LIAS Youth Ambassadors Attend the CalSAC Afterschool Challenge

By Guest Bloggers Jonathan Colquitt and Elizabeth Bello, Azusa High School Students 

During the month of March we were selected for the great opportunity of going to Sacramento for two days to attend a conference and meetings on afterschool programs.  

Elizabeth Bello

Jonathan Colquitt

On Monday May 21^st we arrived in Sacramento around 10am. Much of the conference was led by high school youth, who were Learning in Afterschool & Summer Youth Ambassadors. We were introduced to what we would be covering over the next 28 hours. We also were given the opportunity to see the people behind the event, CalSAC. In this meeting we heard other people share their afterschool program stories, their afterschool achievements, and the importance of these programs. In the meeting we also covered the budget cuts that the assembly members and senators were discussing. The woman in charge of the meeting explained to us how it was being considered that those who have a low income would only have the opportunity to participate in afterschool programs. This was ruled unfair because then the kids who do not come from a low income family would not be able to have the afterschool experience, and just because they don’t come from a low income family does not mean their parents can afford to put them in afterschool care.  During this meeting, we discussed that we were going to be marching to the capitol.

After our group meeting the youths were separated from the program leaders to discuss what they would be doing the following day. We met with kids from other schools and programs from within the state of California. In this meeting with our fellow students we were able to learn a little bit more about the big impact that afterschool programs have on children.  Many of the programs were just beginning their journeys at the schools within their district. Even though all the programs had different names, they all stood for one purpose – to provide a safe environment for which kids can receive help and at the same time enjoy themselves.  Speaking to the others kids and sharing our experiences at our schools and in our programs gave us knowledge on how important these programs are to them and their schools.  The impact that these programs have had on these students within these schools is apparent. For example, there was a student from the LA County who had a classmate stabbed at the beginning of the school year. The afterschool program provided the students with the emotional support they needed in order to overcome the fatality. Because of the afterschool program the students were able to be more aware of their environment and realize there is a safe place available for them. Later we were informed of the next day events, where we would meet the staff members of the senators and assembly members. We would discuss issues about the afterschool programs and how crucial it was to maintain program funding and prevent budget cuts. 

The next morning we discussed how we would approach the issues to the government officials. We were separated into groups in our districts so we could all relate to each other and the staff. We went over their profiles in order to get a better understanding of their background in comparison to ours. Then we were appointed certain jobs and had the task to choose which one we could most relate to. Based on that, we came up with separate stories in which we told our own experiences at the afterschool program. After this we were led in a rally with an elementary school marching band ahead of us. We marched to Capitol Hill, and stood in front of the capitol with posters and leaders surrounding us. We then went inside ready to tell our stories and how afterschool programs have a great importance in our lives. We spoke to about six staff members such as, Chris Corgas representing Curt Hagman from the 60^th district, Mary June Flores with Roger Hernandez from the 57^th district, and lastly Annabel Snider representing Ed Hernandez from the 24th district. All of them were considerate of our issues, some more than others. We had the opportunity to get their contact information and invite their senators to meet with us at our school in the near future. 

Overall, it was a very good experience that would have not been available if it wasn’t for the THINK Together program (our after school program) and the Learning in Afterschool & Summer project. This trip really helped us realize that afterschool programs have made a great impact in our lives and other student’s lives. It has impacted our futures and has guided us on the path to success. As young adults we tend to take things for granted and this was an experience for us to share with others, the importance of afterschool programs. We expect our program will continue to prosper even after we’re gone and it will continue to make Azusa High School a better place. 

Summer Learning Meets The LIAS Principles

By Guest Blogger, Katie Brackenridge, The Partnership for Children and Youth 

Katie Brackenridge

A child’s need for meaningful learning and enrichment experiences does not end in June when the school doors close for summer vacation. All children need to be engaged and active during the summer months in order to be on track when they return to school in the fall. Whether these needs are being met may boil down to a child’s neighborhood or family income level. Without summer learning opportunities, children—especially children in low-income communities— can fall dramatically behind academically. 

