Publications & Reports

The Central Valley Afterschool Foundation is your resource for publications and reports related to afterschool programming.  Over the next several months we will provide publications and information to make your job easier. 

Local reports

Afterschool Programs in the Central Valley Benefit Children and Youth: Evaluation Results from the 2006-2007 School Year: This report examines the benefits that afterschool programs provide children and youth in the Central Valley. Using data collected from the evaluations of 80 afterschool program sites in the region for the 2006-2007 school year, this report documents the positive gains made by students participating in afterschool programs, including improved attendance during the regular school day, progress mastering English for students learning the language and improved test scores.

Afterschool Programs in the Central Valley - Addressing the Needs of Our Youth: Too many children in California’s Central Valley have no safe, supervised activities after the school day ends. The implementation of Proposition 49 vastly expanded the availability of afterschool programming throughout the state. In the Central Valley however, there is still an incredible unmet need for afterschool programs with only 5-11% of children and youth in the region being served by programs.

American Idol Gives Back to Goshen! Save the Children was chosen as one of the charities for the second annual "Idol Gives Back" which raised $76 million last year. Save the Children chose Goshen Elementary in Tulare County, where it sponsors an after-school literacy, nutrition and physical activity program.

Put a Little In, Walk a Little Off! Centennial Elementary’s After School Program Learns the Pizza Business while Navelencia Middle School promotes a 100 Mile Club. Fresno County Afterschool Programs are stepping outside the box, creating exciting new activities for kids!

K-12 Education

Afterschool Programs: Helping Kids Succeed in Rural America: Investing in afterschool programs helps children of rural communities break out of the cycle of poverty and creates opportunities for at-risk youth. In areas where prospects and resources are limited, afterschool programs are often the only source of supplemental enrichment in literacy, nutrition education, technology, and preparation for college exams.

Gaining a Voice After School: Why After-School Programs Are a Powerful Resource for English Language Learners: "Research on language acquisition confirms what all language-learners know from experience: practice is key," Claudia Weisburd explores the unique challenges of English-language learners in the American school system.

Rural After-school Programs: Meeting the Needs of At-risk Youth and Their Families: Extant research has focused on out-of-school time among urban and suburban youth, yet there remains scant information on rural low-income youth and their families. This study examines the salience of after-school programs for rural youth. Using an ecological framework, we assess changes in youth behavior and skill acquisition based on reports from 47 youth attending after-school programs in two rural communities, along with their primary caregivers and teachers. Results indicate enhanced life skills and social behaviors among youth attendees. Implications for future research, programming, and policymaking are discussed.

Youth Work's Immigration Movement: The Boys & Girls Club of West Georgia, after witnessing a 30 percent increase in Latino participants in three years, offers free weekly Spanish classes for its workers. Girls Inc. of Alameda County, Calif., gives bilingual employees a salary bonus. In Seattle, Camp Fire USA's Central Puget Sound chapter partners with a national research organization to identify local immigrant populations and determine their needs. In these and other ways, more and more youth-serving agencies are plotting pro-active strategies to better serve the rising population of immigrant youth in their communities. Their efforts go beyond translating documents or providing a token bilingual staffer: They are working to recruit members of immigrant populations, establish a comfort level with them

Afterschool Advantage: Powerful New Learning Opportunities: The 21st-century outcomes promoted by our framework may provide a collaborative tool for both groups to work together in promoting the workforce and life skills that today’s young people need to be successful global citizens and workers. While the task of creating a new framework for 21st-century learning may appear daunting, educators of the regular school day need not face this challenge alone. When contemplating an education that encompasses critical thinking, problem solving, communications skills, global awareness, business and financial literacy, and leadership skills, there are many institutions in the community working to instill these attributes in our young people. Afterschool programs must be among them. Indeed, our approach to education must increasingly reflect the way today’s students learn and interact — 24/7.

Research in Elementary Education

After School Programs in the 21st Century: Their Potential and What it Takes to Achieve It: Harvard Family Research Project’s (HFRP) Issues and Opportunities in Out-of-School Time Evaluation briefs highlight current research and evaluation work in the out-ofschool time field. These documents draw on HFRP’s research work in out-of-school time to provide practitioners, funders, evaluators, and policymol programsakers with information to help them in their work. This brief looks at 10 years of research on after scho and finds implications for the future of the after school field.

