Core language from the H5802 legislation states, “It is the intent of the general assembly to support a system of publicly funded, high-quality afterschool and summer learning programs that are operated through a diverse delivery network, including child care, 21st century community learning centers program(s), child opportunity zones, community-based organizations, and public districts. By enacting this law, the general assembly acknowledges the need to adequately prepare all children to succeed in school and life by providing access to publicly funded, high-quality afterschool and summer learning programs.”

State representatives Gordon D. Fox, Agostinho F. Silva, Frank Ferri, Peter F. Kilmartin, and Peter F. Martin, the bill’s co-authors, crafted the language and successfully shepherded H5802 through the General Assembly and on to Governor Carcieri’s desk for his signature in July 2009.

H5802 directed the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) to begin planning an initial demonstration afterschool and summer learning program that meets high-quality standards. The initial planning phase called for RIDE to identify incentives and supports to develop a qualified workforce, including opportunities for professional development, planning time, and staff development.

Working in collaboration with the RIDE, RIASPA lent information to be shared within a report from RIDE to state legislators that will help shape implementation of a visionary, statewide program for afterschool and summer learning.

Emerging evidence points clearly to an achievement gap during afterschool hours and summertime that particularly affects youth living at or near poverty levels, thereby stunting their access to opportunities that support and promote seamless academic success.

By contrast, the report cites findings from the past decade that testify to the benefits students achieve from afterschool and summer learning experiences. These benefits not only foster academic growth, but also nurture better social skills and improved health.

•               The 2008 Study of Promising Afterschool Programs found that students who regularly attended high-quality afterschool programs across two years demonstrated statistically significant gains in standardized math test scores, compared to their peers who were routinely unsupervised during afterschool hours.

•               A recent Brandeis study found that businesses lose anywhere from $50-$300 billion in job productivity each year due to parental worry about their children during the afterschool hours.

•               Evaluations of major afterschool initiatives have collectively found afterschool programs improved interpersonal skills, peer and adult relationships, self control, problem solving, cognition, self-efficacy, commitment to schooling, and academic achievement. There were also reductions in drug and alcohol use, school misbehavior, aggressive behavior, violence, truancy, high-risk sexual behavior, and smoking.

The report offers that “these studies offer a compelling reason to focus education resources on providing summer and afterschool opportunities. Such findings are influencing policy makers across the country to increase investments in afterschool and summer programs as a strategy to improve student performance and increase graduation rates, among other things. It explains further that other states (e.g., New York, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Illinois, Connecticut, and Kansas) have incorporated afterschool funding into state budgets. H5802 creates the mandate for Rhode Island to follow suit.

A brief history of afterschool programming in Rhode Island can be traced to origins during the 1970s when activities were comprised mostly of sports, recreations, and various clubs. However, in the past 20 years, the approach to afterschool programs has matured, building a strong foundation for a state-funded, high-quality system of afterschool and summer programs. Based on years of research, discussion, and feedback from the state’s afterschool stakeholders—afterschool and summer practitioners, school teachers, school administrators, elected officials, parents and youth, state departments, RIASPA’s membership, and others—a springboard for a state-funded system has crystallized.

An ideal state-funded system would ensure that all children and youth have access to high-quality, engaging, and enriching afterschool and summer learning opportunities. It would build on the existing afterschool and summer learning infrastructure and foster strong partnerships between community-based organizations and schools. All programs would be accountable to the highest quality, using standard measurement tools. Attention to strengthening and expanding the professional afterschool workforce would bolster the capacity and capability for delivering high-quality services. Additionally, the system requires diverse funding sources—to include significant state funding—so that the system will remain stable and sustainable. 

At the center of this vision stands improved and coordinated collaborations between schools and afterschool and summer learning programs. Such partnerships will further open a portal for afterschool programs that will encourage:

•               Better access to information about youth and families;

•               Greater alignment in content and curriculum;

•               More and varied enrichment offerings;

•               Unique, yet complementary, staff skill sets and expertise;

•               Greater variation in instructional delivery methods; and

•               Increased likelihood of positive relationships with youth and families.

Finally, with the feedback of RIASPA’s membership, gathered at their March Quarterly Membership meeting, along with the state’s many afterschool stakeholders, the RIDE report to the state legislature offers the following recommendations.

The RIDE report calls for state funds for a statewide afterschool and summer learning program, for students K-12, starting as a high-quality demonstration project with gradual expansion. A demonstration project is more appropriate than a pilot because this initiative literally demonstrates the effectiveness of research-based best practices in existing afterschool and summer programs, thereby generating local evidence to support implementation of such a state-funded program.

