This book was recommended by the presenters. It provides a step-by-step process for creating a sustainable afterschool program that incorporates a high-level curriculum, integrates standards, and improves achievement, particularly for students who are at risk.

The goal of the Literacy Strategies After School: A Teaching and Learning Strategies Guide is to support after school program managers and staff working with children in grades 1-6 to provide meaningful literacy-related activities that are in alignment with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in the area of English Language Arts (ELA). The Guide also provides teachers with assessment suggestions and resources, including online articles, videos, sample lesson plans and activities, and recommended professional readings. An added feature is the Annotated Fiction and Nonfiction Children’s Books (Appendix D). It also includes printable graphic organizers (Appendix E) for use in the classroom.

Professional development arm of the CT Afterschool Network includes options and a catalog of current opportunities.

The Connecticut After School Network is a partnership of individuals and organizations promoting young people’s safety, healthy development and learning outside the traditional classroom. They do this by providing training and technical assistance to improve program quality; influencing policy on behalf of youth and families; and expanding funding opportunities.

This brief explores ways to strengthen expanded learning opportunities (ELOs) by building their connection to the Common Core State Standards Initiative. The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is interested in both efforts and wants to support states in maximizing their impact to ensure the success of all learners.

This article presents six potential roles played by principals in after school programming, exploring why each is important and how each can be challenging. Believing that afterschool programs must be tailored to the distinct needs of school sites, the author hopes principals and afterschool program staff can use the framework presented in this article as a practical tool with which to understand and delegate roles, thereby increasing the success of their programs.

This article, by Durlak and Weissberg, is a summary of research review findings which indicate that afterschool programs that follow four evidence-based practices (acronym SAFE) are successful in promoting young people’s personal and social development.

This article provides an overview of how afterschool programs provide a “second shift” of human resources in achieving goals. Many afterschool and summer learning programs are well positioned to support learning practices and conditions that accelerate the “habits of mind,” which represent the capacities and practices students should exhibit while learning the Common Core.

The expansion of the Common Core State Standards in education opens new doors for out-of-school time (OST) providers to align their work with schools. This brief describes the Common Core, shares examples of OST programs and systems responding, and recommends how the OST field might think about alignment opportunities.

The Out-of-School Time (OST) Program Research and Evaluation Database is a compilation of profiles written by HFRP of research studies and evaluations of OST programs and initiatives. It provides accessible information about research and evaluation work on both large and small OST programs to support the development of high quality evaluations and programs in the out-of-school time field.

This report is examines the role of afterschool and summer learning programs in supporting student success and shows how to help bridge the divide between out-of-school time programs and schools by offering research-derived principles for effective expanded learning partnership efforts.