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. 

Afterschool Program Participation and the Achievement Gap

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

In October of last year, University of California at Irvine researcher, Deborah Vandell, released an important study on the positive effects of afterschool programs.  Her study revealed that "more consistent time spent in afterschool activities during the elementary school years is linked to narrowing the gap in math achievement, reduced school absences and improved behavioral outcomes for students."(1) 

More specifically, the math achievement gap was measured

Deborah Vandell

at grade 5. The more consistent the afterschool attendance, the narrower the gap between high-income and low-income students. Conversely, the greater the inconsistency of attendance, the wider the achievement gap. But also, those children that spent more time in afterschool programs showed:

- Better work habits
- Improved academic performance
- Gains in self-efficacy
- Improved GPA
- Increased attendance, fewer school absences

This is important information to share with program and in-school stakeholders. Click here for a colorful summary of the research.

________________________
(1) www.statewideafterschoolnetworks.net/achievement-gap-real

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

Digital Badges - Taking Learning Seriously

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

The use and awarding of digital badges in afterschool and summer youth programs is a burgeoning trend that is rapidly moving across the country. This is important to the afterschool and summer program movement for the following reasons:

• The development of digital badges requires that program leaders think through and explicitly state what learning will go on related to specific badges. This includes the required attendance, the skills and knowledge that will be acquired, and how this will be demonstrated in order to earn a badge. This specificity raises the bar for learning accountability. Also, with digital badges, this information of the learning that took place or  “meta information” is easily communicated to others. 

 
• The awarding of digital badges defines the learning that goes on in programs, which is vital if afterschool and summer programs are to be recognized as important places of learning. These badges are important, visible evidence that afterschool and summer programs take learning seriously. 

• The adult program staff members often acquire important knowledge and skills through professional development and years of experience. Youth acquire valuable skills and knowledge through their participation in specific afterschool and summer activities. Both deserve an artifact that documents their learning and—importantly—can be shared with peers, future employers, and those allowing admittance to higher education. 

To advance the use of digital badges, the LIAS project formed a partnership with Public Profit. We enlisted the participation of provider organizations in piloting digital badge systems. Organizations included CalSAC, California Teaching Fellows Foundation, Fresno County Office of Education, the Central Valley Afterschool Foundation, and the Youth Institute (Long Beach and replication sites). Badges will be awarded acknowledging exemplar programs, program staff that have completed certain trainings, and afterschool program youth who have completed “courses” and acquired new knowledge and skills.

We believe that digital badges, when used properly, offer great benefits to program providers and adult/youth recipients. We just finished a digital badge project to recognize older youth programs that demonstrate the LIAS principles. We will announce the digital badge earners in an upcoming blog post. 

Saving the Arts in Afterschool - Thank Goodness

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

Youth arts programming continues to be in the news. Just when we hear about new research of how arts programming supports academic progress and the development of  important life skills, we hear about programs that are being cut out of schools because of budget woes and the over emphasis on literacy and math.

Photo Credit: vimeo.com

I had the pleasure recently of watching a high school presentation of Spring Awakening at Berkeley High School. This is the play that was a big success recently on Broadway and gave Lea Michele, star  of Glee, her start. Last week, I attended the annual dance performance by students from the San Francisco School of the Arts. The experience was the same - I was bowled over by the young people's intense commitment to mastery and commitment to the goal they shared with their group. Talk about developing a sense of purpose - a sense of mastery and agency - it was quite amazing. So enough of having to defend having arts programming, particularly performing arts, in our afterschool programs. 

Bob Cabeza

Bob Cabeza, Vice President of Community Development at the YMCA of Greater Long Beach, passionately agrees:  "When you're doing a play, you're learning critical thinking skills, you're learning sequential thinking  skills, you're learning group work, and literacy - reading, memorizing that reading - but because it is project-based learning, the enthusiasm and also the focus on learning goes up tremendously."

Want more: Oakland Technical High School's drama program was recently featured on KQED's California Report. It has risen from the ashes to be acknowledged as one of the best in the country and it has had a big effect on students. Take a listen.

