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Program Plan
Using the Five Key Components of Affective Afterschools [Huang & Dietel (2011)]

GOALS (desired outcomes)

o Setting goals is important and essential for affective afterschool programs.
o Goals must be:

Clear, rigorous, and supported by everyone in the program (staff, students,

students parents and families, etc.) in structure and content

o Main Findings about GOALS in Huang & Dietel:

Goals were clearly defined and written down at the afterschool program

The design of the afterschool programs curriculum and its practices lined
up with their goals

Achievement focused programs were more structured, emphasized

improvement of academic performance, and kept a more consistent
linkage with the students schools

Goals had a particular emphasis (science, homework support, etc.)

o Example of My Program:

A few of my program goals would include: 1. Focus on academic

achievement (specifically homework), 2. Implement fun yet meaningful
activities (such as project-based learning), and 3. Strive to develop
initiative (intrinsic motivation)
1. Focus on academic achievement. As stated above and in Huang
and Dietel (2011), high quality programs included goals that had a
specific emphasis. In this case, placing emphasis on homework
will help the students finish their assignments, understand their
assignments, and will ultimately work towards increasing
academic achievement. This should really be the ultimate goal for
all ASPs because of their advantages for youth who need extra
academic support outside of the school day. As also stated in
Huang and Dietel, this type of goal will also allow for more
alignment between the program and the school, because

communication with teachers about homework would be

consistent.
o Reference: Huang, D. & Dietel, R. (2011). Making afterschool
programs better. National Center for Research on Evaluation,
Standards and Student Testing (CRESST), UCLA.

2. Implement fun yet meaningful activities. Providing the students

with activities that are fun, and at the same time, meaningful
towards their academics will allow the students to learn without
really knowing it. Noam discusses in his article the importance of
project-based learning. He states that project-based tasks could
bridge the school day and the after school program, and also link to
curricular goals such as math, reading, and writing. Having longerterm project tasks will also allow the students to build mastery of
specific skills.
o Reference: Noam, Gil G. Learning with excitement:
Bridging school and after-school worlds and project-based
learning (cited reference not listed on syllabus, so year and
source are unknown)
3. Strive to develop initiative. Having students develop their own
initiative is very important. Initiative is composed of the ability to
be motivated from within to direct attention and effort toward a
challenging goal (Larson, 2000). In his article, Larson expresses
that initiative involves intrinsic motivation, the experience of
wanting to be doing an activity and being invested in it. To
develop initiative, these students have to be interested in what they
are doing. To achieve this in my program, students would have to
be constantly involved in deciding which activities to perform, and
provide the staff with feedback about their feelings and thoughts
about the specific activities.
o Reference: Larson, R. W. (2000). Towards a psychology of
positive youth development. American Psychologist, 55, 170183.

I would develop and share these goals with afterschool program staff,
teachers, students, parents, and researchers. I am including a wide variety
of people to ensure the goals are supported by everyone involved directly
and indirectly in the afterschool program. The goals would be shared in
various ways, such as through email, or flyers. My goals would be written
and posted in every room of the afterschool program to ensure and remind
all staff and students. I would make sure staff was working toward these
goals by conducting assessments throughout the year, about every three
months. To measure progress toward these goals, I would also conduct
assessments that would measure if my program was early, developing, or
mature, similar to the LIAS assessment tool.

LEADERSHIP
o Leaders in afterschool programs must have plenty of experience in the field, and
share decision-making with the rest of their staff members across afterschool
goals, programs, and evaluation.
o Main findings about LEADERSHIP in Huang & Dietel:

Program mission, vision statement, and goals were clearly articulated

Decentralized decision-making, and used a bottoms-up approach

Trusted staff with curriculum and instruction

Encouraged a positive team relationship, frequent communication, and

staff problem-solving skills

o Example of My Program:

My program would include staff leaders who have a genuine interest and
passion in improving afterschool programs. There is always room for
improvement, so my leaders would emphasize this importance. My leaders
will also be supportive of each staff member and offer guidance and
opportunities for them to voice their own opinions. In the Mott Foundation
(2009) article, three researched-based ideas that would contribute well to
my program are: promotes meaningful engagement and leadership of
participants, demonstrates positive work and team ethic, and having the
ability to promote the professional growth and development of program

staff. Promoting meaningful engagement and leadership includes: using

strong facilitation skills to encourage participation, engages participants in
decision-making and leadership opportunities, and engages participants in
opportunities to provide service to others and improve the community.
Demonstrating positive work and team ethic include: supports colleagues
and shares in staff duties, participates in required meetings, works
collaboratively with peers, shares program-related information and shares
in collective tasks. Promoting professional growth and development of
program staff includes implementing professional development plans and
supporting learning goals that will advance staff skills, provide useful
information and formal feedback to staff related to professional
development goals and activities, and works with staff to assess the
effectiveness of professional development activities and how they might
be improved. These three pieces of evidence will help ensure that my
program is of high quality and is effective.

Reference: Charles Stewart Mott Foundation (2009). Core

Competencies for Afterschool Educators.

