Loyola University, Chicago

THE COMMON CORE STANDARDS: What Do They Mean For Out-of-School Time? (Part 2)

By Sam Piha

The Common Core Standards have been embraced by educators and government leaders across the country. These common educational standards include standards that cover "habits of mind", which are very compatible with the Learning in Afterschool & Summer principles. Elizabeth Devaney recently worked with Nicole Yohalem and the Forum for Youth Investment in developing a policy brief entitled The Common Core Standards: What Do They Mean For Out-of-School Time? Below we offer part 2 of an interview with Elizabeth Devaney on the Common Core Standards and their relevance to the afterschool/OST field.

Q: What do you see as the primary challenges that the Common Core Standards offer the OST field? 

Elizabeth Devaney

A: The primary risk or challenge for the OST field – which pre-dates the emergence of the Common Core – lies in overpromising. Although some OST programs have successfully focused on academic achievement, others are trying to reinvent themselves to connect more to schools.  Some leaders in the OST field argue that programs have strayed too far from the kinds of things they do best: supporting and nurturing the social and emotional development of young people. Many afterschool and OST programs are not equipped to deliver academic content and, in fact, may be straying from their core mission to do so.  OST programs face the challenge of connecting to this monumental policy initiative in education while not compromising their own core principles.

Q: The Learning in Afterschool & Summer principles provide a framework to guide programs in designing activities that promote children’s learning. Based on your experience, can you comment on the relevance and importance of these principles?

A: These learning principles are absolutely right on.  As you state in your position paper, research clearly supports the five principles.  But my experience in a practical setting corroborates that research and makes it more powerful for me. In Providence, RI where I spent 7 years, we saw tremendous gains for middle school students when the learning they engaged in after school was hands-on, connected them to real-world skills, and was relevant to their lives.  We had young people out in their community advocating for recycling because they learned through their summer program to calculate the average rain fall from a storm and about what happens to animals in the ocean when rain water run-off carries garbage to the bay. That kind of learning sticks.  

Q: Do you see these LIAS principles as complimentary or in conflict with the Common Core standards, particularly the habits of mind?

A: I think the LIAS principles are complimentary, if not completely aligned with the Common Core.  They represent the kind of teaching that will be necessary in order for students to achieve the Common Core.  And as I mentioned earlier, the Common Core is designed to be more about mastery or depth of learning rather than breadth.  “Fewer deeper” is a mantra that my co-author Nicole Yohalem and I heard over and over again during our interviews and research in preparation for writing the brief.  So the principle of mastery is absolutely connected.  The main difference is that the LIAS principles really address the how of teaching and the Common Core is more focused on the what. But absolutely, teachers will need to shift their instruction to more closely match the LIAS principles in order for students to develop habits of mind and master the content standards.  

Q: As you look to the decade ahead, what do you see as most promising and threatening to the OST field? 

A: That’s a tough question. No doubt about it, OST organizations face a huge challenge in the coming years to “prove” their connection to supporting academic achievement and student success and define how they want to be a part of the equation.  There is more and more pressure from the local, state and federal level for schools to improve and they are looking to the community for help. Although the greatest challenge, this is also the most promising opportunity for the OST field. We have a chance to become a part of the school reform agenda in a way that we never have before - the trick is going to be remaining true to our own core principles. The Common Core is emerging just as calls for expanded learning opportunities and expanded learning time are growing. The OST field has a window to assert itself as a necessary part of children’s development and education. In doing so, the goal need not be to replicate the core work of schools but rather to complement, support and expand it.

__________________

Elizabeth is currently an independent consultant working with, among others, the Forum for Youth Investment and the Providence After School Alliance. Prior to starting her consulting practice Elizabeth worked in a variety of educational organizations dedicated to improving the lives and chances of success for young people.  She served as the Deputy Director and Quality Improvement Director of the Providence After School Alliance in Providence, RI.  There she led the development of a statewide quality improvement system for after school and youth development professionals and oversaw the organization’s evaluation and monitoring activities.  She also served as a Project Director at the Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) in Chicago, IL where her work focused on helping schools to implement comprehensive, school-wide social and emotional learning initiatives.  Elizabeth has authored two technical assistance guides for educators and systems builders as well as several published articles and has presented at numerous conferences.  She was the recipient of a Distinguished Fellows award from the W.T. Grant Foundation in 2009 and received her masters degree in nonprofit management from the Heller School of Social Policy at Brandeis University. 

