Youth Program Quality
Table of Contents
Does program quality really matter? What does it look like?
Quality does matter because meaningful involvement and challenging opportunities in afterschool activities pay off for young people in powerful ways.
When youth are actively engaged in high-quality developmental opportunities, lifelong changes are also taking place in the brain—capacities for planning, decision making, and foreseeing consequences. Conversely, being involved in poor-quality programming can actually have a negative effect.
- Outcomes data showed that quality program-based and other structured afterschool activities, along with adult supervision, improved youth’s conduct and work habits.
- Youth who participate in afterschool activities experience benefits in both academic achievement and behaviors related to school performance:
- Better attitudes toward school and higher educational aspirations
- Higher school attendance rates and less tardiness
- Less disciplinary action (e.g., suspension)
- Lower dropout rates
- Better performance in school, as measured by achievement test scores and grades
- Greater on time promotion
- Improved homework completion
- Increased engagement in learning
While high-quality programs take many different forms, there are several key traits they typically share:
- Managing for program quality (e.g., evaluating and continually working to improve activities)
- High quality staff
- Good programmatic approach
- Youth development competencies