More than 100 years of research about this phenomenon – known as summer learning loss –paints a clear and compelling picture.  A longitudinal study from Johns Hopkins University found that low-income children lose about 2 months in their reading levels each summer.   By 5^th grade, the cumulative learning loss puts them nearly three grade level equivalents behind their more affluent peers.[1]   Unequal summer learning opportunities during elementary school years are responsible for about two-thirds of the ninth-grade achievement gap between lower- and higher-income youth. As a result, low-income youth are less likely to graduate from high school or enter college.[2]

Given this data, communities across the country are working hard to build high quality summer learning opportunities.  They are quickly discovering that summer is the perfect time to put the Learning in Afterschool and Summer principles into action.  Children don’t need or want more traditional school time during the summer.  In fact, because summer programming is often voluntary, many children and youth won’t participate unless their experience is fun and engaging.  In Making Summer Count, researchers from the RAND Corporation found – not surprisingly – that consistent attendance is a key indicator of a program’s ability to impact participant learning.[3]  Summer learning programs have to inspire and motivate in order to succeed.

Besides the imperative around attendance, the time and flexibility in summer programming also lends itself well to the LIAS principles.

·       Learning that is Active - Summer curriculum can involve long-term projects that allow students to experiment, explore and discover.  Projects that might take too much time or are too complicated for the school year become possible during the summer.

·       Learning that is Collaborative – Quality summer learning programs encourage participants to experiment, explore and discover together.  Throughout a summer, participants can be placed in a whole variety of different groupings that allow them to learn from each other, practice communication and negotiation skills and feel ownership for their work.

·       Learning that is Meaningful - While quality programs plan their schedule and curriculum before summer begins, well-trained staff know how and when to adjust lessons and schedules to respond to participants’ interests and to allow deeper inquiry and the expression of youth voice.  This flexibility ensures that activities and projects are meaningful to participants.

·       Learning that Promotes Mastery – More time means more opportunity to support participants in building skills, particularly around projects that they want to be doing.  Quality programs provide opportunities for participants to showcase their skills and accomplishments.

·       Learning that Expands Horizons – Summer is also a natural time for programs to expose participants to new people and places.  Visiting artists, lecturers and teachers offer different perspectives, ideas and experiences.  Field trips allow participants to visit places – even in their own communities – that they may never have seen and where they are able to return after the program ends.  Many summer programs take young people on their first overnight camping trips, which is invariably an awe-inspiring, bonding experience for participants. 

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[1] National Summer Learning Association, 2009.                 

[2] Alexander, et al, 2007.

[3] Sloan, Jennifer McComb, Making Summer Count, RAND Corporation, 2010.

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Katie Brackenridge is Senior Director, Out of School Time Initiatives at the Partnership for Children and Youth. She joined the Partnership in 2004 and directs the Out of School Time initiatives. She has helped hundreds of school and community-based after school programs develop sustainability plans, plan and submit 21st CCLC and Prop 49/ASES grants, access additional funding sources and improve their program practices for after school and summer programming. 

Katie also supports the Partnership’s work to develop and improve policies that make out-of-school-time programming more accessible and effective. She serves as Co-Chair of the Quality Committee of the California Afterschool Network, working to advise and inform the Network, the California Department of Education and other stakeholders about systems and strategies to support quality programming across the state. 

What New Brain Research Tells Us About How Children Learn: An Interview with Dr. Judy Willis, Part 1

By Sam Piha

Dr. Judy Willis

Judy Willis is a leading thinker on how to apply new brain research to better promote children's learning. Below is part 1 of an interview with Dr. Willis. Check out her video on Edutopia, which we aired at the How Kids Learn conference.

Q: Can you briefly tell us about your background and current career in education, and why you made this change?

A: The school experience started changing about 12 years ago with over-stuffing of the curriculum – more and more wrote facts for children to memorize starting in first grade. Many more children were referred to my office by teachers who thought they might have neurological conditions. 

It turned out what looked like ADHD, OCD, and staring spell “petit mal” epilepsy were not the problems. These children’s brains were going into survival mode from the stress of boredom and frustration. I investigated the potential source of this huge jump in referrals. The kids, when I evaluated them, usually didn't have any of these conditions. 