"Before I lived here, when I didn't have theater, my GPA was below a 1. Then I just got into reading, working, and learning because that's what you have to do to be in theater - you have to learn a lot about everything to be in the play. So I just kind of got into doing work because it really built a lot of that integrity and now I'm like a 3.5 GPA, which is really weird for me because that's never happened before." - Jacob Moore, Senior at Oakland Technical High School  

Dennis Creedon
Photo Credit: thenotebook.org

Want more: Watch this video of Philadelphia Assistant Superintendent of Schools explain why arts programming is essential to teaching kids how to reach their full potential. 

Want more: Read about the rationale for cuts in arts programming and why the arts are essential. 

Want more: I do! Let's celebrate the arts in afterschool and shout out all the good reasons why we have saved them.

In STEM, Content is Not Enough

By Sam Piha

The post below is a reprint of my Op-Ed that was published in Youth Today on May 5, 2014. 

In STEM, Content is Not Enough

There has been an explosion of interest in providing young people with learning opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Many have argued correctly that afterschool and summer programs are perfectly situated to respond to this interest.  After all, the out-of-school (OST) environment provides the teacher and learner with a flexibility not found in school – the freedom to choose interesting topics, the ability to extend the learning activities across time (days or even weeks), the advantage of working in smaller groups, and use of the larger community and their surroundings as a classroom. However, the rush to offer STEM-related activities has not necessarily resulted in quality programming.

Many OST managers figured that STEM activities meant a focus on content, without an eye on what makes for a good learning experience. But successful STEM activities are more than content. They are designed to ignite young people’s imagination and involve them in ways that excite them as learners. Those responsible for providing STEM activities need to provide staff training using a framework for learning and engagement. 

Research on learning and engagement suggest several principles to guide the design and implementation of activities. To begin, learning activities must be active. They must be collaborative and meaningful to the participant. They should support mastery and they should expand the horizons of participants. These principles have become influential in how the state of California now defines quality OST learning programs.

According to Carol Tang, former Director of the Coalition for Science After School, these principles are relevant when applied to STEM.  She says, “A lot of young people are turned off because they had bad experiences learning about science.  If you look at these learning principles, I think it’s a way to really look at science education, and take a step back and say it is really about doing science.  If you think about what scientists do, they are active and hands on, they make things and break things, they talk to their peers, they learn from their mistakes, and they get better with time. If we don’t get kids excited about science then they can learn as many facts and figures that their brains can hold, but that’s not really going to help us.” (You could also view an interview with Carol Tang by clicking here.)

SRI International recently published the first part of a 5-year National Science Foundation funded research project, the Afterschool Science Networks study. In this important report, SRI presented case studies of science activities in California afterschool programs and identified “staff capacity” as one of several limitations. Many of the issues in staff capacity involved the failure to engage and can be addressed through staff development on how to engage young people as learners. Part of this is allowing young people to learn in a hands-on fashion and facilitating questions instead of giving answers.

Dr. Ann House,
SRI International

According to Dr. Ann House, leader of the SRI study, “We believe that the learning principles developed by the Learning in Afterschool & Summer project are very well aligned with inquiry science activities. For example, conducting investigations, collecting data, and designing solutions make learning activities active, meaningful, and support mastery. Engaging in scientific reasoning and argument deepens the meaningfulness of activities and often involves collaboration. Finally, investigating science phenomena and designing solutions broadens youth’s horizons. Their horizons can also be broadened as they learn more about STEM-related careers and how STEM skills and knowledge can help them become more informed citizens.” (To view our interview with Dr. Ann House, click here.)

The growing number of afterschool programs focused on STEM is an exciting development. But if children are to develop a growing interest in STEM topics, we need to think about how children learn when we design the activities and prepare adult staff to facilitate them. This can be accomplished through training and materials that offer a framework for learning and engagement.

Tom Little: A Champion for Progressive Education and Youth Development

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

Those of us who are committed to progressive education principles and their use in classroom and out-of-school learning programs lost a great friend last week with the passing of Tom Little.

Tom was one of three founding teachers of Park Day School in 1976, a progressive K-6 school in Oakland, CA. I had the pleasure of teaching at Park Day School for five years, two of those years as a co-teacher with Tom. Nearly everything I know about youth and youth development came from this experience. 

