The Afterschool Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of afterschool programs and advocating for quality, affordable programs for all children.

This 2002 article, from the Harvard Education Letter, describes the growing trend in after school programming, particularly those programs that combine school and community efforts to educate and enrich.

Afterschool.gov is a federal website that offers one-stop access to government resources that support afterschool programs. Topics include Running a Program, Keeping Current (news updates), Planning Activities, Community Links, and Sites for Kids and Teens.

Critical Hours from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation synthesizes information available from studies of afterschool programs and offers conclusions about the contributions of afterschool programs to children's overall success in school. The report pays special attention to the academic achievement and overall development of middle school students.

This article, published in August 2004 as part of the Out-of-School Time Evaluation Snapshot series from the Harvard Family Research Project, describes the common data collection methods used by current out-of-school time programs to evaluate their implementation and outcomes. It provides detailed information about using surveys and questionnaires, interviews and focus groups, observations, tests and assessments, and secondary sources and data reviews.
Read the article online.
Download the article in PDF format.

Effective summer programs can reduce summer learning loss among low-income youth, a leading cause of the achievement gap between low-income and more affluent students. This report from Child Trends reviews the limited number of summer learning programs that have been rigorously evaluated and suggests that these programs are likely to have positive impacts when they engage students in activities that are hands-on, enjoyable, and have real-world applications.
Download the report.
Download a fact sheet summarizing the report.

The Evaluation Exchange, Harvard Family Research Project's evaluation periodical, addresses current issues facing program evaluators of all levels, with articles written by the most prominent evaluators in the field. This issue focuses on assessing and improving the quality of out-of-school time and youth development programs. Articles cover innovative methodologies and new technology systems for assessing quality, strategies for recruitment and retention, and understanding and measuring participation. Access other issues of the Evaluation Exchange focusing on out-of-school time.

The National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) brings national attention to the importance of children's out-of-school time. NIOST initiative include research, evaluation and consultation, policy development and public awareness, and training and curriculum development.

The National Youth Development Information Center (NYDIC) website is a one-stop shop for youth workers with interest in funding, programming, research, policy, and job and training opportunities. NYDIC provides current news to the youth development field and has one of the largest online libraries, providing practice-related information at low-cost or no cost.

Promising Practices in Afterschool (PPAS) provides practitioners with a forum to find and share things that are working in afterschool programs. Visit the PPAS website to share your own promising practices or browse promising practices from around the country.

This January 2002 strategy brief from The Finance Project presents an overview of the Title I program, including recent legislative changes, and highlights three strategies that community leaders, program developers, and school officials can employ to access these funds to support out-of-school time and community school initiatives.