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Afterschool Quality and Outcomes: How Quality Improvement Systems Can Matter for Children and Youth (Presentation at Bridge Conference, Seattle, Washington) |
This session provides a multi-level perspective on quality improvement systems (QIS) for afterschool settings. |
10/8/2012 |
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Bridge Conference 2014: Making Learning Personal |
Charles Smith, executive director at the Weikart Center gave two presentations at the Bridge Conference in October. The first was titled Afterschool Quality Linked to School Success Outcomes and introduced a model for how skills are developed in afterschool programs and how these skills might transfer to other settings. He then presented replicated findings that confirm the importance of program quality in demonstrating school outcomes – and discussed why social and emotional skills are a likely unmeasured link in this chain. The second was titled Building Social Emotional Skills in Afterschool: Early findings from SCE’s SEL Challenge and described a study of eight exemplary programs that build social emotional learning (SEL) skills in teens. |
10/27/2014 |
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Continuous Quality Improvement in Afterschool Settings: Impact findings from the Youth Program Quality Intervention study |
This study, funded by the W.T. Grant Foundation, evaluates the Youth Program Quality Intervention (YPQI), a data-driven continuous improvement model for afterschool systems. Using a rigorous, experimental design, the research finds that the YPQI produces a cascade of positive effects, resulting in improved program quality at the point of service. |
2/29/2012 |
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Does Quality Matter in Afterschool? Expanded Learning and Youth Outcomes |
New findings from three rigorous evaluations conducted by American Institutes for Research demonstrate that participation in high-quality afterschool programs can improve school success. This session will share the findings from these studies, interpret the pattern and magnitude of effects and discuss the implications of this evidence for afterschool policies. |
4/23/2014 |
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External Assessment Using the YPQA |
In this technical assistance brief we describe how external assessment, a key component of the YPQI, can provide OST program managers with detailed profiles of quality within their organizations. These profiles can help sustain higher stakes quality improvement efforts and bring more precision to interpretation of their program quality. |
9/20/2010 |
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Family Engagement and Middle Grades Transitions: The Role of Afterschool Programs (Presentation at the Youth-Nex Conference, Charlottesville, VA) |
At the 2012 Youth-Nex conference at the University of Virginia, Dr. Charles Smith had the opportunity to show the important role that afterschool programs can play in engaging families to support middle school transitions. |
10/18/2012 |
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From Soft Skills to Hard Data: Measuring Youth Program Outcomes |
Everyone who runs a youth program believes in their hearts that their program helps kids – but in their heads, they know they need convincing data to prove it. This guide from the Forum for Youth Investment – From Soft Skills to Hard Data: Measuring Youth Program Outcomes – updated from 2011, is here to help them get it. |
1/16/2014 |
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Making AfterSchool Work for High School Youth |
In August 2008, the Lansing School District contracted with the Weikart Center to develop a one-year intervention that would dramatically improve management capacity, the quality of instruction at the point of service, and ultimately, attendance by high school aged youth. |
1/1/2010 |
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Making Quality a Full-Time Job |
How one of the country's largest YMCAs is expanding efforts to improve services to kids. |
7/31/2012 |
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Moving the Needle on "Moving the Needle" |
Next stage technical guidance for performance-based accountability systems in the expanded learning field with a focus on performance levels for the quality of instructional services. |
12/1/2013 |
