How to build a successful after school program

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• How to build a successful after school program
• Common characteristics from programs around the
  state

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Begin at the Beginning

• A brief look at ASES Universal Program
  Requirements

• Program Hours- All programs must
• Begin immediately upon the conclusion of the
  regular school day
• Operate a minimum of 15 hours per week
• Remain open at least until 600 PM on every
  regular school day

• Early Release Policy
• Programs must develop a reasonable early daily
  release policy for participating students

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A brief look at ASES Universal Program
Requirements

• Snack
• Programs must provide a daily, nutritious snack
  that meets the guidelines outlined in Education
  Code Section 49430

• Program Elements
• Educational and Literacy Component that includes
  tutoring/ homework assistance in the core
  subjects (language arts, math, history/social
  science, etc.)
• Educational Enrichment Component that offers
  students engaging activities in a variety of
  areas (fine arts, physical activity, career
  technical education, prevention strategies, etc.)

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A brief look at ASES Universal Program
Requirements

• Staffing Requirements
• Staff members who directly supervise pupils must
  meet the minimum qualifications for an
  instructional aide, pursuant to the LEAs
  policies
• Student to staff ratio cannot exceed 201
• Staff and volunteers are subject to the health
  screening and fingerprint clearance requirements
  in current law and LEA policy.

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Critical Issue 1 Collaboration

• Engage entire school community to create child
  centered programming
• Common agreement about programs purpose
• Learn to speak the schools language
• STAR, ADA, CSTs, content standards

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Critical Issue 1 Collaboration

• Create a shared responsibility for program
  quality and student success
• Express the need to access the districts
  professional development opportunities

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Program Vision

• A vision that clarifies the programs purpose and
  ignites passion
• Does your vision inspire action and fuel passion?
• Is your vision inclusive of all stakeholders
  (including school partners)?
• Dont forget the students.
• Does it clarify your direction and instill
  commitment?

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Staff Training

• Every staff member should know and be able to
  explain their programs vision and mission
• Every staff member should be familiar with the
  schools reading and math adoption
• Any staff training must be relevant, empowering,
  and readily applicable to your program
• Arrange for after school staff to attend regular
  day staff development opportunities

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Core training topics critical to program success

• Homework and tutoring approaches
• Youth development
• Behavior Management
• Parent involvement
• Program policies and procedures

• Vision/Mission
• Roles and responsibilities
• Communication and team building
• Literacy alignment and approaches
• Emergency preparedness
• Diversity training

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Successful Program Design The Basics

• Whats in a Name?
• Students (particularly in middle school) will
  decide to attend your program based on their
  first impression.
• Calling your middle school program Homework
  Club may not attract as many students as you
  would like.
• Dont know what to call your program?
• Call it the Club Anonymous for a week and hold
  a contest for the students to name it.

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Successful Program Design The Basics

• School staff and student input in design
• Program must relate to vision and mission
• Surveys (potential services, establish needs)
• Parents, Teachers, Students, Staff
• Consistent Daily schedule
• Shared space agreements with schools

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More Basics

• Effective, efficient parent/program communication
  system
• Clear, organized emergency procedures plan
• Standard forms Field trip, early release,
  parallel program participation, health
  information, emergency card, registration

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Every Successful Program

• Aligns activities to state and district
  academic content standards.
• Whether they know it or not
• Principals sleep better at night knowing that
  after school activities are aligned with
  standards and supporting the work of the regular
  day staff.

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Operational Issue 2 Support the Regular Day

• Programs should expand rather than extend the
  school day
• Dont want to unteach whats been done during
  the day
• Work closely with regular day staff to align
  with, reinforce and go beyond regular instruction
• Use after school extension activities included
  with the adopted curriculum

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Operational Issue 2 Support the Regular Day

• Tutoring and/or homework assistance
• Have copies of the pacing calendars in use at the
  site
• Find out when big assignments (research papers,
  etc.) are given out
• Meet with regular day teachers to learn specific
  academic needs of students in program

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The best way to support the regular day is not to
simply align activities to curriculum standards
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The best way to support the regular day is to
align activities to curriculum standards and be
able to tell people about it.
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You dont have to know and address every specific
standard

• Look at the content standards for the grade
  levels you serve and find similar skills.
• Look for the broader skills that are addressed in
  the standards
• Critical thinking (analyze, classify, defend,
  etc.)
• Basic skills (writing, speaking, measuring, etc.)

