September 17, 2018

Projects and activities that engage and interest students can go a long way toward reducing behavioral problems in your 21^st CCLC program. A strategic behavior management plan, however, can target problem areas and help your staff and students stay focused and productive. Your plan doesn’t have to be elaborate, but it should be targeted. Here are three information sources you can use as starting points:   

Behavior reports from the school. What trends do you see that need to be addressed? How might your program work with school-day staff, families and students to better understand these trends? Does the school use Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) or some other system to address these problems? What strategies might be appropriate for addressing behavioral issues and trends in a 21^st CCLC setting? These are questions you can explore alongside school-day staff.

Observational data from your program staff. What behavioral issues has your program identified through formal or informal observations? What additional information or training does your staff need to understand the underlying issues? What strategies can you use to address these issues? For example, if problem behaviors are most likely to occur during certain activities or routines, are there changes you could make to reduce the likelihood of recurrence? 

IEPs and Section 504 plans. If a student in your program has one of these plans, discuss the plan with the school’s special education teacher(s) to make sure you know about any behavioral goals and strategies that are written into these plans. Identify specific ways your program can support these goals and strategies. 

You can use this information to identify and prioritize behavioral goals and strategies to implement in your program. For example, if you decide bullying is a significant problem, you might start by asking staff to read our Y4Y blog post on preventing bullying. Follow up with a meeting to discuss the resources and strategies mentioned in the post. Agree on specific steps for immediate intervention and long-term prevention. (The Y4Y Incorporating Multiple Viewpoints Checklist can help your staff consider practices that support a safe, respectful and inclusive environment.) Write down your goal and what steps you’ll take, and check in with staff regularly to assess progress and adjust your approach as needed.

Whatever your goal, the key is to keep it simple and be strategic. You can’t prevent or “fix” every problem behavior, but you can make a positive difference if you have a goal, a plan and the commitment to follow through.

August 21, 2018

The start of the program year always brings a mad scramble to get staff. You know you need the right number of people and the right qualifications to be successful. But what does “right” mean? You may be tempted to hire anyone who is interested, so you have enough adults for the number of students you plan to serve. However, many program directors would advise you to take time to be selective. If you truly get the right people, you will have a higher quality of programming and fewer turnover issues.

Define the Job and the Qualifications

Do you have job descriptions for every position in your program? If not, don’t worry; job descriptions don’t have to be long and complicated. Sit down with your planning team and discuss what you need for each role you want to fill. If you need an algebra tutor, your ideal candidate would most likely be a math teacher. For a gardening class, teacher certification is not vital; this person needs to know how to connect with young people and grow plants. Be sure to describe any work outside of the actual program. For example, does the position require creating lesson plans? Be very clear about the schedule and time commitment. Explain how long each class or program day is, how many days per week are needed, and how many weeks the commitment will last. If all staff are required to attend weekly staff meetings, spell that out. Being clear and specific in your description makes it more likely you will find the right person.

Look Beyond the School for Candidates

When you have defined qualifications, think outside the box about where to look for staff. If the math teachers in your school are not interested in algebra tutoring, think about other teachers. Is there a science or special education teacher with experience teaching algebra? Because your position is different from what they do all day, they might enjoy the change. A retired math teacher would know the content and how to work with students, and might enjoy a fun, part-time connection with youth. For a gardening position, ask around the school for avid gardeners, check with families about their gardening skills, or talk to a local Extension agent. The math teacher who turned down the algebra tutoring might love to lead a gardening club. Explore hobbies and other interests to discover new ways school staff can engage with students. High school and college students are other great resources. While not all students can create lesson plans, many can implement existing curriculum and bring fresh excitement and energy to activities. An education or math major might be a great fit for that algebra position.

Consider Motivation and Engagement Style

You want your staff to have skills that match your needs but you don’t want the extra money they will make to be their sole motivation. You want people who are excited to engage with your students and will contribute to a positive program culture. To get a feel for fit, many programs use scenario-based interviewing. Ask an applicant how they would respond to situations that occur in an out-of-school time setting. You might ask about managing behavior, engaging with families, or teaching a specific topic. Think about your program values and how you want staff to engage with students. If the program emphasizes project-based learning, ask the candidate to describe how they would design a project. Some programs will have an applicant volunteer for a day or two to see how they interact with students and other staff, or will observe them during a school-day position.

While being intentional with your staff recruitment takes some time, you will be rewarded with great staff who provide high-quality learning experiences, engage positively with your youth, and are committed to your program. To learn more about intentional staff recruitment, check out the Y4Y course on Managing Your 21^st CCLC Program. The course tools include a Sample Human Resources Packet that contains sample job descriptions, interview question examples, ideas about recruiting staff and much more!

August 21, 2018

According to the National Science Foundation, humans have somewhere between 12,000 and 70,000 thoughts each day. Sad to say, up to 80 percent of those thoughts are negative — but we can do something to change that. Educators hear a lot about positive youth development, character education, positive behavior interventions, social emotional learning and positive program climate. Programs that formalize these practices can contribute to building confidence, resilience and happiness for the youth we serve. With or without a formal program, you and your out-if-school time program can immediately implement practices that will start harnessing the power of positivity.

Positive Self-Talk

In Kathryn Stockett’s book, The Help, a little girl learns this mantra: “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.” This is exactly the kind of positive self-talk we want to encourage in our students. How often have you heard a student say, “I’m not good at…” or “I can’t…”? Make a conscious effort to help them rephrase those thoughts more positively: “I’m getting better at…” or “I’m learning how to…” When you take the time to restate something in a positive way, you help a child train their brain to think more positively. You might ask students to develop a positive mantra for the program and individual mantras for themselves. Devote a quick minute each day to repeating those mantras and further developing their positive self-image.

