Afterschool Has Grown Up.
As part of our commitment to quality Afterschool programs, the Allegheny Partners for Out-of-School Time (APOST) and the Greater Pittsburgh Afterschool Peer Network (GPAPN) have adopted the statewide standards as put forth by the Pennsylvania Statewide Afterschool Youth Development Network’s “What We Deserve: A Statement of Quality in Afterschool."
To learn more, read the Quality Guiding Principles.
APOST has also developed a Quality Self-Assessment (APOST QSA). The purpose of the APOST QSA is to help all out-of-school time staff understand that providing high quality services known to promote student development is a continuous process. As such, the APOST QSA is as a resource for out-of-school time programs in Allegheny County that serve youth of all ages. Programs should use the self-assessment to identify current weaknesses and strengths in providing high quality afterschool services to youth participants.
Click here for the APOST Quality Self-Assessment (QSA).
The PSAYDN Discussion Guide works in tandem with The APOST Quality Self-Assessment (QSA) to help out-of-school time programs identify specific areas that need to be strengthened in order to provide high quality services to youth. The PSAYDN Discussion Guide will help to facilitate meaningful, solution-based conversation with staff members to increase the likelihood that a continuous quality improvement process is in place to best serve children, youth, families and communities.
Click here to view the PSAYDN Discussion Guide.
APOST Best Practices Series
This is exciting stuff! The APOST community has completed its first set of “Best Practices in the Focus Areas!” Thanks to the hard work and knowledge of our local OST providers, various community-based organizations and a national expert reviewer, APOST now has a simplistic set of ACTIONS (not to be confused with objectives or learning outcomes) that providers, families, school districts and all others interested can view and understand just what youth will participate in when attending an OST program which defines itself as “Career Development.”
Click here to view the Best Practices in Career Development.
Next up: Best Practices in “Service Learning.”
To learn more about the goal and purpose of the APOST Best Practices Series, click here.
The National Institute of Out-Of-School Time (NIOST) Afterschool Program Assessment System (APAS) and Afterschool Quality: The Process of Program Improvement (ASQ)
The Afterschool Program Assessment System (APAS) helps afterschool programs improve their program quality and reach their desired outcomes for children and youth. APAS is one of the only assessment systems available that helps afterschool programs link quality and youth outcomes together in a comprehensive, flexible and integrated fashion. APAS includes several measurement tools —the Survey of Afterschool Youth Outcomes (SAYO) completed by staff and teachers, the new SAYO Youth survey and the Assessing Afterschool Program Practices Tool (APT). Click here to learn more about the NIOST APAS.
The National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) Introduces the New After-School Quality: The Process of Program Improvement (ASQ) - a guide for facilitating a five-step, team-based approach to improving program quality.
ASQ was originally developed in the early 1990s as the continuous improvement process for afterschool programs seeking NAA accreditation and has been used extensively in the field for over 20 years. We recently updated the guide to be used with any quality rating tool (i.e. APT, YPQA or SACERS). In addition to guiding programs through the steps of program improvement, ASQ can be used by individual programs working towards COA accreditation or participating in state quality rating system work.
The ASQ process documents are now online for ease of use and flexibility.
ASQ: the Process of Program Improvement includes:
• the ASQ guide. This 48-page guide walks you through the five-steps that you will undertake at your program.
• customizable sample agendas, letters, meeting guides, questionnaires, and tips for implementing and supporting ASQ.
• a three year subscription to all the online documents that support the ASQ process.
For additional details, or to purchase the ASQ, click here
NIOST has also developed a set of nationally recognized Core Competencies. Please click here for the NIOST Core Competencies.
The Global Learning in Afterschool Self-Assessment Tool
The Global Learning in Afterschool Self-Assessment Tool is a resource created by Asia Society’s Partnership for Global Learning, developed with the New York State Afterschool Network (NYSAN) and in collaboration with afterschool partners, to assess and improve the programs’ capacities to help build the global competence of youth. The tool is meant to be used in conjunction with other quality tools to help programs focus on how to create or improve the conditions necessary for successful global learning within a high-quality program. To download a free copy of the tool click here.
