Afterschool staff working with youth are essential partners in any program’s efforts to implement quality programming. Ultimately, strong relationships are key to whether youth feel safe and can authentically engage with peers and adults. Building staff members’ capacity to strengthen relationships and align program offerings to quality standards will help ...
Melissa Hafner is a health policy researcher at AIR. Prior to joining AIR, she conducted health research at Mathematica Policy Research and the Massachusetts Medical Society. She also served as a senior program analyst in the Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, ...
The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of collecting and using data with intentionality—especially when it comes to the well-being of young people. The Every Hour Counts Measurement Framework can help out-of-school time system leaders leverage data to improve the lives of young people. ...
Your state has successfully designed a set of quality standards for the afterschool field, and practitioners are now using the standards across the state to improve their program practices. But are you really done? As the field advances, you may need to adapt the standards or add new components for ...
The Plan, Do, Study, Act Process is central to the improvement of instructional routines. Watch one of the Better Math Teaching Network members in real time and in a real classroom setting introduce the Plan, Do, Study, Act, or PDSA, process.
Informing practice with the best research and making research more relevant to practice are easier said than done. Making a tangible difference in people’s lives is harder still. In this series of short commentaries, AIR experts reflect on ways to meet the challenge.
After completing a thorough planning process, your network should have a diverse group of afterschool stakeholders who believe in the importance of a shared definition of quality and are ready to work together to design quality standards. This section outlines an effective design process for state afterschool networks that are ...
As the U.S. deals with the growing number of Americans living with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders, a new study suggests that those at risk of developing dementia in later life could be identified in adolescence, giving them the opportunity to receive interventions to offset the risk.
Learning more about the lifelong shadow of early life experiences is a challenge that can’t be met without longitudinal data. AIR and the University of Southern California are mining Project Talent's data to identify risk and protective factors for differential outcomes at older ages, to learn about the life trajectories ...
Ensuring strong alignment between quality standards and afterschool programs requires creative thinking, planning, and collaboration. Afterschool programs that align professional development with quality standards can support staff learning and sustain continuous improvement by reinforcing professional standards and practices. ...