Wellesley Centers for Women
The battle for afterschool care has evolved in the past 20 years from the urgent need to create safe, affordable programs to rising demands for good programs that use afterschool time strategically. Although increasing pressures from the nationwide curriculum reform and standardized testing movements push afterschool programs to focus on academic goals, the precious hours between classroom and family room need to include genuine relationships with caring adults outside the hierarchies of school or family, according to the leaders of the Bringing Yourself to Work (BYTW) program.