Crisia Santacruz

95829637
The Case for Quality
California Quality Standards
1. Safe and supportive environment
3. Skill building
5. Health choices and behaviors
7. Quality staff
9. Collaborative partnerships
11. Program management

2. Active and engaged learning

4. Youth voice and leadership
6. Diversity, access and equity
8. Clear vision, mission, and purpose
10. Continuous quality improvement
12. Sustainability

The Importance
Reviewing the structure of programs allows both stakeholders and the point of service
and programmatic levels to have accountability to further develop excising programs. Defining
the quality of programs allows strengths and weaknesses to come to light and allows the
opportunity for improvement. It allows everyone to be aware of what is expected and sets the bar
for everyone. Essentially it acts as a guide and allows parents to become aware of what is offered
in a program. There is no way that a program can progress if there is no evaluation. Defining
quality overall is the guideline for what is needed because without direction any program can
lose its value.
View on Two Standards
All twelve stands are important for youth development but I believe that active and
engaged learning along with quality staff are two standards that can clearly take any afterschool
program to the next level. Looking at the research conducted by Spencer Rhodes, the staff at an
afterschool program is more than just a staff member. They are a students caretaker, cheerleader,
tutor, support system, mentor, friend, and overall almost as a second parent to a child. They build
a relationship where the child has full trust in them. If the quality of the staff isnt high, students
are going to tell right away and are not going to want to engage or be a part of the program,
which can ultimately hinder the development of a student. Seeing how engagement is important,
this leads to the second standard, active and engaged learning, which is key for programs to be
successful. Encouraging students to be more engaged and active with each other and providing
the freedom to partake in activities that spark their interest allows them to grow. As the research
conducted by Learner in The sample case of the 4-H study of Positive Youth Development we see
that children who are positively engaged will start taking initiative on their own and expand on
their horizons. After school programs need to give students the opportunity to learn everything
else that they did not learn in the classroom. This can range from learning leadership skills,
having a sports team, having a dance team, having a DJ class, having a safe space where boys
and girls can each ask questions about anything, etc. In research conducted by Eccles and Barber,
we see that engaging in an extracurricular activity that is active and engaging will have positive
results for students who participate. Overall having a good quality staff and making the program
active and for the kids will allow students to get the most out of afterschool programs.
New York State After School Network Program Quality Self Assessment Tool
This tool was created to self evaluate and improve K-12 school programs. This tool
requires there to be a lot of observations and used to promote the importance of quality.
Advantages
o promotes quality

Crisia Santacruz
95829637
o has a strong focus on family, community, partnerships, relationships, and parents
involvement
o free
o data is gathered through multiple methods
o training is offered in various ways
online, in person, tangible book

Disadvantages
o No outside input from admin is provided
o Minimal measures of healthy choices and behaviors

Program Quality Assessment

This tool was created to evaluate quality and analysis ways to improve. Unlike the New
York State tool this one has multiple parts to it depending on which grade one is trying to
assess. Overall this assessment has four domains, which have specific guidelines.
Advantages
o training is offered in various ways
o has a good overview of quality standards
o offered for various programs
arts, wellness, STEM, academic, etc.
Disadvantages
o High fee
o there seems to be little importance on diversity and clear goals because there is
too much focus on quality
o needs to be equally focused on every element that makes a successful afterschool
program not just quality