NIOST staff love to read, so we’re sharing a few books from our summer reading that have a connection to out-of-school-time (OST) themes such as professional development or OST experiences.

This month, the second cohort of National Afterschool Matters (NASM) Fellows reaches the end of its tenure as the third cohort prepares to start. Take a look at some of the work published by our first two cohorts of out-of-school-time (OST) professionals during the course of their fellowships, covering professional development, youth development, and how to design engaging OST programs.

As students around the U.S. prepare to head back to school in the coming weeks, we wanted to share some papers from our Afterschool Matters journal that look at the ways that schools and out-of-school-time programs can be effective partners in serving youth.

This week marks National Summer Learning Week, so we're highlighting some papers from our Afterschool Matters journal that showcase the importance of summer learning.

Summer learning loss, the idea that during the summer, students forget months of what they learn during the school year, with low-income students falling even further behind--has for many years been a driving force behind the implementation of comprehensive summer learning programs that blend academic and enrichment learning experiences.

Summer is approaching fast, so we're happy to share two pieces from our National Afterschool Matters fellows on creating engaging summer programs.

Ellen Gannett, NIOST senior strategist and former director, is featured in a new documentary, The History of Afterschool in America.

UPDATE: This position has been filled as of June 10, 2019.

NIOST is hiring! We're seeking a training associate to join our team at Wellesley College and help us increase quality for all in out-of-school time!

May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month! NIOST research and publications show how out-of-school-time programs can invest carefully to ensure the best physical activity programming.

We at NIOST are delighted to celebrate Afterschool Professionals Appreciation Week this week and to offer an extra special "thank you" to all of the out-of-school-time (OST) professionals making a difference in the lives of children across the nation, including our Afterschool Matters Fellows.

Dr. Katie Bouman has been receiving recognition recently for her key contributions to the team that gave us the world's first image of a black hole. We at NIOST are proud of the work being done in out-of-school-time (OST) programs to support girls in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, as evidenced by these articles in our Afterschool Matters journal.

NIOST is going to the National AfterSchool Association (NAA) Annual Convention March 15 to 18 in New York City! Several NIOST staff members and a number of our National Afterschool Matters fellows will be presenting workshops; NIOST Senior Strategist and former Director Director Ellen Gannett will also be given a special Leadership Award.

NIOST, as a founding member of the Healthy Out-of-School-Time (HOST) Coalition, is proud to mark National School Breakfast Week this week, a celebration launched 30 years ago to raise awareness of the availability of the School Breakfast Program to all children.

Out-of-school-time (OST), education, and youth development professionals in mid-career are invited to apply for the National Afterschool Matters (NASM) Fellowship, a one-year leadership development program that better positions them to inform and contribute to the quality of OST programs, practice, and the broader field.

NIOST loves afterschool, so we're taking part tomorrow in the We Love Afterschool campaign from Afterschool Alliance. Here are five reasons why we say #IHeartAfterschool:

As part of our new series, “Get to Know NIOST,” Kathryn A. Wheeler, a research associate at NIOST, recently took some time to answer questions about her work and the idea of quality in out-of-school time.

NIOST researchers recently collected data through a workforce survey to better understand the experiences of out-of-school time (OST) workers and their careers. We will present preliminary findings at the Wellesley Centers for Women Lunchtime Seminar Series on February 28.

This is a season of giving and gratitude, so here are some of the things we’re grateful for in out-of-school time (OST) – and a reminder of how much of an impact gratitude can have in OST and in the lives of children and youth.

We are seeking articles for future issues of Afterschool Matters, a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to promoting professionalism, scholarship, and consciousness in afterschool education. Published by the National Institute on Out-of-School-Time (NIOST) with legacy support from the Robert Bowne Foundation, Afterschool Matters serves practitioners who work with youth in out-of-school time (OST) programs, as well as researchers and policymakers in youth development.

Carla O’Donnell-Rizzo, director of school-based programs at Completely KIDS, and one of the 2017-19 National Afterschool Matters Fellows, writes on the Completely KIDS blog about her research on why it is so hard to hire and retain out-of-school-time (OST) professionals.

The newest issue of Afterschool Matters, the national, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to promoting professionalism, scholarship, and consciousness in the field of afterschool education, reflects on the field’s ability to help provide students with experiences outside of the classroom that give them opportunities to stretch their skills, grow friendships, and challenge their limits.