The cause, as I observed was in the change in classrooms where the pressure to pack too much information into students’ brains was changing the part of the brain in which children were processing information and emotions. In the stress state, input does not reach the highest, reflective and cognitive brain (prefrontal cortex) where it needs to go to become memory. Stress diverts flow to the lower “reactive” brain where the outputs are limited to the same type of responses of other mammals when they are stressed: fight, flight, and freeze. In the classroom these same involuntary reactions to stress were the reasons students appeared to be “acting out” or “zoning out”. 

I believed my background as a neurologist and neuroscientist could help me teach students so they could acquire the required material in memory, but do so with the joy and positive connections to learning that would reduce the damage they were experiencing from chronic school-related stress.

I went back to the university, earned my teaching credential and masters in education, and for 10 years taught elementary and middle school. I now teach educators and parents throughout the world, and write books about using brain research to guide parenting and teaching strategies. 

Q: Is there any advice, based on your understanding of the new brain research, that you would give to out-of-school time workers?

A: The knowledge gained from brain research, when applied to learning, can energize and enliven students’ minds, improve memory, focus, organization, and goal setting. Strategies that incorporate brain-based learning research include building upon children’s natural curiosity with discovery and investigations to sustain their inherent love of learning. 

The school years are critical times in a children’s development of self and relationships to the world. This is when educators need to give children opportunities to gain access to a new compendium of tools they will need to understand and participate successfully in the world. This approach to teaching enriches children’s classroom experiences, keeps alive their natural curiosity, and cultivates their enthusiasm for life-long learning.  

New information is being discovered and disseminated at a phenomenal rate. It is predicted that 50% of facts children are memorizing today will no longer be fully accurate or complete in the near future. Children need to know how to evaluate sources of accurate information and then to use critical analysis to assess the veracity/bias and current/potential uses of new information. 

Students need to have school experiences to prepare them to analyze information as it becomes available, adapt flexibly when what were believed to be facts are revised, and to collaborate with other experts on a global playing field. These qualities require educational experience that not only build knowledge but also tolerance, judgment, critical analysis, evaluation of source validity, risk assessment, goal-planning, ability to articulate their ideas clearly, and cognitive flexibility, including willingness to consider alternative perspectives. 

To build the capacity for creativity and innovation, students need opportunities to make decisions and deal with choices and uncertainty, rather than be given the answers or told what is right. This starts when children are young and receptive to taking on challenges, but still knowing teachers are there for support, feedback, and to encourage their revisions.

With these higher cognitive opportunities to build the neural networks of cognition and reflection, curiosity is promoted. Students' brains are attentive because they learn to focus attention on and evaluate information to satisfy their curiosity. This makes school a natural progression of childhood curiosity and builds not only a positive attitude toward school, but promotes the neural construction of thinking and innovation.

With the support and experiences of top summer and after school learning, smiles can replace groans and eye-rolls. This is when the correlations of neuroscience to education return to children the joys of learning. Children’s brains will have the capacities to achieve their highest potentials as they inherit the challenges and opportunities of their 21st century.

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Dr. Judy Willis, a board-certified neurologist in Santa Barbara, California, has combined her 15 years as a practicing adult and child neurologist with her teacher education training and years of classroom experience. After five years teaching at Santa Barbara Middle School, and ten years of classroom teaching all together, this year Dr. Willis reluctantly left teaching middle school students and dedicated herself full-time to teaching educators. With an adjunct faculty position at the University of California, Santa Barbara graduate school of education, Dr. Willis travels nationally and internationally giving presentations, workshops, and consulting while continuing to write books for parents and educators.

Welcome to California's Summer Matters Initiative

By Sam Piha

Summer is an important time for learning. Summer youth programs enjoy flexibility with access to the community resources which makes alignment with the Learning in Afterschool & Summer principles a natural fit. The Partnership for Children and Youth recently launched their statewide Summer Matters Initiative, that is the focus of our interview with Executive Director, Jennifer Peck. 

Jennifer Peck

Q: Can you briefly describe the statewide Summer Matters initiative that you recently launched in San Francisco? 