THE COMMON CORE STANDARDS: What Do They Mean For Out-of-School Time? (Part 1)

By Sam Piha

The Common Core Standards has been embraced by educators and government leaders across the country. These common educational standards include standards that cover "habits of mind", which are very compatible with the Learning in Afterschool & Summer principles. Elizabeth Devaney recently worked with Nicole Yohalem and the Forum for Youth Investment in developing a policy brief entitled The Common Core Standards: What Do They Mean For Out-of-School Time? Below we interview Elizabeth Devaney on the Common Core Standards and their relevance to the afterschool/OST field.

Q: For our readers who are not familiar, can you briefly describe what the Common Core standards are? How are they different from previous academic standards?

Elizabeth Devaney

A: The Common Core is the result of a two-year process, facilitated by the National Governor’s Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), to develop a set of common standards for math and English Language Arts (ELA). The Common Core represents what students in grades K-12 should master in order to be college and career ready, and the hope is that the standards will increase the rigor and coherence of curriculum and assessment as well as increase alignment across states. Content standards are broken out by grade, highlighting specific competencies students in each grade level must achieve in the two main subject areas.

The Common Core focuses on fewer standards at a deeper level than do many of the models used in the past. The standards also emphasize higher order thinking skills; that is, they focus more on demonstrating understanding of content and analyzing written materials rather than on memorizing specific content. The math standards put greater emphasis on understanding how to get to the right answer than simply answering a question correctly, and the ELA standards shift toward increasingly complex informational text.

Q: Why are the Common Core standards important to out-of-school (OST) programs?

A: The Common Core is important to OST programs just as state content standards have always been important – because they represent what students should know and what schools are striving to teach.  If OST programs hope to align with schools and make the case for their contribution to student achievement, then they have to understand what it is schools are held accountable for. The Common Core simply represents a new and more focused approach to standards and place an emphasis on some of the higher order thinking skills OST programs have always championed.

Q: In your briefing paper, you describe the "Habits of Mind" standards. What are these and how are they relevant to OST programs?

A: The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) describes habits of mind as “knowledge, skills, and dispositions that operate in tandem with the academic content in the standards … and offer a portrait of students who, upon graduation, are prepared for college, career, and citizenship.” In each of the two standards documents, math and ELA, there is an introductory section, separate from the content standards, which outlines these skills and dispositions that CCSSO references.  In the Common Core math standards, habits of mind are reflected in the “standards of mathematical practice” – 8 specific competencies students need in order to be successful at math, ranging from perseverance to good use of tools. In the ELA area, they are reflected in an introductory discussion of “the capacities of a literate individual” and range from building independence to understanding other cultures and perspectives.

Habits of mind encompass a range of skills that are critical both to academics but also to success in work and life. They include skills that many youth-serving organizations have long focused on.  It is important to note, however, that the developers of the standards see these habits of mind as relevant for how they contribute to a students’ ability to perform in math and ELA.  Although they are certainly transferable skills, they are only included in the Common Core for how they connect to a specific subject area.

Q:How is the OST field presently engaging with the Common Core standards?

A: OST organizations have already begun responding to the Common Core in a variety of ways. Several of the Mott funded state afterschool networks have begun to address the Common Core through professional development for OST staff.  For example Utah and New Jersey have hosted training and institutes designed to inform program providers about the standards and help them think about how to align curriculum and programming to the content standards.  Georgia and Washington have worked to embed references to the Common Core in newly developed quality standards for OST providers – in effect framing understanding of the Common Core as essential for a high quality program.  Several city-wide intermediaries – TASC, PASA and the Partnership for Children and Youth – are experimenting with implementing policy initiatives, offering professional development, and reframing curriculum to connect with the Common Core.  Although still early, these are promising strategies that will inform how the field more directly connects with the Common Core. 

Q: OST programs are being asked to offer programs that promote STEM, reduced childhood obesity, in addition to promoting academic achievement and broader youth development. Do the Common Core standards represent a piling on or do they represent an opportunity?

