Big expectations for after-school hours

The Christian Science Monitor
Teresa Mendez
June 28, 2005

After-school programs across the United States supplement academic work and can provide the opportunity for social-emotional growth for children. Despite the growing demand for after-school programs, the purpose of these programs is under scrutiny; should they be academically or recreationally focused? Some say that filling in the gaps in education left by schools is unfair to ask of after-school programs. “Many programs are being asked to produce academic gains without being prepared to do so—meaning they’re working with untrained or poorly trained staff who are poorly paid,” says Joyce Shortt, co-director of the National Institute on Out-of-School Time at the Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College. “They’re asked to produce results that a teacher can’t produce in a school day.”  Read more

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