A: Summer Matters is a statewide campaign with the goal of increasing access to high quality summer learning opportunities in California.  The Campaign has several components:  Building awareness amongst policy makers and the public about why summer learning is so critical for all students; Building models of high quality summer learning that complement the best of after school learning programs; Developing and advocating for policies at the local and state level that support summer learning opportunities, particularly for low-income students.

Q: Why did the Partnership decide to focus on this issue? 

A: Summer learning loss is a phenomenon we’ve known about for 100 years.  But more recent research has linked summer learning loss to the achievement gap, and the information is truly stunning.  Low-income students who lack educationally enriching opportunities in the summer are losing significant ground in their learning, and fall further and further behind each summer, resulting in a significantly larger achievement gap.  It’s become clear that educational equity won’t be possible unless we address summer learning loss.  

Q: The California legislature allocates a large sum of money each year for afterschool programs. Is there funding support for these programs to continue operations after the school year ends? 

A: A small portion of our After School Education and Safety and 21st Century Community Learning Centers dollars are dedicated to summer programming, but it doesn’t come anywhere close to meeting the need.  Senate Bill 429, championed by Superintendent Torlakson and approved last year, provides more flexibility in these summer supplemental dollars which is a step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done to identify resources for summer programming.  Ultimately, we believe that our after school dollars should be designed to offer structured, engaging learning opportunities all year long, with seamless and aligned staffing, relationships, curriculum and goals.  While summer should look and feel different from even school-year after school programs, there should be continuity of effort.

State Superintendent Tom Torlakson launches Summer Matters 

Q: The Learning in Afterschool & Summer project is promoting 5 key learning principles that we believe are important for formal and informal summer learning: learning activities should be active, collaborative, meaningful, support mastery, and expand the horizons of participants. Do you agree that these are relevant to those who design summer learning experiences? If so, why? 

A: Absolutely!  Summer offers more time to bring these principles to life.  With a 6 to 8 hour day – free from the requirements of the school or even after school environment – summer allows staff and youth to collaborate more completely.  Staff and youth  can work together to expand on topics and activities that are particularly interesting to young people, and they can flex the program schedule to ensure that youth gain skills and knowledge through a variety of interactions.  This varied and deep engagement is hard to find in more traditional learning environments, but, as the LIAS movement has clearly demonstrate, is well-suited to summer and critical to young people’s long-term interest and success in learning.

Q: How can youth advocates and program leaders follow new developments in California regarding summer learning opportunities? 

A: The Summer Matters Campaign needs partners and advocates up and down the state.  We have developed information pieces, messaging, and public awareness and advocacy tools we want to share.  The best ways to get engaged and follow developments are to visit the Campaign website, and to sign up for the Partnership’s e-newsletter click here.

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Jennifer Peck was a founding staff member of the Partnership For Children and Youth in 2001 and became its Executive Director in 2003. Jennifer leads a coalition of California organizations advocating for new federal policies to improve the effectiveness of after-school and summer-learning programs. She was also one of our speakers at the How Kids Learn Conference in January 2012. Jennifer was recently honored by the Afterschool Alliance as an Afterschool Champion at the Nation's Capital.

Real Afterschool Programs that Reflect the LIAS Principles

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

We were recently contacted by an afterschool leader who exclaimed "I love the LIAS learning principles, but can you give me some real life program examples that would make them more real?" We responded by asking program leaders to submit examples of program components that they felt nicely represented the LIAS principles. We have now assembled them in a published paper entitled, Afterschool Programs That Reflect the Learning in Afterschool & Summer Learning Principles. We are also planning, in partnership with Change Agent Productions, to develop a video of program practices that are well-aligned with these same learning principles.

Teen CERT (Community Emergency Response Team),
a component of Club Timberwolf at Julian Jr. High School

We welcome your comments on this paper. We are currently looking for examples that come from summer programs. If you wish to submit a component from your summer youth program, you can do so using a Survey Monkey form. 

ALSO: We want to call your attention to some important new resources - 

• A new report from the National Summer Learning Association entitled Best Practices in Summer Learning Programs for Middle and High School Youth.

• A webinar entitled Expanding Science Learning Opportunities During Out-of-School Time, which is being presented on June 20, 2012 from 10:30am - 12:00pm PST. Click here for more information.

