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Project Description
As part of this initiative, NIOST will be working to nationally expand the Afterschool Practitioner Fellowship Program, disseminate the Afterschool Matters Journal, and continue both the Edmund A. Stanley, Jr. Research Grantee program and Research Roundtables forum. This initiative has the goal of fostering high quality, cutting-edge research, bridging the gap between research and practice, and ultimately showcasing research that impacts the afterschool field.
Project Description
APAS is a comprehensive evaluation system designed to help afterschool programs improve program quality and focus on appropriate and realistic outcomes for youth. These tools were developed to help address the accountability challenge that faces afterschool programs. APAS includes two measurement tools—the Survey of Afterschool Youth Outcomes (SAYO), and the Assessing Afterschool Program Practices Tool (APT). With primary funding by the AT&T Family Care Development Fund, NIOST piloted their afterschool program assessment system in Atlanta, Georgia, and New Jersey. With additional funding from United Way Massachusetts Bay, and Partners in Out-of-School Time, NIOST was also able to include Boston, MA and Charlotte, NC sites.
Project Description
BE SAFE provides tailored programming and capacity building to a network of eight greater Boston out-of-school-time programs that work directly with youth, many of whom are at risk. NIOST is responsible for the evaluation of the BE SAFE initiative. The evaluation approach used includes surveys, interviews, focus groups, and site observations. Overall, the evaluation is intended to assess the efficacy and impacts of the BE SAFE initiative.
Project Description
Funded by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), NIOST will design and develop two additional measurement tools to add to the APAS system—a youth survey (SAYO-Y), and a family survey (SAYO-F). The SAYO-Y will be used by DESE to measure youth’s experiences in an afterschool program, as well as their sense of competence and future planning in order to better understand youth needs and pinpoint areas where youth may benefit from additional support.
Project Description
With funding from Cornerstones for Kids and The Packard Foundation, NIOST is partnering with the Forum for Youth Investment and Child Care Services Association to develop a set of guidelines to promote and strengthen the youth work workforce, with the aim of increasing stability, preparation, support and commitment to the well-being and empowerment of youth.
Project Description
This project connects high-level leaders from different cities and states to educate them on the dynamic landscape of afterschool programs in hopes of directing the influence, funding, and high expectations of these leaders into a “critical mass” of associated initiatives across the country.
Project Description
The primary goal of the Out of Harm's Way (OHW) Initiative is to address the escalating violence in a subset of middle schools in the Boston Public Schools by offering comprehensive services and care, and increasing the participation of students in after school programming. Wellesley Centers for Women and the National Institute on Out-of-School Time would perform as the project evaluator.
Project Description
NIOST is responsible for conducting an evaluation of a new afterschool program curriculum titled “From Out-of-School to Outer Space: Exploring the Solar System with NASA,” which was developed by NASA. The focus of the project is to increase science literacy and encourage interest in science-related educational opportunities.
Project Description
Energy balance and appropriate physical activity are critical to preventing obesity and associated cardiometabolic morbidity. In the United States, 6.5 million children attend out-of-school time programs annually, participating in roughly 3 hours per day of activities typically including homework, snack, and gross motor play. If out-of-school time programs can provide appropriate snack and physical activity choices, they can be an important component of the campaign against childhood obesity.
Project Description
The objective of the study is to provide comprehensive insight into the mechanisms that promote habits of physical activity in adolescents. The subjects in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care & Youth Development represent one of the largest cohorts on whom multiple measures of physical activity and the associated contexts have been longitudinally collected.
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Research & Evaluation