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For example...

• Content Standard
• Math
• Students will measure various objects using a
  ruler.
• Science
• Students will classify different plants and
  indicate characteristics on a matrix.

• Similarities
• Measuring items
• Sorting items based on different characteristics

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A Standards Aligned Activity

• 8th grade Social Science
• Students will analyze data from major battles of
  the Civil War.
• Skills addressed in standard
• Data manipulation
• Analysis of data from various sources

An after school activity does NOT have to include
students looking at civil war data to address
this standard (theyre probably doing this during
the regular day).
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The Activity

• Students may analyze a list of sports statistics,
  stereo or computer performance statistics, or
  nutrition statistics and report them on a matrix.
  
• Students can then sort the data and write a brief
  report on the best or worst of the list.

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• Personalize the activity
• Have students analyze data related to products
  theyre interested in buying.
• Cars, Stereos, Games, etc.
• Remember, the skill is the analysis of data,
  regardless of the source.

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Reading/Writing Activity for Grades 4-6

• How much is that paragraph worth?
• Assign a dollar or point value to the size of
  words in a paragraph
• I or a 1 point or cent
• The 3 points or cents 1 point per letter
• Students write a story or paragraph and add up
  the value of their writing.
• Students may use dictionaries or a thesaurus to
  look up high value words.
• Students must use vocabulary that makes sense in
  the story, but must know what the words mean.

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Connections to Reading/Language Arts Standards

• The previous activity addresses the following
• Reading
• 1.0 Word Analysis and Vocabulary Development
• 2.0 Reading Comprehension (begin to use a
  dictionary and thesaurus)
• Writing
• 1.0 Writing Strategies
• Written English Language Conventions
• 1.0 Sentence Structure, Grammar, Punctuation,
• Capitalization, and Spelling

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Critical Issue 3 Evaluation

• Answer these questions first
• What are we responsible for?
• How do we collect data?
• How do we analyze the data?

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Student Attendance and Academic Data Collection

• Establish clear attendance policies and record
  keeping
• Adhere to policy, stay consistent
• Keep accurate attendance records from the start.
• Have academic data for your students handy (when
  possible)
• STAR scores
• Grades in the regular day program

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Student Attendance and Academic Data Collection

• School staff and program staff should be partners
  in this
• Each site should have a go to person
• Coordinate program data collection
• Make sure that the school receives necessary data
  so they can meet their grant requirements
• Make sure that you receive necessary data from
  the schools

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Use data to help tell your story

• Anecdotes about how your program does good things
  for students are a critical part of how you can
  show your programs success.
• But
• Using data along with anecdotes to show your
  programs success will appeal to a variety of
  stakeholders and truly highlight the good things
  happening in your program.

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Use data to help tell your story

• To show that your program has had an impact on
  the regular day program, consider
• Regular day attendance
• Are students in the program attending school more
  regularly than before?
• Academics
• Are students in the program completing more
  homework assignments than before?
• Are their grades improving?
• How are they performing on the STAR test?

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Use data to help tell your story

• Social/Emotional Aspects
• Are students in the program participating in
  class more than before?
• Are they making better choices?
• Do they have a better opinion of school?

Survey students and after school staff about
these issues, and then look at the data validate
your findings.
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Its a two way street

• A positive, collaborative relationship with
  schools can be achieved when both sides see the
  value
• What unique things can my program offer in
  support of the school meeting its goals for our
  students?
• What things can the school offer to support our
  program meeting its goals?

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• Schools and after school programs must have a
  critical conversation
• What is the schools vision about efforts to
  increase student achievement?
• How does the after school program fit into this
  vision?
• After school programs that can show specifically
  how they support the needs of a variety of
  students within a school and how they help the
  school realize its vision can expect a more
  positive relationship with their school.

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How does your program serve

• Student 1
• Identified Attention Deficit Disorder
• Failing in Math and Science
• Discipline referrals weekly
• Not well connected to regular day staff members

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How does your program serve

• Student 2
• Popular student
• Average in all academic areas
• Standout in physical activities
• Usually spends 2 hours per day home alone after
  school

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How does your program serve

• Student 3
• Designated special education
• Limited English proficient
• Clustered with many like students throughout
  the day
• Difficulty processing oral directions
• 2-3 grades behind in reading level

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QUESTIONS?
Frank Pisi California Department of
Education [phone] fpisi_at_cde.ca.gov