• Two great blog posts on Edutopia regarding students and engagement. The posts are entitled, Kids Speak Out on Student Engagement and How Project-Based Learning Builds 21st-Century Skills. 

• A new website entitled A Time to Succeed, which serves as a source of information for those interested in expanded learning efforts.

• A recent article on The Washington Post, written by Jodi Grant, Afterschool Alliance, entitled What New Research on Extended School Day Says.

The Big Deal about Badges

Corey Newhouse

By Guest Blogger, Corey Newhouse from Public Profit

Learning in Afterschool & Summer blog readers with a background in scouting or a Foursquare account are already familiar with digital badges; they are a small emblem representing a specific skill or achievement, including from everything from sewing and fishing (scouts) to checking in at your local coffee shop every day (Foursquare).

These are examples of the “gamification” of activities ranging from finishing an online puzzle to completing a community service project. Exciting new research suggests that games are good at engaging and motivating people, two essential components of learning. (Check out this TED Talk for more.)

Digital badges are catching on in afterschool and summer, too, and for good reason:

• Digital badges are flexible. They can be issued for both small and large accomplishments in any kind of setting.
• Digital badges create a clear path to mastery. Badges are designed to build on one another, earners complete successively more complex or challenging tasks to earn harder-to-get badges.
• Digital badges are information rich. Digital badges have “baked in” information about who issued the badge, what the badge holder had to do, and the level of mastery associated with the badge. 
• Digital badges are youth friendly. Badges are ubiquitous in the online gaming community and in social media. Your kids are likely already earning them now.
• Digital badges are portable. Earners can display their badges on their web page, social media profiles, resumes… anywhere they want to show that they’ve done and learned.

I believe that digital badges can do a lot for afterschool and summer programs. Trainers could issue badges to staff members who successfully complete training series or demonstrate on-the-job skills. Youth could earn badges for completing an in-depth project or for working in their community. Program staff could use badges to reward kids’ consistent attendance or contributions to the group.

No matter what the specifics, digital badges are a well-defined, public way to name  and acknowledge the accomplishments of youth and adults. That’s where the value in badges lies.

For more information:
The Digital Media Learning Badge Competition, sponsored by the MacArthur and Mozilla Foundation, has funded about 20 digital badge projects, most of which are focused on out-of-school time programs. 

These projects – among others – are funneling into the Open Badges Infrastructure, the emerging hub for hundreds of badge projects around the world.

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Corey Newhouse is Public Profit’s Founder and Principal. Ms. Newhouse has a wide range of experience in evaluating programs that serve children and families. Ms. Newhouse earned her Bachelor’s degree from Columbia College and her Master’s degree from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.

Prior to founding Public Profit, Corey managed the evaluation division of Hatchuel Tabernik and Associates (HTA) where she was responsible for managing and performing dozens of youth service organization evaluation contracts totaling more than $1 million annually. Subsequent to her work at HTA, Ms. Newhouse was a Senior Policy Associate at Children Now where she was responsible for the development and publication of several widely released research reports.

Taking Another Look at Extended Learning Time

By Sam Piha

We interviewed over twenty afterschool leaders across California to hear their views on the current status of afterschool in the state and on what they see as important issues in the decade ahead. We will share some of the themes that came out of these interviews in this blog and in future posts. These interviews included leaders from large-scale afterschool providers, those involved in advocacy and policy work, Regional Lead staff, technical assistance providers, private foundations currently supporting afterschool programs, the leader of a large urban school district, a leading evaluator and researcher, and a leader in the new California Department of Education, After School Division. 

Several California afterschool leaders spoke of the growing conversation around extended learning time (ELT). It is important to be clear on the terms surrounding this issue. Some are promoting the idea of "extended learning opportunities" (ELO) . We interpret this phrase to refer to formal and informal learning opportunities that young people have access to outside of the formal classroom. This includes afterschool programs, summer youth programs, and programs offered by community institutions such as museums and libraries. What distinguishes these opportunities is that participation is voluntary, with many young people not involved for one reason or another.

We use "extended learning time" to refer to the efforts by school leaders to increase the "seat time" that students are in the classroom. This is being accomplished in many different ways: shortening recess and/or lunch time, lengthening the school day, and/or lengthening the school year. ELT interventions are generally applied to all students.