Tom Little - Photo by Benjamin Smith

Tom went on to become the Director of Park Day in 1986. Under his leadership, Park Day expanded to include a middle school and managed to buy the property that is now their beautiful campus.

I also had the opportunity to experience Tom's leadership as a parent at Park Day. Tom was masterful at creating a sense of community and ensuring that all children engaged in what we now call social emotional learning (SEL). We used to think of Park Day School as our church in passing along the values of citizenship and social justice. 

Tom was a relentless defender of youth development and progressive education. While at CNYD, I led several tours of afterschool practitioners through Park Day classrooms to allow practitioners to see youth development in action within a classroom setting. 

Park Day School
Photo Credit: Progressive Education Network

In partnership with Temescal Associates and the Learning in Afterschool & Summer project, Tom hosted a public showing of Brooklyn Castle, participated in an LIAS video, speaking in support of the LIAS learning principles, and provided access to the Park Day campus for the taping of several other interviews with afterschool leaders. He was committed to equity in education and freed up teachers and youth to provide support to local public schools. 

Last year, Tom used his sabbatical to visit progressive schools across the country. He wrote a book about this experience, which will be published in the near future. Tom's legacy will live on for a long time, through the demonstration by the practices at Park Day School. He was a good friend and inspiration to a large number of East Bay families, youth, and educators. He will be sorely missed. 

___________________________
In 2001, Tom Little was awarded a Klingenstein Visiting Heads Fellowship. From 1997-2003, he served as the Private School Representative on the Mayor's Oakland Education Cabinet. He served on the Board of Directors for the Oakland Academic Stars, an organization providing college scholarships for public school students in Oakland. He also served on the Board of Wingspan, a national organization sponsoring public and private school partnerships. He served on the Board of the Progressive Education Network, a national organization of educators working to advance progressive educational practices throughout the United States. Tom consulted on educational matters with public and private schools in the Bay Area and in Ireland. 

Childhood Trauma: Impediments to Learning

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

The Learning in Afterschool & Summer project is dedicated to ensuring that afterschool and summer youth programs are strong places of learning. To this end, we are promoting five important principles of learning that should be evident in all youth programs. 

However, it is also important that practitioners understand not only what promotes learning but the environmental factors that impede learning. These factors are related to complex trauma - children who have experienced physical or sexual abuse, abandonment, domestic and neighborhood violence, and/or having a parent or close family member incarcerated. 

"In the brains of traumatized youth, neural pathways associated with fear and survival responses are strongly developed, leaving some children in a state of hyperarousal that causes them to overreact to incidents other children would find nonthreatening, the research shows. Consumed by fear, they find it difficult to achieve a state of calmness that would allow them to process verbal instructions and learn, according to the Child Welfare Information Gateway of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Dr. Nadine Burke Harris

And many children are experiencing chronic stress, according to data. In 2012,

California child welfare agencies received 487,000 reports of child abuse and neglect. Nationally, an estimated 1 in 4 children has witnessed a violent act and 1 in 10 has seen one family member assault another, according to the federal National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence, sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice Prevention and Delinquency Prevention and the Centers for Disease Control." (1)

According to Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, Pediatrician at the Bayview Child Health Center in San Francisco, children who had four or more categories of adverse childhood experiences, “their odds of having learning or behavior problems in school were 32 times as high as kids who had no adverse childhood experiences”. (2)

We will explore some of these learning impediments in upcoming blog posts by citing important literature and featuring interviews with field experts. 

______________________

(1) School Promoting 'Trauma-Informed' Teaching to Reach Troubled Students; Adams, Jane Meredith; December 2, 2013; http://edsource.org/today/2013/schools-focus-on-trauma-informed-to-reach-troubled-students#.Up-6QmRDvJ4

(2) The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study — the largest, most important public health study you never heard of — began in an obesity clinic; Stevens, Jane Ellen; October 3, 2013; http://acestoohigh.com/2012/10/03/the-adverse-childhood-experiences-study-the-largest-most-important-public-health-study-you-never-heard-of-began-in-an-obesity-clinic/

Playing to Win: Competitive Kid Capital

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

In August of 2013, author Hilary Levey Friedman published her new book entitled Playing to Win: Raising Children in a Competitive Culture. In her book and subsequent article in the November issue of The Atlantic, Ms. Friedman contends that parents send their children to competitive afterschool programs to gain advantages that they can utilize when they enter the workforce. In interviewing middle-class and affluent parents, she learned that there are five skills that parents hope their kids will acquire, which she calls "Competitive Kid Capital". 