A: OST programs are being asked to do a lot and must, by necessity, learn to prioritize and not take on too much.  But I do think the Common Core represents an opportunity rather than a burden.  As I mentioned earlier, the Common Core is not all that different from the state content standards that have existed and been a focus of schools for years.  Any OST program that has been interested in connecting to schools or has a mission to contribute to the academic success of young people has had to think about the state content standards and so the Common Core do not represent something all that new and different.  Rather, they represent a new framing – a more intentional and widespread definition of what students need to know.  And because the Common Core is new and a lot of focus will be placed on them in the coming years, it represents an opportunity for OST programs to become better informed than ever.  But I would also caution that because they are new and schools are going to be consumed by adopting and training their teachers to implement them that we as an OST community need to be careful not to jump in too fast.

__________________

Elizabeth is currently an independent consultant working with, among others, the Forum for Youth Investment and the Providence After School Alliance. Prior to starting her consulting practice Elizabeth worked in a variety of educational organizations dedicated to improving the lives and chances of success for young people.  She served as the Deputy Director and Quality Improvement Director of the Providence After School Alliance in Providence, RI.  There she led the development of a statewide quality improvement system for after school and youth development professionals and oversaw the organization’s evaluation and monitoring activities.  She also served as a Project Director at the Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) in Chicago, IL where her work focused on helping schools to implement comprehensive, school-wide social and emotional learning initiatives.  Elizabeth has authored two technical assistance guides for educators and systems builders as well as several published articles and has presented at numerous conferences.  She was the recipient of a Distinguished Fellows award from the W.T. Grant Foundation in 2009 and received her masters degree in nonprofit management from the Heller School of Social Policy at Brandeis University. 

Measuring Soft Skills in OST Programs: An Interview with Nicole Yohalem, Part 2

By Sam Piha

The Learning in Afterschool project is promoting five learning principles that are well rooted in education and youth development research. Teachers and youth workers alike know that these principles are important to engaging young people in learning. Although these principles are vital to developing important skills, sometimes referred to as 21^st century skills, many refer to them as “soft”. Further, the lack of accessible tools that measure these skills has been a problem for the OST field. 

Recently the Forum for Youth Investment published From Soft Skills to Hard Data: Measuring Youth Program Outcomes, which offers a survey of measurement instruments that measure many of these skills. They include:

Nicole Yohalem

•      Communication
•      Relationships & Collaboration
•      Critical Thinking & Decision-making
•      Initiative & Self-direction

Below, we interview Nicole Yohalem (Forum for Youth Investment) one of the co-authors of this report.

Q: What criteria did you use in selecting instruments?

A: We considered several factors. First we looked for measures where a majority of the contents mapped directly onto one of our four areas of interest. We looked for measures that were appropriate for use in a range of settings, including OST programs, and focused on tools that can be used with upper elementary through high school age youth, since a lot of useful work has already been done by CASEL to review measures for use with younger children. We also prioritized measures that are accessible to practitioners and relatively easy to use. Because we are committed to ensuring practitioners have access to tools that yield reliable (consistent) and valid information, we also looked for instruments that at a minimum, had been investigated for scale reliability, factor structure and sensitivity to OST program impact. 

Q: How might the guide be helpful for OST programs?

A: In selecting measures there are some important things for program leaders to consider. First and foremost, outcome measures should reflect the goals and activities of the program. Programs should measure outcomes that they value and that they are actively trying to influence. Second, it is important to select measures that will yield reliable and valid information. Finally, there are all the practical issues to consider – cost, ease of administration and accessibility. 

The guide includes information about all of these considerations. For each instrument we summarize the origins and focus on the tool, include sample items, and discuss user and technical considerations. Where possible we also include information about length, cost, format, supplemental tools, and training. Our technical reviews focus on the extent to which reliability and validity have been established. 

Q: Finally, do you see this new resource helping to address any important risks or opportunities facing the OST/afterschool movement at this time? 

A: Unfortunately we haven’t done a good job of coming to consensus on what to call important skills like critical thinking and decision-making, relationships and collaboration, communication and initiative and self-direction. I hear these referred to as social-emotional skills, soft skills, 21^st century skills, new basic skills, higher-order thinking, non-academic outcomes…the list goes on. 

