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This is a companion guide to the report, Putting It All Together: Guiding Principles for Quality After-School Programs Serving Preteens.

Principle 2: Exposure
(duration, intensity and breadth)

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Overview
Programs are designed to: a) provide preteens with a "dosage," or number of hours per week over an extended period of time, that matches program outcome goals; and b) allow preteens to attend a variety of activities.
Description
Youth benefit from participation in high-quality after-school programs; however, youth only receive these benefits when they attend programs regularly and over an extended period of time. Therefore, a high-quality program will offer activities for a duration and intensity that will allow participants to achieve the outcome goals.

Duration, intensity and breadth are all indicators of attendance that have an impact on results. Duration refers to the length of participation over time, usually measured in number of years. Intensity is the amount of time youth attend a program during a given period of time: for example, hours per day or days per week. Breadth of attendance refers to the variety of activities that youth attend within and across programs.

Preteens need to attend programs over a period of time to establish supportive relationships, develop healthy behaviors and gain the full benefits of the program. Research generally shows that young people who attend with high levels of intensity (multiple days per week and hours per day) have more positive academic, social and behavioral outcomes than youth who attend with low intensity. In addition, the research shows that there are advantages for preteens who are involved in a variety of activities and that in some cases the variety itself is what draws and retains them.

Examples of this Principle in Action
  • An attendance policy exists that parents are aware and supportive of and that staff enforces.
  • Attendance is carefully tracked and staff respond quickly when a student has missed one or more days of the program.
  • Programs provide an environment in which preteens are participating and engaged.
  • Program staff analyze why youth leave and respond with program improvements.
  • Youth turnover rates are low.
Where to Go for More Information
Attracting and Sustaining Youth Participation in Out-of-School-Time Programs. (July 2004)
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/content/projects/
afterschool/resources/issuebrief6.pdf

This brief draws from implementation and impact evaluations to develop a set of promising strategies to attract and sustain youth participation in out-of-school-time programs.
Author/Publisher: Harvard Family Research Project. No. 6

Understanding and Measuring Attendance in Out-of-School-Time Programs. (August 2004)
http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/content/projects/
afterschool/resources/issuebrief7.pdf

This brief draws on developmental research and out-of-school-time program evaluations to examine the three indicators of participation: 1) intensity, 2) duration and 3) breadth of attendance. It clearly defines the three indicators of participation and discusses what the research says about them individually and how they work together.
Author/Publisher: Harvard Family Research Project. No. 7

A Decade of Results: The Impact of the L.A.'s BEST After-school Enrichment Program on Subsequent Student Achievement and Performance (2000)
The evaluation of the L.A.'s Better Educated Students for Tomorrow (BEST) initiative linked long-term involvement (at least four years) to positive achievement on standardized tests. The report summarizes the evaluation of the community-based initiative serving K-5 students. The study looked at students who were in second through fifth grades during the 1993-1994 school year and followed them through 1997-1998.
Author/Publisher: Huang, Denise, Barry Gibbons, Kyung Sung Kim, Charlotte Lee and Eva L. Baker. UCLA Center for the Study of Evaluation Graduate School of Education & Information Studies.

Building Quality, Scale and Effectiveness in After-School Programs: Summary Report of the TASC Evaluation (2004)
www.policystudies.com/studies/youth/TASC Summary Report Final.pdf
The After-School Corporation (TASC) evaluation collected data over four school years from 96 TASC after-school projects and their host schools in New York City to answer questions about quality and scale in program implementation, program effects on participating students and program practices linked to academic benefits for students. The evaluation found that participation in TASC activities was linked to academic performance and school attendance, especially for those participants who attended TASC projects regularly and for more than a year. The report provides an overview of all the findings from the TASC evaluation.
Author/Publisher: Reisner, Elizabeth, Richard N. White, Christina A. Russell and Jennifer Birmingham. Policy Studies Associates, Inc.

The Study of Promising After-School Programs: Examination of Intermediate Outcomes in Year 2 (2005)
www.wcer.wisc.edu/childcare/pdf/pp/year2_executive
_summary_and_brief_report.pdf

Vandell et al examined the longitudinal effects of participation in high-quality after-school programs on various outcomes among economically disadvantaged youth in both elementary and middle school. The study found that among elementary and middle school students who spent time in structured after-school activities, few were devoted exclusively or even primarily to a single program. Instead, they constructed an after-school schedule that involved sets of experiences. The conclusions provide information for consideration for the design of after-school programs.
Author/Publisher: Vandell, Deborah Lowe, Elizabeth R. Reisner, B. Bradford Brown, Kimberly Dadisman, Kim M. Pierce, Dale Lee and Ellen M. Pechman.

The Study of Promising After-School Programs: Examination of Longer-Term Outcomes After Two Years of Program Experiences (2006)
www.wcer.wisc.edu/childcare/pdf/pp/year_3_report_final.pdf
Vandell et al conducted the Study of Promising After-School Programs to assess the developmental benefits associated with youth participation in after-school programs that met certain research-based quality criteria. Vandell found that although there may be some long-term benefits to involvement in after-school programs for a period of as little as one year, benefits appeared to intensify as children and adolescents continued their involvement over a succession of years. For middle school students there was a slight advantage in long-term outcomes (work habits and behavior) to combining program attendance at a “promising after-school” program included in the evaluation with participation in other activities, rather than being involved only in a promising after-school program or being supervised at home. The strongest effects of after-school experiences were observed for measures of misbehavior.
Author/Publisher: Vandell, Deborah Lowe, Elizabeth R. Reisner, Kim M. Pierce, B. Bradford Brown, Dale Lee, Daniel Bolt and Ellen M. Pechman.

After-School Pursuits: An Evaluation of Outcomes in the San Francisco Beacon Initiative (2004)
http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/168_publication.pdf
The evaluation of the San Francisco Beacon Initiative, a multiyear study of youth and family centers located at schools, indicated that participation over two to three sessions (roughly one year or more) was a critical amount of exposure for middle school youth to achieve the youth-development-related outcomes examined. This study provides additional evidence of the importance of exposure for after-school programs.
Author/Publisher: Walker, Karen E. and Amy J. A. Arbreton. Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures.

"Participation in Youth Programs: Enrollment, Attendance and Engagement" in New Directions for Youth Development. No. 105 (Spring 2005)
This periodical focuses on youth participation in out-of-school-time programs. It provides research-based strategies on how to increase participation and how to define, measure and study participation.
Author/Publisher: Weiss, Heather B., Priscilla M.D. Little and Suzanne M. Bouffard. Gil G. Noam, Editor-in-Chief.


 




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Resource Guide Sections

About This Guide

Overview

Principle 1:
Focused and Intentional Strategy

Principle 2: Exposure

Principle 3: Supportive Relationships

Principle 4:
Family Engagement

Principle 5:
Cultural Competence

Principle 6: Continuous Program Improvement

Other Resources


 

 

 

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