Program Plan

Making Afterschool Programs Better (Huang and Dietel)

1. Goals
a. According to Huang and Dietel, setting goals and desired outcomes are the cornerstone
of afterschool program success. It is important for the program to come up with goals
and a structure for them to meet these goals. Additionally, it is important for the
program to recognize and allow the students to exercise their goals for the program,
giving them a voice.
b. Key Findings:
i. Successful programs should have clearly defined goals in a written plan.
ii. There curricular design and practices should align with their program goals.
iii. Goals of many high quality programs had a specific emphasis on things such as;
Homework, science, technology, etc.
c. My Personal Plan/ Examples: I have many attentions within this focus area. I want 1)
the students to have a program where they can be confident in their academic and
social growth; a place where they can expand their horizons in different aspects of life;
a place that offers new knowledge and practices of this newly learned knowledge.
i. According to the Larsen readings, having a program that challenges and
motivates the students externally but also aids in their development of intrinsic
motivation will help advance their growth academically. Additionally, there
needs to be a good and secure relationship between student and staff. So the
staff within the program needs to have a goal in developing solid relationships

with their students. This would help them know and understand each students
unique qualities and different needs.
ii. Having a place that aids toward educating students while expanding their
horizons is another important goal to have. Having a variety of activities that
engage not only the core academics such as STEM (Vandell), but also the
enrichment and recreational activities, will help the kids discover different
passions. It will also help students identify what they are struggling with in
academics and can work through it with the scaffolding of their teacher.
iii. Lastly, a program that offers opportunity for the students to learn new things
and build mastery on previously taught information through class lessons,
would be an effective aspiration. It is important to teach this material but then
to put their newly learned information into practice. They can do this by
providing different group activities so that they can collaboratively build off of
each others ideas. Other ways students could learn is through observation.
Doing some outdoor activities or even field trips so that the kids could be
actively engaged. This would help the students develop their own perspectives
and ideas on what is being observed.
d. Sources:
i. Huang, D. & Dietel, R. (2011). Making afterschool programs better. National
Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing (CRESST),
UCLA
ii. Vandell, D.L., Simzar, R., OCadiz, P., Hall, V., Karash, A. (2014).
The Power of Discovery: STEM 2013-2014 Report.

iii. Larson, R. W. Towards a Psychology of Positive Youth Development (2000).

American Psychologist, 55, 170-183. Web.
2. Leadership
a. According to Huang and Dietel, successful afterschool programs typically had managers
and directors that had a lot of experience in these programs. Also, there was good
communication between the leaders and staff on decision-making for program goals,
and evaluation.
b. Key Findings: The best programs had leaders who
i. articulated a clear program mission, vision statement, and goals
ii. Trusted in the knowledge and skill of the staff regarding their instruction and
curriculum
iii. provided all staff with professional development opportunities that improved
individual and team skills
iv. Leaders and staff maintained good relationships with the day school personnel
c. My Personal Plan/Examples: Having strong leadership within a program is vital in a
successful program. As a leader I would want to make sure that my staff was 1) highly
equipped and educated in how to be a positively effective teacher to his/her students.
2) My staff and the students would have a voice in the decision-making for things the
program can improve on. 3) make sure that the communication between my
afterschool program and the students school is clear and constant.
i. In order to make sure that my staff is highly educated and equipped to be a
positively effective teacher I will hold a monthly meeting that discusses different
ideas for the classroom. I could have guest speakers come out and discuss how
to properly teach certain subjects and engage their students.

ii. It is important that the staff and students of the program feel like they have a
voice in decision-making regarding the program. They should feel comfortable
and free to give any suggestions on ways to improve things within the program
or even share what they like about the program. I can do this by having a drop
box at the front desk with a notepad next to it where staff and students can
write their feedback. At the end of every week the staff and I will go through the
box and discuss what would work on improving the program.
iii. Communication between my program and the schools of each student is very
important. This will not be hard to track because there are a limited amount of
schools in the district that the students can attend. Being in constant
communication (via email) will help the staff at my program know exactly what
each student is learning and the techniques in which we are, so we could
support them in building mastery on those things.
d. Sources:
i. Larson, R. W. Towards a Psychology of Positive Youth Development (2000).
American Psychologist, 55, 170-183. Web.
ii. Huang, D. & Dietel, R. (2011). Making afterschool programs better. National
Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing (CRESST),
UCLA
3. Staff
a. According to Huang and Dietel, successful programs employed qualified staff and
created a collegial environment that supported the missions of their program. The
leaders of these programs were able to retain their staff because the staff felt
respected, supported, autonomous, and confident in their ability to reach their

students. Staff of these programs also created a positive learning environment with a
norm of high expectations.
b. Key Findings:
i. Staff generally had high education levels; a bachelors degree or higher.
ii. Staff had substantial afterschool experience of at least three years.
iii. The relationships between staff and student remained positive and supportive.
c. My Personal Plans/Examples: Having a solid and reliable staff is essential to the
programs success. I would ensure the high quality of my staff by 1) making sure those
who are employed have at least a bachelors degree in education, 2) staff should have
solid, positive relationships with their students, 3) Staff should also have at least 3
years of afterschool experience.
i. One of the qualifications of being a staff member means having a bachelors
degree in the education field. The staff having a good educational foundation on
teaching would be a large benefit when in the classroom. Expertise comes with
experience and having knowledge on teaching will help the teacher run an
effective classroom and would positively affect the students with an educated
teacher.
ii. Having prior afterschool experience would be extremely beneficial for the
program. The staff should have at least 3 years of afterschool experience
whether that be as a paid staff member or a volunteer. I would not like to
discard anyone who has not been a teacher because I believe expertise comes
with experience which is why volunteer work would be acceptable.
iii. The relationship between student and staff is vital. Staff should always be
positive with the kids in every aspect. The student should feel comfortable with