Some proponents have suggested the integration of community-based providers into this lengthened school day. This would fold in what we think of as afterschool program learning into the classroom. In many ELT models, there is no discussion of changing how teachers teach and students learn. In these models, research has shown little change in student learning. In other words, adding time for learning doesn't improve student outcomes unless schools change how they use this time. 

In California, which provides afterschool programs in over 4,000 schools, we are already greatly increasing extended learning opportunities. However, these opportunities are voluntary in nature so how will the idea of extended learning time or lengthening the school day impact our state system of afterschool programs? Is ELT right for California? And does it pose a threat or opportunity to the afterschool movement? We would suggest that this answer is different for states that do not have extensive or stable funding for afterschool programs - unlike California. We would also stress that afterschool programs need to improve the consistency of quality learning opportunities being offered. We believe that aligning programs with the Learning in Afterschool & Summer learning principles would be an important start. What do you think?

To learn more, see a recent publication entitled Off the Clock: What More Time Can (and Can't) Do for School Turnarounds and follow the conversation being sponsored by the Afterschool Alliance. 

Affordable Housing Communities: The Third Place for Afterschool

By Sam Piha

Susan Neufeld is Director of Child and Youth Development Services at HOPE Through Housing Foundation, where she has responsibility for child and youth development programming at over 40 of National CORE’s affordable housing communities. She is a leader in promoting young people's access to housing-based quality afterschool programs. Ms. Neufeld agreed to answer our interview questions below.

Q: Can you say just a word about HOPE Through Housing and the Afterschool and Beyond programs? 

Susan Neufeld

A: After School and Beyond is an afterschool program that is delivered onsite of low income apartment housing. Our program model emphasizes children’s social-emotional development as much as their academic development. Consequently, we offer KidzLit (a literacy program), PeaceBuilders (a character development program), and Virtual Vacation (a project-based learning program that helps kids explore their world). 

Q: Can you describe who your program serves? 

A: Currently, we have after school programs serving 35 properties in California and one in Arkansas. We’re poised to expand our programs into Texas. Some neighboring properties share a program. Two of our programs are “tutoring only” because of very small learning centers. One program is a high school program located in Rialto and funded by ASSETs. 

In the 2010-11 school year, we served over 4,000 K-12 youth. 

After School and Beyond

Q: There are those that say afterschool programs should be located on school sites or in the larger community. What are the advantages to offering afterschool programs in housing settings?

A: Our programs do not compete with school or community-based (such a Boys and Girls Club) programs. Most of our properties have large numbers of school-age children – far more than we can serve in our learning centers. We are grateful that youth have many options for after school participation in their community.

Our goal is to serve kids where they live and eliminate many barriers that prevent participation in school and community centers. For example, many of our youth cannot go to a school based program because they don’t have transportation home. We are able to offer an exceptional program in a space that is viewed as an extension of the home. Parents know that their children are safe, well-served, and loved.

Because of our proximity to children’s homes and our strong relationships with property management, we also get to know families and the challenges they face, such as divorce or job loss. This allows us to respond to youth with added supports. 

Q: How are the children and families of affordable housing settings the same or different from other state-funded afterschool programs? 

A: Our youth have the same characteristics as youth who attend a state-funded afterschool program in a low income community. Their families are struggling with economic hardships and they often live in neighborhoods that are challenged. 

However, some of are youth live on properties that are located in affluent communities. In some ways, these families are more challenged by a lack of programs and services that meet their needs. In one community we serve, there is no public bus and the local grocery stores are Trader Joe’s, Bristol Farms, and Pavilions – markets that target middle and high earners. In this context, children can feel “less than” their more affluent peers. The youth in our programs have a shared experience and have a place where they can feel comfortable.  

Q: Many housing-based programs suffer due to difficulties attracting and retaining youth. What is your record in these areas? 

A: Attendance is tough for everyone! We have very high expectations for daily attendance and retention. While we’re improving, we’re still below our target of 85% ADA. In some ways, it’s harder for us than for school-based programs where kids transition from the classroom into the program by walking across the hall.  