• "The importance of winning: Friedman writes, 'Such an attitude prepares children for winner-take-all settings like the school system and lucrative labor markets.'

• Learning from loss: This teaches kids perseverance and focus—traits that are valuable as children move through life if they want to work toward successful outcomes.

• Time management: 'Children need to learn how to manage their own schedules,' writes Friedman, 'something they may have to do some day as busy consultants and CEOs.'

• Adaptability: Participation in competitive out-of-school activities teaches children how to perform and compete in environments that require adaptation, such as taking the SAT, the LSAT or the bar exam, according to Friedman. 

• Grace under pressure: For example, the grace a student learns to maintain when performing in a ballet recital will serve that student well when interviewing for a job."(1)

Are these skills truly important for young people's success? Can we teach them in afterschool and summer programs that include kids from all economic backgrounds? Or are they skills that can only be acquired in "pay-to-play" afterschool programs? 

We contacted Hilary Levey Friedman to ask about the history of competitive activities in afterschool programs and issues regarding their accessibility. She was very gracious in answering our questions, some of which is cited below. 

Hilary Levey Friedman

Q: You write about the intentions of middle to upper class parents regarding competitive afterschool youth programs. Did you find some programs that were more diverse in the participants?

A:  Dance parents that I interviewed offered the most diversity, with several working class families. They valued the same skill set of competitive kid capital, but they did not know how to leverage it as well in terms of college admissions. I like to say that ALL parents want what is best for their kids, and they make choices based on what is available and realistic for their families. I write more about this issue here, which I think is helpful to highlight.  

Q: Can you comment on the differences between free and "pay-to-play" afterschool programs? 

A: ALL afterschool programs offer invaluable skill development and life lessons. But not all free programs are able to offer the same level of developed, organized competition. Chess provides one way to do this, as it costs less than, say, soccer or other sports activities. Services by community non-profits are incredibly important for other reasons (like giving kids a safe space in the afterschool hours), but they can't always fill the competitive void-- even though historically this is where competitive afterschool activities come from, as I detail in Chapter 1 of the book. If you don't have the book the full chapter is available for download on UC Press' website. 

Q: This was not always true historically. Can you speak to this?  

A:  About a hundred years ago, it would have been the lower-class children competing under nonparental adult supervision while their upper-class counterparts participated in noncompetitive activities, often in their homes. Children’s tournaments, especially athletic ones, came first to poor children—often immigrants—living in big cities.

With the simultaneous rise of mandatory schooling and laws restricting child labor, worry mounted over the idle hours of children, which many assumed would be filled with delinquent or self-destructive activities. Urban reformers were particularly preoccupied with poor immigrant boys who, because of overcrowding in tenements, were often on the streets.

Reformers’ focus was less on age-specific activities and more generally on “removing urban children from city streets.”  Initial efforts focused on the establishment of parks and playgrounds, and powerful, organized playground movements developed in New York City and Boston. But because adults “did not trust city boys to play unsupervised,” attention soon shifted to organized sports.

By the 1930s this pattern began to shift as a consequence of the Great Depression and as educational philosophies changed. During the Depression many clubs with competitive leagues suffered financially and had to close, so poorer children from urban areas began to lose sites for competitive athletic contests organized by adults. Fee-based groups, such as the YMCA, began to fill the void, but usually only middle-class kids could afford to participate. 