Other key points include: strategies to link schools, families, and communities; training, certification, and credentialing for professionals in youth development careers; development of a competitive RFP process; program engagement in a state-approved, continuous improvement process (i.e., RIPQA); a requirement that afterschool programs to provide a percentage of matching funds or in-kind contributions; and RIDE’s evaluation of the demonstration through the most reliable cost effective design evaluation methodology.

RIASPA fully supported this initiative—as a liaison and partner—and thanks RIDE, key legislators, the Governor, and its own membership for their collective wisdom and effort in bringing H5802 to center stage.

Events Highlight Professional Development and Program Quality

A working, half-day conference and an informational luncheon, respectively, helped local afterschool professionals benefit from a series of workshops as stepping stones to elevated professional development, while community and education leaders learned about the pedigree of Rhode Island’s quality improvement system compared to national benchmarks.

On March 4, the Afterschool Mini-Conference kicked off a comprehensive morning of workshops. The event, co-sponsored by the Providence After School Alliance, the RI Department of Education’s 21^st Century Community Learning Center Initiative, and RIASPA, was held in the Feinstein Institute at Providence College.

Following greetings from PASA Executive Director Hillary Salmons that focused on championing the youth agenda, Mo Barbosa of Health Resources in Action led the 125 conference participants in spirited ice-breaking exercises. Groups of providers shared some light-hearted information when asked what they would do once the temperature reaches 80 degrees outside. Answers ranged from donning flip flops to playing tennis. . But the answers to a follow-up question – Why did you choose to work with children and youth? – gave a truer indication of the attendees’ passion and purpose. One group animatedly discussed giving children new tools through which to learn and grow; educating and involving youth in civic and community issues to find their voice; and enticing youths’ creativity through art, music and theater.

Armed with enthusiasm and coffee, participants broke into seven workshops, investigating and discussing pertinent topics geared for elementary, middle, and high school issues.

The three-hour session on Youth Empowerment: Engaging and Motivating Youth looked at empowering youth in and out of structured programs, how professionals motivate youth to support their own empowerment, as well as how to handle the role of adult interaction to encourage youth participation rather than suppress it. This group also delved into the design of activities shaped to spark leadership opportunities for youth.

Staff Development and Supervision, another three-hour workshop, addressed bridging the communication gap between leadership and staff by interactively exploring communication styles for the workplace. The advanced-level workshop, tailored for directors, site coordinators and supervisors, shared team-building strategies geared to promote staff input and feedback while building self-esteem.

Five 90-minute workshops rounded out the conference agenda.

Among them, Building Healthy and Respectful Relationships among Youth presented definitions of healthy and unhealthy relationships and how to support youth in developing good boundaries, particularly relating to sexuality for adolescents.

Engaging Parents as Partners in Your Afterschool Community probed the essential partnership required between practitioners  and children’s parents and guardians. The group tackled strategies to engage parents and then how to collaboratively develop effective out-of-school programs, based on planning and implementation.

Attendees in Strategies to Enhance Student Voice and Participation in the Classroom discussed and practiced strategies to engage students at a higher level in their programs. The presenter addressed ways to remove barriers so that including students’ voice and choice are encouraged. .

For professionals working in culturally diverse settings, Youth Engagement across Cultures introduced training methods, which lead to more effective cross-cultural communication and culturally sensitive approaches to conflict resolution.

Furthermore, Positive Group Management: Working with Behavioral Concerns centered on exploring the definition of behavior and offered useful strategies to help reframe negative behavior. Participants shared experiential successes and learned new tips and techniques.

The day might not have been hot enough for flip flops, but post-conference evaluation forms indicated that attendees viewed the workshops as hot topics in the afterschool field, and that they left more informed and enriched.

By comparison, “Using Data to Improve Practice: Lessons Learned from the Rhode Island Expanded Learning Community” was a February luncheon during which quality assessment of programs became the hot topic for some 50 attendees.

The event, co-sponsored by PASA, RIASPA, The Rhode Island Foundation, and Brown University, brought to Providence highly regarded Dr. Charles Smith, Executive Director of the Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality in Michigan.

Following a welcome from Neil Steinberg, President and CEO of The Rhode Island Foundation, and an introduction to quality improvement in Rhode Island by PASA Executive Director Hillary Salmons, Dr. Smith delivered his presentation, Overview of Youth Program Quality Intervention Study and National Perspective on Quality Improvement Systems.