Gratitude

Students can get caught up in the game of comparison: someone else has fancier belongings or is more skilled at a sport. Help students realize their natural abilities and identify their strengths. Consider having students start gratitude journals. Processing thoughts for a few minutes a day can build important cognitive skills, and capturing them in a journal develops writing skills. You could start a gratitude sharing practice during snack time. Ask students what they are thankful for that day or what they are looking forward to in the program. Helping students learn to identify and focus on positive things in their world builds a positive world view.

No Complaining

How many complaints do you hear in a typical program day? It’s time to issue a no complaining challenge! We can help students — and ourselves — learn how to respond more positively and effectively to whatever life throws at us. In his book, A Complaint Free World, Will Bowen describes his complaint-free challenge. He uses a 21-day cycle, during which participants wear an arm band and move it from one arm to the other each time they complain. This creates a physical reminder to think more positively. You might have your students create positivity friendship bracelets and try the same challenge. The goal is to keep the bracelet on the same arm for a full 21 days. Students can remind each other not to complain and help each other rephrase thoughts to be more positive.

Norman Vincent Peale said, “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” You can help students change how they view themselves and their world, and lower the percentage of negative thoughts in their day. Try one of these positivity practices and watch the impact on your students and the overall climate of your program. For a ready-to-use professional learning session on positive youth development, download this Y4Y Training to Go. For a quick one-page reference, also grab The 5C’s of Positive Youth Development.

July 16, 2018

How is your summer program going so far? Are students engaged and attending? Retention can be a real challenge this time of year, when you don’t have the automatic incentive of school attendance to support program attendance.

Two keys to retaining students in summer and out-of-school time are family engagement and student engagement. Ideally, you already have some engagement strategies in place. For example, if you’re going to have an attendance contract with incentives for compliance, that needs to be set up at the outset. If you decide to have a parent liaison — a tactic proven to improve retention — you need to recruit a volunteer or part-time staff member well in advance. Here are more ways you can add to your retention toolkit if your current strategies aren’t enough.

Family Engagement

The younger the student population, the more family engagement matters. Here are some ideas for keeping parents and caregivers involved.

• Pick up the phone. Call families of children who’ve missed more than a day or two. Let them know their child’s participation is important to the child and to the program.
• Send materials home. Keep families engaged by showcasing what their children are doing. Suggest “conversation starters” about an aspect of program content that families can discuss together, followed by simple activities the whole family can do at home — find examples here.
• Set up a family meeting. Involve whole families in program content with a fun, active event.
• Recruit family members to help with programming. It’s not too late to get family members who aren’t at work during the program day to help with field trips, games, art activities, reading aloud or any activity where you could use an extra (untrained) adult.
• Make a “good news” call. Boost retention by calling families to report children’s academic or behavioral gains.

Student Engagement

Keeping young people involved in program content and activities is important no matter the age group. It’s especially vital for high school and older middle school youth, whose parents have less influence over their attendance and who juggle other priorities that compete with program attendance. 

These ideas for engaging students are long-term strategies, but now’s a great time to start!

• Set up a culture of high expectations. An environment in which students hold one another accountable will go further than any number of reminders from adults.
• Get students involved in authentic work. You’ll get built-in motivation from project-based learning that delivers products with tangible benefits for the students or the community. Use this checklist with students and staff to gauge participation levels.
• Tap into the power of peer groups. Students are more likely to show up when they know their group needs their creativity and input — and will miss them if they’re gone.
• Support staff to build strong relationships. The quality of youth-adult relationships is an important factor for getting young people to come back. Try using positive youth development approaches and other ways to create a positive environment.

If you haven’t already built these retention tactics into your program, what can you add today? What can you put on the planning list for next year?

June 20, 2018

Many site coordinators describe feeling frantic as they wrap up the school year and sprint into summer trying to get things ready at the last minute. Sound familiar? Y4Y can help: Over the past two years, 40 programs across seven states have engaged in structured planning to increase the quality and intentional design of their summer programs and end the summer sprint. Now, you can use their process and learn from practitioners like you across the nation.

The Summer Learning Initiative section of the Y4Y website presents a seven-step process for planning a high-quality summer program. Starting the September before, you will follow a path that begins with building your program team and concludes with reflecting on successes and ways to continuously improve. And, believe it or not, the planning process will have you completely ready for summer before the school year ends!

You can start by downloading a comprehensive Program Implementation Planner to support your planning process. The planner will keep you organized and on schedule while helping you capture important details. It’s also useful for orienting new program leaders, and for getting a head start on planning future summer learning. (Try using it in Google Sheets to achieve a truly collaborative team experience.) As you scroll down the page with the Planner, look for the helpful Sample Planner and and the User Guide, and listen to a podcast that will walk you through the planner tab by tab.

Y4Y’s Summer Learning Initiative section describes each planning step in detail, offers downloadable tools and resources, and provides engaging videos to give you a peek into the experiences and programs of the participating sites. If you missed the Summer Learning Series of webinars, you can access the recordings to help launch your planning. To avoid the dreaded last-minute sprint, start now, and you’ll spring into next summer feeling stress-free and ready for a season chock full of exciting learning!

Seven Steps to a High-Quality Summer Program

1. Build Your Planning Team
2. Conduct a Needs Assessment
3. Set SMART Goals
4. Plan Your Logistics
5. Intentionally Design Activities
6. Intentionally Recruit Students
7. Continuously Improve Your Program