[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-591228-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-591228-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","connecting-afterschool-program-quality-to-social-emotional-and-literacy-skill-development","Connecting Afterschool Program Quality to Social, Emotional, and Literacy Skill Development","","Recent research highlights how afterschool programs can foster social and emotional learning, engagement, and school-related outcomes, yet less is known about how meeting quality benchmarks supports both social-emotional and literacy skill development. This descriptive study examines the relationship between sustained attendance in high-quality 21st Century Community Learning Centers and child outcomes, testing whether social-emotional growth relates to academic literacy skills through program quality, attendance, and validated assessment measures.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/connecting-afterschool-program-quality-to-social-emotional-and-literacy-skill-development/591228/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/connecting-afterschool-program-quality-to-social-emotional-and-literacy-skill-development/591228.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"eBook King","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-04","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",7,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What was the main focus of the study?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"The study examined how sustained attendance in high-quality 21st Century Community Learning Centers is associated with key child outcomes, including social-emotional skills and literacy development.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How did the study measure social and emotional skill growth?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"It used the teacher version of the Survey of Academic and Youth Outcomes (SAYO; SAYO-T), collecting surveys from a school-day teacher and an afterschool activity leader across multiple time points.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"Which methods were used to assess literacy skills?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"For a Massachusetts grade 2 subsample, the study used the Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) test connected to the DIBELS reading assessments to evaluate reading accuracy and fluency.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},591228,1792884519,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":97,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},962088006270,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_085a072bc5b1113ac321206ff7593b45","NEW FROM NIOST  \nConnecting Afterschool Program Quality to Social, Emotional, and Literacy Skill Development  \nNeil Naftzger, Kathryn Wheeler, and Georgia Hall  \nRecent research syntheses (see, for example, Naftzger & Newman, 2021) have detailed how afterschool programs can support youth learning and development, including social and emotional learning, interest development, increased engagement in school, and a variety of school-related outcomes. However, one area that has received less attention is how afterschool programs that meet established quality benchmarks can support the development of social and emotional skills and of literacy skills among participating children.  \nOur descriptive study explored the relationship between sustained attendance in high-quality 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC)– funded programs and key child outcomes. Our key hypothesis was that high-quality programming is associated with the development of social and emotional skills, which in turn may be related to academic skills such as literacy.  \nStudy Methods  \nDuring two consecutive years, we followed 655 children from 54 21st CCLC-funded programs in two states: 31 centers in Massachusetts and 23 in Minnesota. The study included 276 Massachusetts  \nNEIL NAFTZGER, PhD, is principal researcher in Youth, Family, and Community Development at the American Institutes for Research® .  \nKATHRYN WHEELER, EdD, is a research associate atthe National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) atthe Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College, GEORGIA HALL, PhD, is director and senior research scientist at NIOST.  \nTable 1.  \nDemographic Characteristics of Study Students  \nCharacteristic  \nFemale  \nRace/ethnicity White Hispanic Black Multiracial Asian  \nAmerican Indian Economically disadvantaged* English learner Special needs  \nMassachusetts  \n50%  \n38% 30% 10% 10% 12% 0% 52%  \n30% 12%  \nMinnesota  \n57%  \n34% 24% 12% 8% 5% 5% 73%  \n22% 12%  \n* Based on participation in state-administered assistance programs Sources: Massachusetts Student Information Management System and Minnesota Automated Reporting Student System  \nWe used the teacher version of the Survey of Academic and Youth Outcomes (SAYO; NIOST, n.d.b) to measure changes in social and emotional skills among children in the study. Originally developed by NIOSTand the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for use in 21st CCLC programs, the teacher version (SAYO-T) measures children’s growth in the following skills:  \n• Engagement in learning  \n• Critical thinking  \n• Self-regulation  \n• Leadership  \n• Perseverance  \n• Interactions with adults  \n• Interactions with peers  \nWe solicited SAYO-T surveys from one school-day teacher and one afterschool activity leader for each child. We collected the SAYO-T four times: in fall 2016, spring 2017, fall 2017, and spring  \nchildren who were in grade 1 during the first year of the study, 2016–2017, and 379 Minnesota children in grade 4. Their demographic information is shown in Table 1.  \nThe study included only programs with a track record of providing quality afterschool programming. Studies have shown that programs are more effective when they are high quality (e.g. , Durlak et al. , 2010) . To measure program quality, members of the research team conducted program observations using the Assessment of Program Practices Tool (APT-O; NIOST, n.d.a) in Massachusetts and the Youth Program Quality Assessment (YPQA; Forum for Youth Investment, n.d.) in Minnesota. Both are quality assessment tools commonly used in the afterschool field. They share a set of principles of program quality that underlie both program effectiveness and the ability of programs to support social and emotional learning (Jones et al. , 2017) . Quality programs:  \n• Provide a safe and positive environment for children and adults  \n• Support the development of high-quality relationships between adults and children  \n• Provide activities that are developmenta","cbCaibqdYTDrqZiD","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaibqdYTDrqZiD","pdf",202318,"English","# Study Methods\n## Participants and Program Quality Measures\n## Assessing Social and Emotional Skills\n## Assessing Literacy Skills\n# Quality, Life Skills, and Literacy\n## Findings and Quality Ratings","[{\"question\":\"What was the main focus of the study?\",\"answer\":\"The study examined how sustained attendance in high-quality 21st Century Community Learning Centers is associated with key child outcomes, including social-emotional skills and literacy development.\"},{\"question\":\"How did the study measure social and emotional skill growth?\",\"answer\":\"It used the teacher version of the Survey of Academic and Youth Outcomes (SAYO; SAYO-T), collecting surveys from a school-day teacher and an afterschool activity leader across multiple time points.\"},{\"question\":\"Which methods were used to assess literacy skills?\",\"answer\":\"For a Massachusetts grade 2 subsample, the study used the Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) test connected to the DIBELS reading assessments to evaluate reading accuracy and fluency.\"}]","Connecting Afterschool Program Quality to Social, Emotional, and Literacy Skill Development | PDF",1792071380,13]