Essentially, Dr. Smith’s presentation was a testimonial validation of the Rhode Island Program Quality Assessment Tool (RIPQA), created four years ago and now utilized statewide by more than 100 local, youth-serving organizations to measure and improve youth programming. Surprisingly, Dr. Smith’s observations and findings reveal that, much more than adult/youth  or the education levels of the practitioners, it is quality improvement processes - such as RIPQA - that result in continuous and dramatic results for making afterschool programs better for children and youth .

The RIPQA process, the formation of which was led by PASA with input from RIASPA and other community partners measures four categories: safe environment, supportive environment, interaction, and engagement. The forms that are used for specific program assessments, when viewed collectively, merge the best of national standards (High/Scope’s Youth Program Quality Assessment) with those standards unique to Rhode Island, tailoring RIPQA to local efforts and considerations within an overarching, national perspective.

According to Elizabeth Devaney, PASA Deputy Director, results from the implementation of RIPQA speak for themselves – and convincingly. Rhode Island programs excel beyond the national level in three of the four measured areas (supportive environment, interaction, and engagement) while equaling the national average in the other, safe environment.

The body of evidence clearly shows that RIPQA works.

Brown University’s Dr. Kenneth Wong encouraged the audience, comprised of State Representatives Grace Diaz and Frank Ferri along with State Senator Frank DeVall, superintendents, key school administrators, members of the Board of Regents, funders, higher education representatives, and afterschool program directors. He stressed the need for Rhode Island to diligently, continuously apply and interpret RIPQA while also concentrating on increased alignment between afterschool and summer programs with school-day curriculum.

RIASPA Executive Director Sarah Cahill closed the program, expressing her vision of continually improved expanded learning opportunities and enhanced professional development through the use of tools such as RIPQA, which point to the best practices for how, when, and where children and youth learn.

RIASPA and PASA host December 8 event at Save the Bay highlighting afterschool professional development system components

On December 8, over 35 afterschool professionals and advocates assembled at Save the Bay to enjoy a joint presentation by RIASPA and PASA entitled Rhode Island's Professional Development and Capacity-Building System for the Afterschool and Summer Learning Field.

During the presentation, Sarah Cahill, Executive Director of RIASPA, provided a framework regarding Rhode Island’s progress in building the multiple components of a professional development system for the field. Participants heard about how our state is a leader nationally in professionalizing the field through its creation of core competencies, quality standards and connected assessment system, and a quality rating and improvement system (BrightStars). However, there still are components that require creation in order to be a true professional development system.

To illustrate this point, Sarah offered an overview of a report commissioned by RIASPA and PASA entitled Building a Professional Development System for Rhode Island Afterschool and Summer Learning Programs. The report’s intent was to highlight the current components of a professional development system and where gaps exist; offer a glimpse into higher education opportunities for afterschool and summer practitioners; and discuss the importance of scholarships and financial support for practitioners in relation to professional development and certificate-based or degree-bearing programs.

RIASPA’s Manager of Quality Initiatives, Joseph Morra, further delved into the report, mentioning how a program landscape and professional development survey administered to the field this past March supported the findings of the report. As such, a fair amount of data from this survey was infused into the report, offering insight into the field’s professional development desires, workforce composition, and responses about what resources would improve the field as a whole.  

Elizabeth Devaney, PASA’s Deputy Director, then presented data from years one and two of the Rhode Island Program Quality Assessment (RIPQA) tool, demonstrating how Rhode Island stacked up against the nation in four key areas of quality: safe environment, supportive environment, interactions, and engagement. Overall, our state scored slightly higher than the national reference sample in all four areas. The RIPQA tool is both comprehensive but user-friendly, and the substantial support provided by quality advisors undoubtedly helped the programs using the tool to achieve scores demonstrating high-quality practice in action.

Offering a national context for field quality and capacity building was special guest Nicole Yohalem, Director of Special Projects for The Forum for Youth Investment. During her presentation, Nicole offered research about increased awareness of the afterschool and summer workforce as well as emerging evidence that professional development does improve youth outcomes and staff performance. She additionally commended Rhode Island for its current systems building and strong national showing with our RIPQA data. She also encouraged us to “insulate” the education pipeline; in other words, be intentional in connecting to the early childhood field on one end, but also to post-secondary on the other end in order to create as seamless a system as possible for children and youth to be successful in work and life.