Afterschool Youth Outcomes Inventory
A comprehensive tool for afterschool practitioners to use in assessing and articulating their programs' impact on youth.The Inventory represents a collective effort to identify a full realm of outcomes for children and youth and present these outcomes in clear language. Programs can use the Inventory to communicate their impact to a variety of stakeholders as well as to more readily identify and measure this positive impact. Click here to download.
Assessing Staff Relationships for Better Out-Of-School Time Programs
Staff members play a critical role in out-of-school time programs, and increasing attention is being paid to assessing how staff members get along and work with each other as an indicator of program quality. This new Child Trends brief provides an overview of staff relationships; suggestions for how to incorporate relationship-building as a component of standard practice; and helpful tools to assess staff relationships. Click here to download.
Assessing Stress in Children and Youth: A Guide for Out-of-School Time Program Practitioners
This brief identifies characteristics of youth who may be particularly vulnerable to stress; provides two scales to ease stress among adolescents; and includes tips and resources for helping youth deal with stress. From Child Trends. Click here to download.
Local Best Practices - Doing Our Best
Here are several amazing examples of great programs doing great work in afterschool. If you have a best practice story to share, please click here to tell us how you are Doing YOUR Best.
Hip-Hop On L.O.C.K. uses technology to help transform youth
As we move deeper and deeper into the 21st century our world is getting smaller and smaller. Through the technology we have today you can be face-to-face video chatting with someone in China with a few clicks of a mouse. These technologies are the ones that our youth are growing up with and are using practically from birth.
With that being said, youth today do not typically learn through the traditional methods of reading and writing but rather through hands on experiences and engagement through the technology they already are so enthralled with. By bringing programming to the Pittsburgh community such as Hip-Hop On L.O.C.K., we are providing the opportunities to supplement what is being taught in school with quality, meaningful hands-on experiences that the youth, and the community for that matter, will remember and will surely learn from. Thus, we begin to make the vital connections that are necessary to ensure not only our community but also our country’s continued success.
Through the programming that Hip-Hop On L.O.C.K. provides, we are amazed at the transformation you see in not only youth, but also adults through engagement in this hands-on form of education. Having served over 700 youth since our inception in 2007, we have experienced seeing some of you might describe as the most rhythmically challenged person transform into a whole different being that can design some of the most intelligent, thought provoking rhymes some may have ever heard. By giving our communities these tools and allowing them to make the decision on how they want to utilize that knowledge to form a mock record label in which they each hold an executive position and can make real-life decisions to ultimately make an end product that is meaningful and fulfilling to them we are instilling the 4 values that Hip-Hop On L.O.C.K. holds most important, including Leadership development, Organizational skills, Cooperative economics and Knowledge of the music business.
For more information on Hip-Hop On L.O.C.K. and the programming we offer, please visit www.hiphoponlock.org, or you can find us on Facebook at The Hip Hop On L.O.C.K. Project or on Twitter at HHOLProject.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Western PA and Schools Collaborate on OST Professional Development
In Pittsburgh, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania (BGCWPA) collaborates with local school districts to offer afterschool standards-aligned academic skill improvement tutoring for youth ages 5-18. Students have the opportunity to explore career pathways, develop portfolios and acquire workplace skills through internships and on-the-job training in retail settings. School district employees are hired as instructors for the OST BGCWPA programs and they participate in professional development seminars in partnership with: the Pennsylvania Department of Education (21stCCLC); Three Rivers Best Practices & Strategies; Workforce Investment Board; Pittsburgh Partnership; YouthWorks, Inc.; United Way of Allegheny County;
Duquesne University; and Carnegie Mellon Robotics Academy. The BGCWPA trainings are held four to five times a year. A professional staff of 22 Pennsylvania certified teachers along with the 35 BGCWPA staff members offer 7,500 youth in Allegheny County opportunities to excel in academics and life skill development. The diverse partnership infrastructure and training maximize opportunities for all stakeholders.
Emanuel Christian Afterschool Program
Bethany Patton is one of our success stories. She began in the Emanuel Christian Afterschool program as a volunteer from the Langley High School National Honor Society. Later, she conducted observations and volunteer hours in our preschool and afterschool program while attending Carlow University. In December 2009, Bethany graduated Cum Laude from Carlow with a Bachelor of Arts in Education. She is certified in Elementary, Special, and Early Childhood education. She received the Leadership in Education Award, one of three outstanding education awards from Carlow.