_____________________
Dr. Levey Friedman matriculated at Princeton University, from which she earned a PhD in Sociology in 2009 as both a Spencer Dissertation Fellow and as a Harold W. Dodds fellow. During graduate school her research focused on competitive after-school activities (chess, dance, Kumon enrichment classes, and soccer), children’s work, and university commencement speakers. Dr. Levey Friedman recently completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University quantitatively studying youth sports injuries, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 

Kids Speak Out on Student Engagement

Below is an excerpt from a blog by middle school teacher, Heather Wolpert-Gawron, that was posted on the Edutopia website. You can get the whole piece by clicking here. This posting began with her asking 220 8th graders "What engages students?". We believe that these responses affirm the Learning in Afterschool & Summer principles. Below are some of their responses (see the complete article to review all the responses).

Kids Speak Out on Student Engagement  

By Heather Wolpert-Gawron

1. Working with their peers

"Middle-school students are growing learners who require and want interaction with other people to fully attain their potential."

"Teens find it most interesting and exciting when there is a little bit of talking involved. Discussions help clear the tense atmosphere in a classroom and allow students to participate in their own learning." 

2. Working with technology

"I believe that when students participate in "learning by doing" it helps them focus more. Technology helps them to do that. Students will always be extremely excited when using technology."

"We have entered a digital age of video, Facebook, Twitter, etc., and they [have] become more of a daily thing for teens and students. When we use tech, it engages me more and lets me understand the concept more clearly."

3. Connecting the real world to the work we do/project-based learning

"I believe that it all boils down to relationships. Not relationships from teacher to student or relationships from student to student, but rather relations between the text and the outside world. For example, I was in a history class last year and my teacher would always explain what happens in the Medieval World and the Renaissance. And after every lesson, every essay, every assignment, he asked us, "How does this event relate to current times?" It brought me to a greater thinking, a kind of thinking where I can relate the past to the present and how closely they are bonded together."

"If you relate the topic to the students' lives, then it makes the concept easier to grasp."

"Students are most interested when the curriculum applies to more than just the textbook. The book is there -- we can read a book. If we're given projects that expand into other subjects and make us think, it'll help us understand the information."

"What I think engages a student most is interactions with real-life dilemmas and an opportunity to learn how to solve them. Also, projects that are unique and one of a kind that other schools would never think of. Also something challenging and not easy, something to test your strengths as a student and stimulate your brain, so it becomes easier to deal with similar problems when you are grown up and have a job. Something so interesting that you could never ever forget."

"I like to explore beyond the range of what normal textbooks allow us to do through hands-on techniques such as project-based learning. Whenever I do a project, I always seem to remember the material better than if I just read the information straight out of a textbook."

"I, myself, find a deeper connection when I'm able to see what I'm learning about eye-to-eye. It's more memorable and interesting to see all the contours and details of it all. To be able to understand and connect with the moment is what will make students three times more enthusiastic about learning beyond the black and white of the Times New Roman text."

5. Get me out of my seat!

"When a student is active they learn in a deeper way than sitting. For example, in my history class, we had a debate on whether SOPA and PIPA were good ideas. My teacher had us stand on either ends of the room to state whether we agree or disagree with the proposition. By doing this, I was able to listen to what all my classmates had to say."

7. Student choice

"I think having freedom in assignments, project directions, and more choices would engage students...More variety = more space for creativity."

"Giving students choices helps us use our strengths and gives us freedom to make a project the way we want it to. When we do something we like, we're more focused and enjoy school more."

"Another way is to make the curriculum flexible for students who are more/less advanced. There could be a list of project choices and student can pick from that according to their level."

8. Understand your clients -- the kids

"Encourage students to voice their opinions as you may never know what you can learn from your students."

"If the teacher shows us that they are confident in our abilities and has a welcoming and well-spirited personality towards us, we feel more capable of doing the things we couldn't do...What I'm trying to say is students are more engaged when they feel they are in a "partnership" with their teacher."

"Personally, I think that students don't really like to be treated as 'students.' Teachers can learn from us students. They need to ask for our input on how the students feel about a project, a test, etc. Most importantly, teachers need to ask themselves, "How would I feel if I were this student?" See from our point of view and embrace it."

"Students are engaged in learning when they are taught by teachers who really connect with their students and make the whole class feel like one big family. Teachers should understand how the mind of a child or teenager works and should be able to connect with their students because everyone should feel comfortable so that they are encouraged to raise their hands to ask questions or ask for help."

