This document highlights Prime Time Palm Beach County’s Quality Improvement System, which is recognized as one promising systemic effort to improve quality in the afterschool field.
Quality
Every Hour Counts intermediaries have collaborated with key stakeholders in their cities and states, including Statewide Afterschool Networks, to develop local quality standards for expanded learning opportunities. Quality standards provide a common framework for how success should be measured and can assist in developing plans for program improvement. The resources below can serve as a reference for those seeking to promote quality improvement in their own communities.
A System That Works: Highlights of Effective Intervention Strategies in a Quality Improvement System
Achieving, Connecting, Thriving: The ACT Results Framework for Boston Youth
This paper describes the project background and methodology used to develop the ACT framework.
Achieving, Connecting, Thriving (ACT) Framework
This website presents the Achieving-Connecting-Thriving framework, intermediate and long-term outcomes associated with each domain and tools for measuring the outcomes.
Speaking in One Voice: Toward Common Measures for OST Programs and Systems
This document showcases research related to Out-of-School Time (OST), with an emphasis on exploring the factors that contribute to quality and that affect youth development outcomes.
Program Quality Self-Assessment (QSA)
New York State Afterschool Network
The QSA Tool is an instrument used by out-of-school time program providers to assess the quality of their programs and to assist staff and stakeholders in creating an action plan for continuous program improvement.
Guide to Rhode Island After-School Quality Standards
Rhode Island After School Plus Alliance
This guide to Rhode Island After-School Quality standards helps providers, parents and youth understand what quality looks like in afterschool programs. In conversations about afterschool opportunities, afterschool providers across Rhode Island expressed the need for a common language to use for setting goals and measuring progress, which resulted in the development of these quality standards.
Building a System of High-Quality Partnerships
Once cities have expanded learning systems in place, their quality can always be improved. This paper describes a local effort to implement a quality improvement system in Palm Beach County, Fla. and the positive impact such efforts can have on the enrichment activities community organizations provide to youth.
