NPO CONVERSATION

We convened a group of experts to see if the academic standards movement has placed undue pressure on the Out-of-School Time (OST) movement. In a word, their response was No.

These eight leaders from Boston-area nonprofits serve children of all ages from lower-income families. Their organizations are experienced and sophisticated, and exhibit a clear understanding of their own strengths. We asked if the need for proof of academic success had pushed too far into their out-of-school time.

The academic outcomes movement appears to have impacted their OST programs, but not overtaken them. Like good surfers, they have ridden the standards wave, but they have not let the wave overtake them or steer them in directions that they did not want to go.

In summary, these OST leaders are successful in part because they:

• Know their key lever of change (lacrosse, tennis, mentoring), have honed their expertise, and are true to who they are. They are adept at avoiding ‘mission creep’ – and operate close to their core strengths. Their management decisions have been guided primarily by their mission and the communities they serve rather than by federal initiatives or funders’ yard sticks.

• Build bridges with other groups (eg. schools, other OST programs, families, police officers and social workers) to deepen their impact. These leaders realize the complexity of youth development, particularly when combined with the perils of poverty and street violence. Kids have many, overlapping circles of influences. For maximum effect these programs had to move into those other circles.

• Understand the difference between (and the interdependence of) social-emotional wellbeing and academic achievement. Our guests were unanimous in asserting the paramount importance of academic standards to the population they serve, and have added select academic indicators to their measurement tools. Focused on their own role in children’s lives, they have adopted social-emotional measures (e.g. connection to a caring adult) that combine with academic standards as indicators of their own and their community’s success.

Our guests were only a small cross-section but representative of the OST field. They gave us reason to affirm their critical role in many children’s lives, outside of school. Funders are right to ask for indications of OST programs’ effect on academic achievement, but there is so much more:

• Small, agile and self-assured, they offer low-income youth a tremendous range of opportunity and choice. From individualized social work and specialized tutoring to college-centered sports and culturally-rich performing arts instruction, these programs help kids find their true selves in settings that emphasize their strengths and capabilities.

• Organizations in this field are outcomes-focused and highly specialized. These programs are setting their own standards, reflective of their potential impact in children’s lives. The range of their influence includes:

• Community-centered programs: Sportsmen’s Tennis and Enrichment Center bringing high-quality after-school enrichment to youth in a Dorchester neighborhood
• School-centered programs: Boston Debate League and Community Boat Building incorporating their “extracurricular” offerings into the mainstream
• Focus on complex social issues: Girls LEAP tackling violence against women/girls, and YWCA of Boston and Sportsmen’s Tennis fostering a more positive relationship between Boston’s youth and the police
• Population-specific: Youth and Family Enrichment Services serving families in the Haitian community, and Friends of the Children – Boston engaging children from high -risk areas
• Transition to higher ed through sports: Metrolacrosse is among a number of programs promoting personal success, academic achievement and access to higher education through competition in traditionally elitist sports

Youth development is complex, as are factors contributing to academic success. Out of school time is a huge resource and hugely important in addressing the academic achievement gap, but it would be a mistake to measure this gap in narrow terms.

– Phil Hall is the Director of Grantmaking at GMA Foundations. Email phall@gmafoundations.com

You may also be interested in:
The Impact of Youth Development Programs on Student Academic Achievement: a brief prepared by the National Collaboration for Youth