"Teachers should know that within every class they teach, the students are all different."

9. Mix it up!

"I don't like doing only one constant activity...a variety will keep me engaged in the topic. It's not just for work, but also for other things such as food. Eating the same foods constantly makes you not want to eat!"

"Fun experiments in science class...acting out little skits in history...if students are going to remember something, they need visuals, some auditory lessons, and some emotions."

I'd like to end this post with one more quote, this one from my student, Sharon: "The thing is, every student is engaged differently...but, that is okay. There is always a way to keep a student interested and lively, ready to embark on the journey of education. 'What is that way?' some teachers may ask eagerly. Now, read closely... Are you ready? That way is to ask them. Ask. Them. Get their input on how they learn. It's just as simple as that."

Go on. Try it. Ask.

The NAA Top 25 Most Influential People in Afterschool, 2014

By Sam Piha

Sam Piha

I felt truly honored when I was notified by the National AfterSchool Association that I was listed as one of the top 25 most influential people in afterschool. 

Gina Warner

“As nominations poured in from NAA members around the country, we focused our selection on those leaders whose service, research, and action influence and impact large numbers of children and families,” said Gina Warner, National AfterSchool Association executive director. “In so doing, these leaders bring positive attention and investment to the field of afterschool.”  

In looking at the full list, I was pleased that several of my long-time colleagues were also listed. It is important to note that the leaders of today's afterschool movement stand on the shoulders of many brave pioneers such as Michelle Cahill, Jane Quinn, Richard Murphy, and others. 

In California, the afterschool movement has been greatly influenced by many people including Jennifer Peck (Partnership for Children and Youth), Brian Lee (Fight Crime - Invest in Kids), and Michael Funk (formerly from the Sunset Neighborhood Beacon Center and current Director of the After School Division at CDE). We can all give thanks for their contributions to afterschool.

Below is the full list of those who were honored:

The NAA Top 25 Most Influential People in Afterschool, 2014

Lucy Friedman

• MATTHEW BOULAY | Founder, Chairman of the Board of Directors, National Summer Learning Association 
• JIM CLARK | President and CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of America
• JESSICA DONNER | Director, Every Hour Counts 
• TERRI FERINDE DUNHAM |Partner, Collaborative Communications / Lead, National Network of Statewide Afterschool Networks
• AYEOLA FORTUNE | Director, Education Team, United Way Worldwide
• LUCY N. FRIEDMAN | Founding President, TASC (The After-School Corporation)
• ELLEN S. GANNETT, M.ED. | Director, National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST), Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College
• JODI GRANT | Executive Director, Afterschool Alliance
• ROBERT HALPERN | Professor and Chair of Research Council, Erikson Institute  
• CLIFF JOHNSON | Executive Director, Institute for Youth, Education and Families, National League of Cities 

  

  Terry Peterson

• SYLVIA LYLES, PhD | Director, Academic Improvement and Teacher Quality Programs, U.S. Department of Education 
• JIM MURPHY | Senior Manager, Child and Youth Development Program, Council on Accreditation 
• JUDY NEE | Executive Vice President and General Manager, AlphaBEST Education, Inc. 
• NEIL NICOLL | President and CEO, YMCA of the USA
• GIL NOAM, Ed.D, PhD | Founder and Director, Program in Education, Afterschool and Resiliency, Harvard University  
• BEN PAUL | President and CEO, After-School All-Stars
• TERRY PETERSON, PhD | Director, Afterschool and Community Learning Network 
• SAM PIHA | Founder and Principal, Director, Temescal Associates, Learning in Afterschool & Summer Project
• KAREN J. PITTMAN | President and CEO, The Forum for Youth Investment 

  

  Karen Pittman

• SHANNON RUDISILL | Director, Office of Child Care, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
• CARLA SANGER, M.ED. | President and CEO, LA’s BEST After School Enrichment Program
• JENNIFER SIRANGELO | President and CEO, National 4-H Council  
• CHARLES SMITH, PhD | Executive Director, David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality
• DEBORAH LOWE VANDELL | Founding Dean, School of Education,
  University of California Irvine 
• TOM WYATT | Chief Executive Officer, Knowledge Universe-United States