Best practices in after-school programing for secondary school students

Abstract

Over the past twenty years, After-School Programs (ASPs) in both Canada and the United States have increasingly become increasingly as a potential tool to create more equitable academic outcomes between different groups of students. Despite the prevalence of ASPs, program developers and school administrators know little about the program factors or components that produce desirable outcomes in their target populations. After reviewing 124 different sources, including 117 academic journal articles, six technical reports and one book, six best practices for ASPs for secondary school students were identified: clear mission; safe, positive, and healthy climate; recruitment of a diverse mix of youth; addresses barriers to participation; hiring, training, and retaining high quality staff; and use of a flexible curriculum with engaging content. Most of the research on best practices in ASPs focuses on structural elements, such as participant recruitment and human resources. This review also calls for program developers and school administrators to invest in more rigorous research and evaluation efforts to generate reliable knowledge and build program evaluation capacity.

Keywords

• after-school programs
• best practices
• achievement gap