The Learning Season: The Untapped Power of Summer to Advance Student Achievement: The Nellie May Education Foundation's research suggests that schools should not bear primary responsibility for the gaps in our educational system. Other factors, nearly all of them related to the opportunities and experiences children have outside of school, in the community and their families, result in gaps in achievement-test scores. The report suggests that if we truly want all young people to learn and develop well, we must pay close attention to a burgeoning body of research pointing to the critical importance of summer opportunities.

After-School Programs and High School Success: Analysis of Post-Program Educational Patterns of Former Middle-Grades TASC Participants: Does participation in a The After-School Corporation (TASC) program in the middle grades promote the development of protective factors that result in higher levels of school engagement and academic progress and in lower levels of delinquent behavior than are characteristic of similar students who do not participate in TASC programs? A study funded by the C.S. Mott Foundation examines the high school performance of New York City students who participated in afterschool programs sponsored by TASC.

Serving Older Youth

Putting It All Together: Guiding Principals for Quality After-School Programs Serving Preteens: Many preteens have limited access to high-quality after-school programs. This study, funded by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health, found that while organizational capacity, the needs f the youth served and available resources all help determine the ability of a program to adequately serve young adolescents, the six "guiding principles" identified in the report are "essential for program quality" and positive results.

Teaching Youths to Invest in Themselves: Savings Requirements, matched funds, and education build foundation for adulthood. A growing movement is working to address this challenge through programs that encourage low-income youth and their families to save money and build wealth.

Aged Out of Afterschool: As youth workers, we face similar challenges when it comes to keeping older teens enrolled in our programs. By the time our best and brightest youth reach the 10th, 11th or 12th grades, many of them stop showing up. Steve Mariotti of the National Federation for Teaching Entrepeneurship explains why older youth leave afterschool programs.

Teen Centers, Complete with Teens: So you’re going to create a safe teen center in your town, and teens are actually going to hang out there? Yeah, right. Deborah Huso explains how it's done.

Afterschool for Older Youth: The American Youth Policy Forum investigates the benefits of afterschool programs for older youth, including opportunities for leadership and mentoring. Out of school time programs can provide situations where young people are subject to high expectations by staff, a feeling students may not encounter during the school day.

Meeting the High School Challenge: Making After-School Work for Older Students: The After School Corporation has developed three promising high school afterschool programmatic models. This report describes these program models; provides examples; examines the situations in which they work best; and warns of possible pitfalls. It reflects the wisdom accrued over nine years by TASC and its CBO high school partners, their staffs, school leaders and youth.

Staff Recruitment & Development

The TASC of Afterschool Training: TASC has demonstrated not only how to fund and provide youth worker training for scores of agencies, but also how to persuade staff, from novices to veterans, to attend. Every coordinator at the program sites and more than three-quarters of the front-line staff attended training over the course of a recent year, according to an evaluation of TASC released in November.

This Just In: Good Help is Hard to Find: Martha Nichols describes the looming workforce crisis; the cause and effect of a booming field with little financial resources and ample competition.

Preparing Staff to Work with Immigrant Youth: provides the context of the immigrant youth experience and practical tips for hiring, developing and retainng staff to work with this population.  Youth organizations have both an opportunity and a responsibility to encourage and support the healthy development of the growing numbers of immigrant youth.   This publication is based on hands-on experience by national and local youth organizations who do this work effectively. 

Pre-Employment Screening – What You Need to Know: Employment screening advice from a security professional. Learn what you need to know to ensure a safe environment for staff and clients.

Fund Development

Making the Match: Finding Funding for Afterschool Education and Safety Programs: A guide for school and community leaders who are ASES grantees, partners, program directors, and regional leads. It aims to help them meet the ASES Program matching requirement and, more generally, secure adequate funding. This guide is filled with practical information and guidance on how to attract and work with school and community partners; how to adopt a strategic financing approach; where to find funding, beginning with sources closest to home; and how to secure funding. Making the Match outlines four broad strategies for securing cash and in-kind resources to support ASES programs, and it highlights options for working with public- and private-sector partners to implement these approaches successfully. The guide offers examples of how these funding sources and financing strategies are being used to support after school programs in California communities. It also provides user-friendly tools to help with planning and accessing public- and private-sector funding.