Programs Hungry for Recognition; Youth Ready to Weigh In

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

Kim Boyer, Executive Director
Central Valley
Afterschool Foundation

Over the last few months, I've been honored to work with a dedicated group of afterschool advocates in Fresno, CA. This group included Kim Boyer (Central Valley Afterschool Foundation), Lori Carr (Fresno County Office of Education), Adam Valencia and Diane Wilcock (Tulare County Office of Education), Johannes Troost (California Department of Education - After School Division), Mike Snell (California Teaching Fellows Foundation), and Corey Newhouse (Public Profit). This group came together to donate their time to launch a program to acknowledge older youth afterschool programs that were well aligned with the  Learning in Afterschool & Summer (LIAS) learning principles with the awards coming in the form of digital badges.

Lori Carr, Fresno County
Office of Education

Now that the project is nearly complete, we asked them what stood out in conducting this effort. There were three themes: 1) programs are more than willing to put in some extra work if it will result in their being recognized for the good work they do;  2) young people are more than willing to take their time to observe and give feedback on the practices of afterschool programs; and 3) young people have plenty to say about what they consider as quality programs. 

Sharon Arce (Afterschool Program Site Coordinator)
 and Margo Perkins (Principal), Coalinga High

Brad Lupien, Co-President
ARC

Thanks to Brad Lupien and ARC for providing a one-day leadership retreat for those youth who observed and scored afterschool programs on their alignment to the LIAS learning principles. This may have been the first time in California that older youth have been involved in assessing the quality of older youth programs alongside local afterschool leaders. 

Central Valley Afterschool Programs Earn Digital Awards for Quality

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

The LIAS project/Temescal Associates joined with Public Profit in forming a Fresno Work Group to develop a digital badge project with local OST leaders. They included Fresno County Office of Education, the Central Valley Afterschool Foundation, California Teaching Fellows Foundation, and Johannes Troost from the After School Division at CDE. In this pilot project, we decided to invite a group of middle school and high school afterschool programs to apply for program badges signifying exemplar practice in one or more of the LIAS learning principles.

Six programs applied after attending an orientation to the LIAS learning principles and a workshop which provided an overview of the digital badging project. After completing the application, which included a listing of the learning goals and evidence of learning for each of their clubs, they hosted a site observation by a committee that included at least one youth from their program. Youth who participated as observers received special leadership training from ARC and the Fresno County Office of Education. Awards were based on points earned from a review of their applications and program observations. Congratulations to the programs below which were deemed exemplar in one or more LIAS learning principles. 

• Roosevelt High School Afterschool Program - earned the Active, Collaborative, Meaningful, and Supports Mastery digital badges
• Tioga Middle School Afterschool Program - earned the Active, Meaningful, and Expands Horizons digital badges
• Merced High School C.L.A.W.S. Program - earned the Collaborative and Supports Mastery digital badges
• Madera High School Coyote V.O.I.C.E. After School Program - earned the Active, Collaborative, and Supports Mastery digital badges
• Coalinga High School After School Program - earned the Active, Meaningful, and Supports Mastery digital badges
• Martin Luther King Middle School After School Program - earned the Active and Supports Mastery digital badges