As part of our new series, “Get to Know NIOST: Working Towards Quality for All,” Kathy Schleyer, Director of Training and Quality Improvement at NIOST, recently took some time to answer questions about her work and the idea of quality in out-of-school time.

The National Afterschool Matters (NASM) Fellowship recently held its second retreat for the latest cohort of NASM Fellows, some of the most experienced and diversely talented professionals in the out-of-school time field.

We're excited about a new book on social and emotional learning (SEL) in out-of-school time -- and how NIOST tools have been shown to effectively assess youths' SEL skills.

September is Fruits & Veggies – More Matters Month. As a co-founder of the Healthy Out-of-School Time Coalition (HOST), NIOST helped develop the developed the National AfterSchool Association Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Standards that recommend a fruit or vegetable at every snack or meal. We’re therefore pleased to share these fun fruit and veggie ideas from NIOST Research Associate Elizabeth Starr, who’s tested them all with her own kids!

State primary elections are wrapping up and election season isn't far behind. Regardless of political beliefs, out-of-school-time programs are helping the next generation of voters become informed and engaged citizens, as research from Afterschool Matters has shown.

As children around the U.S. head back to school, we're highlighting a few articles from Afterschool Matters that show the strong connection between out-of-school-time programs and in-school (and in-life) success.

By Judy Chin, NIOST Project Assistant

It is 8:30am on a Wednesday morning, an hour into this pre-calculus summer preparatory class. There is a buzz and excitement going on inside this particular classroom that can be heard from the other side of the door. Not the behavior I was expecting from rising 11th and 12th graders this early on a summer morning in late July as I visit  this program as part of their continuous quality improvement process.

How can we ensure that students have high-quality learning experiences during afterschool programs? We check the data, of course. To make this possible, the National Institute on Out-of-School Time co-developed the APT (Assessment of Program Practices Tool) -- a self-assessment observation tool that afterschool programs can use to identify where their program stacks up when it comes to organization, learning, skill building, and other key aspects that are tied to positive youth outcomes. But developing the tool was just the first step.

By Elizabeth Starr, NIOST Research Associate

About 20 tweens pile into the unassuming studio space of their ballet school in mid-July. There are no frills here. The waiting area is small and a bit disheveled; the cinderblock building has seen its share of life. But look closer: there’s magic inside.

Most afterschool programs in the U.S. offer fruits and vegetables to children, and doing so is associated with membership in the National AfterSchool Association (NAA) and awareness of its Healthy Eating and Physical Activity (HEPA) Standards, according to a paper co-authored by NIOST researchers.

The National AfterSchool Association (NAA), the lead organization for the advancement of the afterschool professional, has selected the National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) as one of NAA’s 2018 Most Influential in Research and Evaluation. Honorees are distinguished for their contributions to research and evaluation on youth and adolescent development.

“NIOST has been a leader in defining, shaping, and promoting out-of-school time as a distinct professional field with evidence-based quality standards for 39 years,” said Georgia Hall, director of NIOST. “We have had the pleasure of not only conducting large and investigator-initiated research, we’ve partnered with on-the-ground program staff to help them measure quality outcomes for all, assess the effectiveness of policies and practices, benchmark against best practices, and develop in-house evaluation skills. We’re proud of this work and the recognition by the National AfterSchool Association.”

Georgia Hall contributed an article to the Women Change Worlds blog on June 21, 2018. She wrote:

"As a country we seem to be moving far away from the nurturing and sustaining activity of the settlement houses of our past. The first settlement house, established in New York City’s Lower East Side – Neighborhood Guild – was founded by Stanton Coit, and just a few years later came Hull House in Chicago, materializing through the passionate vision of Jane Addams.

Summer isn’t just about basketball hoops, sprinkler parks, and popsicles. It’s an ideal time to help adolescents and children catch up on building their reading, writing, and math skills.

“Summer experiences and out-of-school time should be embraced as opportunities to not only help put children on more equal footing when they return to the classroom, but to empower youth so that they return with improved self-esteem and have more positive experiences within the school community,” reports Georgia Hall, Ph.D., director and senior research scientist of the National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST).

NIOST applauds the National AfterSchool Association (NAA) for its new Afterschool Tech Toolkit, which aims to help integrate technology in afterschool programs and to ensure equitable access to digital learning opportunities, especially in underserved communities. Research in NIOST's Afterschool Matters journal has long shown the importance of out-of-school-time (OST) programs in promoting technology and STEM learning, and offers further ideas for effective, equitable programming.