There are a lot of reasons for inconsistent or low attendance: evictions, move-outs, shared custody, and involvement in other extracurricular activities. Sometimes latchkey kids are not mandated by their parents to attend program. Our most surprising reason: our kids love the program so much that parents report using it as punishment. When children don’t behave at home, they are not allowed to attend program!

We address this by communicating with parents, hosting family involvement nights to connect parents and children to the program, creating incentives for attendance, and promoting the program when new families move in. That said, we have to work hard all of the time to keep our attendance at our target. Our best strategy is to have a vibrant program staffed by caring and energetic staff that attract youth. 

Q: What do you do within your programs to ensure that they are rich in quality learning experiences?

A: We stress to parents that we are not a homework completion program but a homework assistance program. Our belief is that academic success will only carry our kids so far. To truly succeed, youth need to have a broad vision for themselves – a vision that they can do great things and be great people. 

Virtual Vacation: A Leader's Guide
Available at www.temescalassociates.com

To achieve this, we selected curricula that emphasize exploration while reinforcing academic skills. KidzLit is all about reading motivation – an important component of literacy. PeaceBuilders is focused on creating a culture of peace in the program and community. Virtual Vacation emphasizes global competence, giving youth the opportunity to truly explore other worlds, countries, and cultures. Wherever possible, we integrate these curricula. Youth “travel” to Japan (Virtual Vacation), understand the impact of World War II on Japanese history (PeaceBuilders), read books about Japanese culture (KidzLit), learn key Japanese phrases, and prepare vegetarian sushi.

Q: How do you know whether these programs are effective? 

A: Each year, we conduct a thorough program evaluation that examines program quality (how our programs stand up to industry standards), outputs (what we did), and outcomes (our impact). Currently, we’re engaged with Vital Research to create a new evaluation structure for the 2012-13 school year. Our hope is that we capture the richness of our program and how it’s making a measurable difference in the lives of those we serve. 

Q: Do you invest at all in staff training and support?

A: Absolutely. Behind our curricula, we offer hours of staff development, coaching, training, and site visits. Our belief is that staff cannot give what they do not have. If we want our children to feel connected, supported, and engaged, then we must create a community of support, connection, and engagement with our staff. 

Training topics range from afterschool basics (e.g., behavior management, planning a day) to creating a strong site team to responding appropriately to trauma and loss. We have learned that a successful training program is one that includes youth development, afterschool operations, team functioning, and effective communication.  

Q: As you look to the future of the afterschool movement, are there any serious risks and opportunities that you see on the horizon? 

A: My biggest frustration has been raising awareness of our unique program niche. Most funders don’t know about housing-based afterschool programs and the important role that we play. They also do not understand that we are not competitive for state or federal funding through ASES or 21st Century, which favor school-based programs. These funding streams are amazing and have changed the landscape of afterschool in California. Unfortunately, the structure of the funding virtually makes programs like ours ineligible. 

My wish is that funders make room for all types of youth programs – school-based, center-based, and housing-based. Giving youth and families a range of options that meet a range of needs ensures that all young people have afterschool supports and opportunities. 

Q: The Learning in Afterschool & Summer project promotes 5 key learning principles. How do you see these fitting into or guiding your programs? 

A: We strive to embody all five learning principles in our program, especially through our hands-on, project-based programming. I love the LIAS principles because they push our thinking beyond homework, grades, and test scores into the realm of self-efficacy, vision, and mastery. To me, these are essential to the success of our youth.   

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Prior to her current position at The HOPE Through Housing Foundation, Ms. Neufeld served as the Collaboration Manager for Mustangs on the Move, a consortium of community-based organizations that provides after school programming to high school youth in Northwest Pasadena. She also worked for Communities Organizing Resources to Advance Learning (CORAL) Pasadena, a multi-city after school initiative launched by the Irvine Foundation, first as a program evaluator then as Associate Director. Ms. Neufeld holds a Master’s degree in Applied Developmental Psychology from Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. She currently serves on the Si Se Puede! Learning Centers Advisory Council of the Cesar Chavez Foundation, on the 2012 BOOST (Best of Out of School Time) Conference Leadership Team, and is a part of the Learning in Afterschool & Summer Work Group.