Related Publications
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Educational Outcomes for Boys & Girls Club Members in California, 2021-22
Research has consistently shown that participation in high-quality out-of-school time programming has a positive impact on participants’ social and emotional development, academic achievement, and rates of engagement in risky behaviors. The research summarized in this…
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Responding, Reimagining, Realizing: Out-of-School Coordination in a New Era
The Wallace Foundation commissioned Research for Action and McClanahan Associates to study how out-of-school time intermediaries (OSTIs) responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and the role they could play in supporting communities moving forward. Citywide out-of-school…
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Virtual Approaches Hold Promise for Expanding Afterschool Art Programming
Four Boys & Girls Clubs implementing high-quality art skill development classes for tweens and teens experimented with five different virtual approaches that hold promise for expanding programming. This brief describes three approaches that reach young…
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Top 5 Insights from RFA’s Community Research Partnership: Becoming a Community-Engaged Research Organization
We at Research for Action are committed to becoming a community-engaged research institution, with the goal of having our work be grounded in principles of community empowerment, collaboration, and social change within K-12 education. We’re…
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Setting the Stage: Practical Ideas for Implementing High-Quality Afterschool Arts Programs
Youth benefit from involvement in the arts but youth in historically marginalized communities and under resourced communities often have fewer opportunities to engage in high-quality arts programming due to cuts in arts education that disproportionately…
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State Funding to Support Out-of-School Time Programming in Pennsylvania
Out-of-school-time (OST) refers to programs that offer students activities after school and/or during the summer. Despite evidence of significant benefits and a clear demand from families, Pennsylvania has no dedicated state funding to provide OST…
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Addressing Structural Barriers to High School Graduation: Examining the Impacts of the Éxito program at Kensington Creative and Performing Arts
Earning a high school diploma is a milestone that has been linked to many later life outcomes, from employment to incarceration to physical health, and impacts society as a whole through tax revenues and government…
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Costs And Quality in Virtual/Hybrid Summer Youth Employment Programming
Since 2003, Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN), a Philadelphia-based non-profit organization, has provided young people summer employment opportunities through the WorkReady program. In Spring 2020, as a result of the impact of COVID-19, PYN pivoted WorkReady…
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Afterschool Programs: A Review of Evidence Under the Every Student Succeeds Act
Afterschool Programs: A Review of Evidence Under the Every Student Succeeds Act reviews research from 2000 to 2017 and finds 128 afterschool programs with research that meets the requirements of ESSA’s top three tiers. Of…
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Afterschool Evidence Guide: A Companion to A Review of Evidence Under the Every Student Succeeds Act
The Afterschool Evidence Guide, a companion to Afterschool Programs, provides detailed, individual descriptions of the afterschool programs with evidence that meets the research requirements of ESSA’s top three tiers. The guide also includes summaries of…
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Designing for Engagement: The Experiences of Tweens in the Boys & Girls Clubs’ Youth Arts Initiative
A 2013 Wallace-commissioned report pointed to 10 principles that small, high-quality, arts-focused youth organizations appear to share. Four years later, RFA’s investigation into Wallace’s Youth Arts Initiative showed that the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), a multi-faceted…