STAFF
o Staff of afterschool programs is important because they are considered role
models for students, where students look up to them, which encourages good
behavior, attendance, work and study habits, and positive attitudes towards
learning.
o Main Findings about STAFF in Huang & Dietel:

High education levels (Bachelors or Masters degrees)

Experience in afterschool programs

Lower turnover of staff members

Positive relationships and interactions between staff and students

Professional development opportunities were for helping students with

math and reading, applying state standards to the curriculum, and
connecting/aligning with the day school

o Example of My Program:

My program would include staff that had experience in afterschool

settings. At the very least, my staff needs to have experience working with
children. They need to provide a statement of responsibility and intent to
show and prove to me that they will be professional, caring employees
while working with the students. Because afterschool programs are so
important and have a lot of potential for academic achievement, my staff
needs to be serious about setting and working toward program goals. In
the Mott (2009) article, it states a few core competencies that will help my
program become effective and of high quality. First, the ability to relate to
and work well with diverse children and youth is very important. This
competency can be achieved through previous experience with afterschool
programs, and also by working with children in an academic environment.
Another core capability is the commitment to ones own learning, skill
building and professionalism on the job. This can relate to main finding in
Huang and Dietel of high education levels of staff in effective programs.
To further build on their skills as a staff member, achieving higher
education levels and goals will provide my program with a staff member
who is knowledgeable, devoted, and has a passion for children and their
lives as learners. One other core competency is the ability to facilitate
participants learning of new knowledge and skills. In my program, staff
would use this competency to support a program environment that is
learner-centered by directing workshops and activities that are motivating,
challenging, and engaging for the students. Together, these core
competencies of my staff will ensure that my program is successful.

Reference: Charles Stewart Mott Foundation (2009). Core

Competencies for Afterschool Educators.

PROGRAM

o The importance of this component is that the structure and overall quality of the
program will affect the students outcomes. It says in Huang and Dietel that in
affective programs, they include similar and different curriculum to the school,
with a various types of activities. These findings indicate that students received

sufficient time in after school programs to focus on and practice learning and
skills. Students seemed to be engaged and attentive, and enjoying the variety of
activities. The article also notes that these programs gave considerable time for
recreational activities and crafts, which kept them engaged while stimulating
other parts of their brains.
o Main findings about PROGRAM in Huang & Dietel:

Programs utilized unique and innovative strategies to keep students

engaged, placing a specific emphasis on making learning fun

Parents reported being very pleased with the program regarding their
childs improved behavior and attitudes, and the way the program
functioned. The parents were also happy with how the staff treated and
cared about their children, and how they handled the childrens behavior
problems quickly.

Programs encouraged parent involvement

Field trips took place to increase students learning and motivation

o Example of My Program:

My program will reflect my goals. Some key activities and curriculum

focus areas that I will be integrating include: homework time and support,
stimulating activities, and activities that influence and encourage
engagement and motivation. Homework time and support ties in with my
goal of focusing on academic achievement, stimulating activities ties in
with my goal of implementing fun yet meaningful activities, and activities
that encourage engagement/motivation ties in with my goal of having the
students develop initiative. Homework time and support will mostly align
with the school day, by having the students that are in the same class sit
together at a group table, and work on the same assignment, all while
being able to ask questions and discuss the assignment among the group to
promote working together as a team. Some ways in which I will keep the
students engaged is through a behavior plan and field trips. Implementing
a behavior plan will allow the staff to correct student behaviors, so that
they are listening and participating throughout the day. This connects to

Huang and Dietels finding mentioned above of how parents were satisfied
about how staff handled and improved their childs behavior and attitude.
Field trips will allow the students to enter and explore new environments,
which will keep them engaged (for example, a field trip to an art museum
or aquarium). This also connects to the Huang and Dietel articles main
finding of field trips taking place to enhance learning and motivation in
the students.

Sample Daily Schedule: 3:00-4:00pm students will work on

homework for one hour (everyday); 4:00-5:00pm students will
continue working on a project they have begun; 5:00-6:00pm
students do sometime outside of the classroom, such as a mini trip
to a park down the street or a physical, motivating activity

References: Huang, D. & Dietel, R. (2011). Making afterschool

programs better. National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards
and Student Testing (CRESST), UCLA.

EVALUATION
o Evaluation is important because it measures program performance, and makes
continuous developments and improvements. Evaluation is also important for
receiving funding from agencies. Internal evaluation (evaluation by the programs
own staff or funding agency staff) is used to recognize program strengths and
weaknesses. External evaluation has high consequences, because the third party
can be deciding if the program should continue on or end, or if it should be
accredited or not.
o Main findings about EVALUATION in Huang & Dietel:

Internal AND external evaluations were conducted

External evaluation usually consisted of pre-post testing or classroom

evaluations, comparison groups, surveys, focus groups, observational
assessments, or a combination of these different procedures

Positive results from external evaluations

o Example of My Program:

Some key questions (that align with my goals and what my program is
trying to accomplish) which my evaluation will address include:

Are the students taking advantage of homework time and

support? Are they working together and collaborating in their
school day classroom groups? Are the students showing
improvements at school?

Are the students improving each week on their project-based

activities? Are they showing signs of mastery in the specific areas?
Does it look like they are having fun and enjoying what they are
learning?

Are the students participating and engaging in activities? Are the

students contributing to ideas of activities and suggesting new
activities that interest them? Are they showing any sign of intrinsic
motivation perhaps, does the staff see a difference in their level
of effort and motivation coming from within the students on their
own?

To measure the level of success of my program, many external evaluation

assessment tools are available for use such as the CA After School
Program Quality Self-Assessment Tool, the Youth Program Quality
Assessment, and the Out-Of-School Time Observation Instrument, which
are mentioned in the California Department of Education After School
Division and the California After School Network article (2014). I will
also have staff leaders hold weekly meetings with the staff to discuss
internal evaluations, such as using self-assessment tools, such as the LIAS
assessment tool. Staff will be required to be mindful and observe the
students pertaining to the programs goals, and report weekly on their
observations and findings.

Reference: California Department of Education After School

Division and the California After School Network (September,
2014). A Crosswalk between the quality standards for expanded
learning and program quality assessment tools.