the staff to ask for help with anything or to even just hold conversation.
Students know when the teacher really cares about their success, so our staff
needs to lead with a positive example. Each member needs to be approachable
and put the needs of the kids above anything else.
d. Sources:
i. Huang, D. & Dietel, R. (2011). Making afterschool programs better. National
Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing (CRESST),
UCLA
4. Program
a. According to Huang and Dietel, a successful program should have at least three or
more activities a day. Some of the activities at high quality programs offered
homework or tutoring, while other days they offered academic, enrichment, and
recreational activities. These programs receive adequate afterschool time for learning
and skills.
b. Key Findings:
i. Successful programs offer unique and innovative strategies to better engage
there students and make their time in the program enjoyable
ii. Technology programs reported the most frequent use of research-based
practices, whereas reading programs reported the lowest frequency.
iii. Most programs shared similar methods of disseminating information to parents,
as well as a means of encouraging their involvement in the afterschool
programs
c. My Personal Plan/Examples: In order to have a successful program there are specific
qualities that should be within the program. Some of those qualities being, 1) focused

on the childrens successes and creating an enjoyable learning environment, 2) Being a

volunteer friendly program (parents, students, etc.), 3) providing students with fieldtrip
opportunities, 4) encourage and motivate students toward college.
i. The program should have the childrens successes as first priority. Providing an
environment that is both challenging but enjoyable is important. The kids will
find motivation in any activity during the day if they are enjoying themselves. If
the kids are having fun in the activities then they will be more engaged and
there is less risk of children being off task.
ii. Being a program that welcomes volunteers. This could be parents, family, and
students. If there are more helpers in the classroom then there is a better
chance of the students getting all the help they need. This could help with the
student-staff ratio. Students can get help quicker if they need it rather than
having to wait for the teacher to help if he/she is busy.
iii. The program should offer opportunities to take educationally based fieldtrips.
Doing this gives children the chance to broaden their knowledge on the
community. Students can learn through observation. They could even take field
trips to colleges for the high school students.
iv. One thing I would like to see done in the program is encourage and motivate
students towards college. This can be instilled in them at any age. The site that I
did my fieldwork at had what was called University Starts Now (USN). I would
like to adopt that. Once a week there will be a lesson on different colleges, what
is done at colleges, college clubs or teams, scholarships, majors and minors.
d. Sources:

i. Huang, D. & Dietel, R. (2011). Making afterschool programs better. National

Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing (CRESST),
UCLA
ii. Larson, R. W. Towards a Psychology of Positive Youth Development (2000).
American Psychologist, 55, 170-183. Web.

5. Evaluation
a. According to Huang and Dietel, ongoing evaluation is necessary to measure program
performance and make continuous improvement, as outlined in the CRESST model.
Funding agencies (who are making a growing investment in afterschool programs)
increasingly want to know if their outlays are making measureable improvements.
b. Key Findings:
i. The majority of these observed programs all gave internal evaluations.
ii. Evaluation varied from informal conversations between afterschool staff, day
school staff, and parents, to a formal administration of surveys to students,
parents, staff, and tracking of test scores, grades, and attendance records
iii. External evaluation methodologies typically included pre-post testing or
classroom evaluations, comparison groups, surveys, focus groups, observational
assessments, or a combination of methods.
c. My Personal Plan/Examples: Evaluation within a program is essential for successful
programs. I think it is important to have 1) internal and external evaluations from staff,
2) evaluations from students, 3) Evaluations should cover variety of aspects.
i. The staff should give an internal evaluation in the beginning of the school year.
They should evaluate their thoughts on curriculum and their students. Three

points I would focus on in the evaluation is; The students growth and
development in academics; Did the staff keep the students success as their
number one priority; did the staff keep the students engaged.Throughout the
year they need track each students development. At the end of the year they
re-evaluate and compare the successes. From these evaluations they can see
what worked and what did not work and then provide feedback that would
improve the program.
ii. It is important that the students have their own evaluations. The students
should evaluate themselves and the staff. Three points they would focus on in
this evaluation are; Did the student develop mastery in their academics; Did the
staff engage with them in a way that showed they cared about their students
success; Did the student enjoy the activities given to them. The students should
take an evaluation in the beginning of the year and retake it at the end and then
compare. They should be able to provide constructive feedback on ways to
better the program. They should also be able to reflect on their own growth and
see where they may need extra help and what their strengths are.
iii. It is important that the evaluations cover a variety of aspects within the
program. They should evaluate the curriculum, teaching techniques, academic
improvement among students, staff positivity, etc.
d. Sources:
i. Huang, D. & Dietel, R. (2011). Making afterschool programs better. National
Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing (CRESST),
UCLA