If we could get more consistent about naming these and measuring them, programs will be more likely to identify them as target outcomes and demonstrate their ability to move the dial on these skills. At the policy level, we have historically under-invested in programs that are good at developing these skills. With the education and business sectors increasingly recognizing their value to school and workplace success, we have a unique window of opportunity to demonstrate the important role that afterschool programs play in supporting learning and development. 

________________________________________________________________

Nicole Yohalem

Director of Special Projects, The Forum for Youth Investment

Nicole oversees Forum projects on out-of-school time, postsecondary success and bridging research, policy and practice; speaks on behalf of the Forum at national conferences and events; and serves as an advisor to several foundations, organizations and initiatives connected to the Forum. She has authored numerous reports, articles and commentaries, and oversees several regular Forum publications, such as the Ready by 21, Credentialed by 26 issue brief series.

Measuring Soft Skills in OST Programs: An Interview with Nicole Yohalem, Part 1

By Sam Piha

The Learning in Afterschool project is promoting five learning principles that are well rooted in education and youth development research. Teachers and youth workers alike know that these principles are important to engaging young people in learning. Although these principles are vital to developing important skills, sometimes referred to as 21^st century skills, many refer to them as “soft”. Further, the lack of accessible tools that measure these skills has been a problem for the OST field. 

Recently the Forum for Youth Investment published From Soft Skills to Hard Data: Measuring Youth Program Outcomes, which offers a survey of measurement instruments that measure many of these skills. They include:

Nicole Yohalem

•      Communication
•      Relationships & Collaboration
•      Critical Thinking & Decision-making
•      Initiative & Self-direction

Below, we interview Nicole Yohalem (Forum for Youth Investment) one of the co-authors of this report.

Q: Of the many important skills, why did you focus on the four skill areas presented in your paper?

A: We didn’t want to create a new framework because there is so much good 

existing work out there.  So in identifying these four areas to focus on, we reviewed commonly used and cited frameworks from the Collaboration for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL); the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills; and the U.S. Department of Labor. We identified the common constructs across those frameworks, focusing specifically on skill-oriented outcomes and those that are amenable to intervention by afterschool programs. We also focused on skills that are cross-cutting, which means we left some things out that relate to specific content knowledge (e.g., technology, global awareness). That’s how we came to communication, relationships & collaboration, critical thinking & decision-making and initiative & self-direction. We aren’t suggesting this is a comprehensive list of important skills, or that these are the only skills afterschool programs should focus on. We may tackle additional areas in an updated report next year.

Q: Why are these “soft skills” deemed important?

A: There is growing evidence and recognition that these skills and dispositions are critical – to academic success, workplace success, and to overall wellbeing.  Teachers, students, parents and Fortune 500 companies all think these kinds of skills are critical. In a 2006 national survey of employers, collaboration, work ethic and communication were among the most important skills necessary to succeed in the workplace. On the academic side, focusing on social skills is linked with developing a positive connection to school, improved behavior, and increased achievement.

Q: What do you see as the role of OST programs to build these skills? In other words, why are OST programs well positioned to build these skills?

A: We feel these kinds of outcome areas could really be a strategic niche – in economic terms – a “comparative advantage” for many youth programs. Afterschool programs operate with limited resources yet have significant flexibility compared to schools. These are skills that youth programs are good at building and supporting, and they matter for learning and development.

Q: Why did you think it was important to identify instruments to measure these skills?

A: We know that high quality afterschool programs can help young people develop these and other skills, but to live up to this potential, activities need to align with outcomes and programs need tools that are accessible and that do a good job of measuring them. When you are tracking things like attendance, grades or standardized test scores, which many afterschool programs do, data are typically obtained from school records, which means program leaders and evaluators rarely face decisions about what instrument to use.

To be continued in Part 2

________________________________________________________________

Nicole Yohalem

Director of Special Projects, The Forum for Youth Investment

Nicole oversees Forum projects on out-of-school time, postsecondary success and bridging research, policy and practice; speaks on behalf of the Forum at national conferences and events; and serves as an advisor to several foundations, organizations and initiatives connected to the Forum. She has authored numerous reports, articles and commentaries, and oversees several regular Forum publications, such as the Ready by 21, Credentialed by 26 issue brief series.