While attending Carlow, she served as the President of the Resident Student Association and Kappa Delta Epsilon, and was a member of SPiRiT. While student teaching at Stevens Elementary, in the third grade, Autistic Support, and Life Skills classroom, she still managed to work in our after-school program full-time. This year she is a substitute teacher for the Pittsburgh Public Schools at Schaeffer Primary, K-3. She is now our assistant director involved in the planning and implementation of our program.
Our afterschool program is located in the Elliott Community in the west end of Pittsburgh. We work with students from Stevens K-8, Propel Montour, Phillips K-5, and Carmalt K-5. We are now a licensed center that collaborates with the Kiwanis K-Kids Club, Creative Arts and Renewal Effort under the Pittsburgh Weed and Seed program, Pittsburgh Public School Partnership, and Keystone Stars. Bethany does a great job of coordinating all of those efforts. Welcome to the after-school field, Bethany!
Rankin Christian Center
So What! Sew What ….about Sewing
The Rankin Christian Center has a program in its third year that has ignited creative interest and by surprise exploded into a huge success. Who would have imagined that in today’s world of computers and technology that our kids would want to learn how to sew? Sounds like a program from the 50’s.
On a whim, one of the senior citizens from our “Seniors on the Move” program offered to come out for a few afternoons with her sewing machine to give the kids a sewing presentation. Little did she know how this would snowball into a major part of the Next Level Learning plus Adventures after-school program. After seeing the reaction of such excitement in the children, program coordinator Mrs. Donna Thomas, found she was stealing every free moment in her day practicing her newfound talent on her new sewing machine. As her skills grew, enthusiasm spread to other staff members and best of all to the kids. Faced with a challenge of equipment and supply needs, Mrs. Thomas somehow found a way to meet those challenges through donated machines and fabrics.
There’s never a loss for project ideas, one of the favorites being the Pittsburgh Steelers pillows. Drawstring beach bags and denim purses made from the students old blue jeans are some other favorites. Steelers headbands will be a new item this year.
It’s amazing how this somewhat accidental program has sparked interest, promoted learning, skill development, collaboration and allowed the youth to feel a real sense of ownership while working to literally build it from the ground up.
Sew What…..Our Children’s Minds….That’s What!!!
Children's Museum of Pittsburgh's YouthALIVE! Summer VolunTEENS
This past summer, Children's Museum of Pittsburgh's teenage volunteer program, VolunTEENS, along with additional teenagers from the Pittsburgh region, had the opportunity to participate in a program called theoneminutesjr, sponsored by UNICEF and The OneMinutesJr. Foundation and funded by the The Pittsburgh Foundation. In five days, each teenager is taught the basics of filmmaking, and is given support in brainstorming, planning, directing, filming and editing a one-minute film. The topic this year was "Identity". The mix of teenagers represented a diversity of backgrounds, families, ages (12-18), and neighborhoods, and thus brought greatly varied concepts of how they understood their own identities.
At first many of the teens were intimidated. They were shown other oneminute films from around the world- Malaysia, Sudan, Ireland. Many didn't believe that they could make anything "that good". But after a lot of encouragement and brainstorming, and a little inherent, healthy peer pressure, the kids pushed themselves to create unique and amazing pieces.
One participant had been transplanted to Pittsburgh just recently. For most of the week he was reserved and minimally responsive. However, when he learned how to edit his film, he became so excited about the process it was all he wanted to work on. Another participant knew little of her ethnic origins until she was stumped on developing a plot line. She decided to explore her distinct family history, and her film became a narrative, tracing her ancestors back seven generations.
The program required a tireless commitment to encouraging those youth who did not yet believe they were capable of creating anything noteworthy. Yet, upon providing them with the tools, the means, a directive, and an expectation, we saw each of them flourish.
You can watch the Pittsburgh 2010 oneminutesjr.videos here:
http://www.pittsburghkids.org/Templates/CMP_Level3_List.aspx?CID=394&SECID=2&MENUID=19
Wireless Neighborhoods Chess Project