Wellesley College, home of the National Institute on Out-of-School Time, has a significant connection to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, site of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting.

During Afterschool Professionals Appreciation Week, the National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) celebrates the professionals who enhance our youths' healthy development in out-of-school time programs. Learn why in this new video.

Going to the American Educational Research Association annual meeting in New York this week? Catch our session on "Identifying Cultural Biases: Reflections From Developing Video-Based Training for the After-School Program Practices Tool."

This coming weekend is March Madness, the collegiate basketball championships, a good time to consider the social, policy, and bureaucratic issues that affect women in NCAA basketball. Watch researchers from NIOST and colleagues from the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW) and Wellesley College, discuss wins, losses, and fouls in a recent lunchtime seminar.

The National Institute on Out-of-School Time applauds Congress' passage last week of funding for 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) and other out-of-school-time (OST) programs for fiscal year 2018.

NIOST's research-based and field-tested tools to assess out-of-school-time program quality and youth outcomes now have new ways to measure social emotional learning (SEL)!

NIOST research scientists and trainers will be presenting at next week's National AfterSchool Association Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. Come and see us!

NIOST, as a founding member of the Healthy Out-of-School-Time (HOST) Coalition, is proud to mark National School Breakfast Week this week!

In the hit movie Black Panther, the fictional Wakandans of Africa establish a center in Oakland, California, to be run by two women, one of whom is a scientific genius responsible in large part for the Wakandans' technological advancements. One might assume that STEM learning, particularly for girls, will form a big part of the program at the center. In real-life Oakland, however, the afterschool STEM program Techbridge is already having a positive impact on girls' lives through equity-oriented "making" activities, as this article from a recent Afterschool Matters journal shows.

ASM Journal Editor Georgia Hall is reminded by the newest cohort of NASM Fellows of how much OST practitioners have in common.

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Deadline for article submissions is Jan 10th for the Fall 2018 issue.

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A new, free professional development resource, After School Gets Moving, offers a media-based professional development intervention for afterschool practitioners.

For Immediate Release: March 19, 2014

The National AfterSchool Association (NAA) this week announced its list of the 25 most influential people in the afterschool community, and Ellen Gannett, M.Ed., director of the National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) at the Wellesley Centers for Women (WCW), Wellesley College, is among the honorees.

NIOST trained 7 Master Trainers in the After-School Quality (ASQ) process of program improvement to build capacity across Pennsylvania as part if their Continuous Quality Improvement efforts. The training took place in Harrisburg and Grove City (East and West, PA) Sept 16-19.

Georgia Hall, Ed.D., senior research scientist at the National Institute on Out-of-School Time (NIOST) at the Wellesley Centers for Women, met with the White House Let's Move! staff in mid-August. Along with representatives of several other national organizations, Hall discussed the valuable role of NIOST.

Wallace Foundation Releases Core Competencies

"The Wallace Foundation has made available the Strong Directors/Skilled Staff: Guide to Using the Core Competencies that NIOST put together for the New York Department of Youth and Community Development. This handbook outlines key skills - "core competencies" - needed by after-school program directors and those they supervise. It also offers guidance and tools on how to develop the skills, including questionnaires that managers and youth workers can use to determine their strengths and weaknesses." Read more here.

Georgia S. Hall, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, National Institute on Out-of-School Time, Wellesley College is profiled in Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Active Living Research.

Twenty-seven educators, program administrators and funders came together on September 14, 2012 to begin a year-long journey of exploring their practice and contributing to the growth of knowledge about the field of youth development. To read more about the kickoff of the National Afterschool Matters Fellowship Program (NASMFP) in New York City, click here.

For immediate release
June 18, 2012

A Commentary by Ellen Gannett, M.Ed.
Director, National Institute on Out-of-School Time at the Wellesley Centers for Women

The Forum for Youth Investment, a non-profit, non-partisan action tank, has released a review of youth outcome tools. According to the Forum for Youth Investment, "Everyone who runs a youth program believes in their hearts that their program helps kids - but in their heads, they know they need convincing data to prove it. A new guide from the Forum for Youth Investment - From Soft Skills to Hard Data: Measuring Youth Program Outcomes - is here to help them get the data they need.

TheY Makes Commitment to Advance First Lady's Efforts to Keep Kids Healthy

Wendy Surr's Youth Participatory Research Project was featured in the latest Research and Action Report by the Wellesley Centers for Women. The Research and Action Report looks at the activities and initiatives at WCW. To read the feature, click here.