ECE303FinalTheNeedforAfterSchoolPrograms
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Apr 3, 2024
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Module 10 Final Project
1
The Need for After School Programs
Anitra Schoonover
National Louis University
Module 10 Final Project
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After School Programs, Where You?
Good afternoon ladies and gentleman, today I will be presenting a power point on the work I have been doing for an advocacy project for the need of afterschool programs. While the PowerPoint will hit the highlights I would let to go into more details on how my work during the last 6 weeks.
Afterschool programs can help develop social, emotional, cognitive, and academics, reduce unsafe behaviors, encourage physical well-being, and provide a safe and reassuring environment for children and youth. “The research is clear: children in quality afterschool programs are more likely to come to school and stay in school, more likely to hand in their work and get better grades.” (Grant, 2011)
In the area that I live in, there is no place for children to go if they have working parents. They may go to a child care provider, but what happens when they are too old to go or their parents cannot afford to pay for after school child care. By having options like an after school program, it will help reduce the stress and worry of the parents, along with helping the children in many different educational aspects. It would also provide more jobs in the area as well as getting the community involved in the children in the areas lives.
By working with the school and the classroom teachers by filling out surveys prior to entering the program and then having them do the same survey prior to Christmas break to measure if there has been a change in the following areas, social functioning in social skills with classmates, their social conduct with classmates, as well as their academics, grades, task persistence, work ethic also behavioral problems in the classroom if there are more or less misconduct, substance use, aggression of the children participating in the after school program. This will track the progress of each child so we can collect the data on the progress or lack
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thereof, which will give us the information we need to accommodate the children in the areas lacking.
In addition, children and parents will use an online outcomes survey so they will be able to report the quality of their experiences at the programs in three important areas One, the quality
of their connections they have made with program staff, how they felt with the interactions with classmates at the program, and if their interests and participation in the program activities. With the program using these reports given from the survey’s we will be able to assess how they are doing from the viewpoint of the children and parents who attend the program.
I spoke with several different programs that I was able to use as a resources and work with. The afterschool programs that I spoke with were community based, privately funded or non
for profit. Head Start programs service low income families, the hours of operations vary from what
type of program you are going to. Full Day/Full year centers go 12 months a year Monday-
Friday hours 7:30-5 and Part Day/Part Year go 8-12 or 12/4 Monday – Thursday, August 22nd to
April 29th. The staff structure is a 10-2 ratio, and the classroom staff must have a minimum of a AAS in Early Childhood Education. The onsite administration is also the lead teacher, if the center has less than 50 children at a time, then there is an on Site Supervisor who is not in the classroom. The ages served are 3-5yrs old, they may not turn 6 in the program year. Creative Curriculum is the curriculum is used. My personal opinion is the program is great at offering not only an education, but resources to the entire family. I have worked for this program in every possible position but Lead Teacher. I am currently an on-site Site Supervisor. I believe the required education for the education sets them apart from others, not many require a formal education.
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The privately funded facilities meet the same items. Each one serves 6 weeks to 12 years old and are open 12 hours Monday-Friday all year round. The teaching staff must meet the DCFS guidelines, and to be considered the lead teacher you must have at least 21 ECE credit hours. The ratios vary from room to room depending on the ages of the children. 6 weeks- 14 months 4 to 1 and 15 months – 23 months 5 to 1, 2yr olds 1 to 8, 3-5 10 to 1 and school age 20 to
1. Their hours of operations are set for working families which is who the typically serve. The curriculum is Creative Curriculum, and there are on-site directors due to the amount of children they service, Little Britches and Robins Nest have 2 on-site directors. I believe these programs are good due to the fact the do help working parents with older children, who have no place for them to go after school or during the summer.
The community based were supported by local business and volunteers. Based out of community centers. These programs did not have a curriculum they followed, they were there to support the children in school not only or academics, but also social and emotional skills as well.
These type of programs are a great need in my area. The biggest “aha” moment is when I realized how much my community needs this program. Not only for after school but for before school as well, and a summer program for school aged children. So many of the families in my community work and their hours do not allow them the option to get their kids to school and work, then having to rush home to pick them up. These families need options, there are so many who have either littles or the in-
betweens that are old enough but still need the structure of a program like this. There have been so many challenges, one is finding a location! One that is big enough to hold multiple age ranges along with the square footage needed for so many children. The next issue has been finding the funding for the program, there are so many guidelines on who has to
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be “mentoring” the program to meet the criteria of the grant. Also, I have not had much luck finding a grant writer to help me with the grant part.
I have learned that I have a voice, and people will listen if you talk. Also, you have to listen to what the community is telling you as well. What are their concerns, what times are more
beneficial to them? Many are worried about the cost, so you have to figure out how to be cost effective and open the doors to them with other resources, like CCR&R. Many do not know there
are programs out there to help cover cost of child care while they are working. Having those resources available to the families would relieve a great strain financially and provided options for child care help in the summer time as well.
To sum things up, I do believe that this is something in need in my community. Not only in my community, but the surrounding areas as well. This project could spread to so many different communities and help so many people who truly need the help and so do the children. Children need a safe place before and after school, and one that will help with homework. Honestly, I am not quite sure how we have gone this long without being able to provide this service to the families in the community.
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References
Peachjar. (n.d.). How After School Programs Impact Student Outcomes? https://blog.peachjar.com/how-after-school-programs-impact-student-outcomes
Supporting Student Success Through Afterschool Programs. (2023b, May 24). https://www.ncsl.org/education/supporting-student-success-through-afterschool-
programs.
DeAngelis, T. (n.d.). What makes a good afterschool program? https://www.apa.org Afterschool Program Quality and Student Outcomes: The Expanded Learning and Afterschool Project (n.d.). https://www.expandinglearning.org/expandingminds/article/afterschool-program-quality-and-
student-outcomes-reflections-positive-key
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