Afterschool quality

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110030/1/yd20111.pd

Preparing Youth to Thrive: Methodology and Findings From the Social and Emotional Learning Challenge

The SEL Challenge was designed in pursuit of two ambitious goals: to identify promising practices for building SEL skills with vulnerable adolescents, and to develop technical supports for use of these SEL practices at scale in thousands of OST settings. The study design included a qualitative methodology, expert practitioners, and performance studies at each of eight exemplary programs. The products of the Challenge - standards for SEL practice and the suite of SEL performance measures - are designed to help OST programs focus deeply on SEL practice, assess their strengths, and improve the quality and effectiveness of their services using a lower stakes continuous improvement approach.By focusing systematically at a granular level of adult and youth behavior, the Challenge content supports use in practice-oriented settings and systems - youth programs, school day classrooms, mentorships, residential treatment, apprenticeships, workplace, families - where the qualities of adult-youth interaction and learning are a primary concern. We hope that local policy makers and funders will use the Challenge as a template for identifying the exemplary SEL services already available in their communities and make sure that they are adequately recognized, resourced, and replicated

Preparing Youth to Thrive: Promising Practices for Social Emotional Learning

In 2014, the Susan Crown Exchange (SCE), a national foundation, and the David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality, a research center, set out to determine how out-of-school programs throughout the country can be more intentional about providing social and emotional skill development. From an extensive pool of applicants, the Weikart Center and SCE selected eight top out-of-school programs that not only make a commitment to SEL, but have a proven track record of working with one of the hardest populations to reach: vulnerable and at-risk adolescents.The programs selected as partners in the Challenge hailed from seven cities and offered a diverse array of opportunities for youth aged 14-19. Weikart and Challenge partners then set out to determine why these programs are so effective and how these practices and approaches to SEL could be shared with others. An extensive research process followed that included interviews, site visits, evaluations, convenings, and surveys.What the Challenge found was that was no matter if teens were building boats in Philadelphia or writing a musical, with the right staff practices, supports, and curriculum, youth participants develop social and emotional skills. Six skill areas - emotion management, empathy, teamwork, responsibility, initiative, and problem solving - also rose to the surface as key skills in social emotional growth. Not only that, but Weikart and Challenge partners determined that these practices and offerings could be replicated at any program.Now, these best practices and examples are available for any program to use through a new guide, "Preparing Youth to Thrive: Promising Practices in Social & Emotional Learning." The field guide sheds new light on how out-of-school programs can equip teens with valuable social and emotional skills. Inside the guide, readers will find key staff practices drilled down and described for each of the eight programs. The guide also shares narratives from staff and youth that tell the stories of how these programs are making a difference in the lives of young people each day

Adolescent Educational Success and Mental Health Vary Across School Engagement Profiles

The present study used multidimensional and person-centered approaches to identify subgroups of adolescents characterized by unique patterns of behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement and examined whether adolescent developmental outcomes varied as a function of different combinations of engagement components. Data were collected on 1,025 youths (57% African American, 43% European American; 53% female, 47% male). Five profiles of student engagement in school were identified: Highly Engaged, Moderately Engaged, Minimally Engaged, Emotionally Disengaged, and Cognitively Disengaged. These 5 groups differed in their educational and psychological functioning. The study not only provides empirical evidence supporting the multifaceted nature of school engagement but also demonstrates its utility relative to educational success and mental health. Considering the multiple dimensions of student engagement simultaneously from a person-centered perspective promises a useful approach for addressing sample heterogeneity and understanding different patterns of school engagement and their consequences

Quality at the Point of Service: Profiles of Practice in After‐School Settings

A unique observational data set was used to explore quality at the point of service in after‐school programs. Staff practices in after‐school settings were represented on a series of unidimensional scales closely indexed to staff behavior. In order to account for heterogeneity of staff performances, pattern‐centered methods were used to construct profiles of common staff practices. Results revealed six pedagogy profiles that were classified in terms of three broad types of performances delivered by after‐school staff: (1) positive youth development, (2) staff‐centered, and (3) low‐quality. Staff membership in these profiles was not related to youth‐staff ratio. However, results revealed significant differences between the profiles on the content of the offering and the age of youth in the setting.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116957/1/ajcp9315.pd

Editors' Notes

No abstractPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/35239/1/78_ftp.pd

Centerscope

Centerscope, formerly Scope, was published by the Boston University Medical Center "to communicate the concern of the Medical Center for the development and maintenance of improved health care in contemporary society.