The William T. Grant Foundation recently awarded two grants to support improvements to learning environments for youth. The first grant funds the improvement of a cost-effective measure of after-school program quality. The second is focused on the development and testing of non-traditional expanded school day options—including apprenticeships—that can, if successful, be used nationally.

“These two grants address important needs in the after-school community—cost-effective measurement of program quality and expanded days for older youth,” said Foundation President Robert C. Granger.

Information about each of these grants follows. Those seeking further information are invited to contact the principal investigators.

Research
Assessing the Viability of Staff Surveys as a Measure of After-school Program Quality
Neil Naftzger, M.P.A.
American Institutes for Research
$125,000
2011–2012

What are the strengths and limitations of staff surveys as measures of after-school program quality? In recent years, the development of effective interventions to improve the quality of after-school programs has led to efforts to identify efficient methods of assessing the quality of those interventions. Observation-based systems have been useful, but are prohibitively expensive. Surveys of after-school staff—such as the After-school Program Quality Staff Survey (APQSS) developed by the investigator and his colleagues—are more cost-effective. The APQSS has been refined over the past three years and is already being used widely. With this grant, Naftzger and his colleagues will improve the APQSS by examining its accuracy and consistency, the viability of using it to measure program quality, and the links between the survey measure and student achievement outcomes. For this study, the investigator will use APQSS surveys from 1,001 after-school practitioners completed during the 2008–09 and 2009–10 school years in one eastern state, as well as Youth Program Quality Assessment (YPQA) observational data and student surveys. This grant addresses the need for low-cost, reliable measures of program quality in after-school settings.

Advocacy and Communications
Expanded Learning Time for High School Students
Lucy Friedman, Ph.D.
The After-School Corporation
$125,000
2011–2012

The After-School Corporation (TASC) will develop and test a high school Expanded Learning Time (ELT) model that can be scaled nationally. The model aims to improve college and career outcomes by engaging schools and community organizations to redesign the traditional school day. These school-community partnerships will develop and support expanded learning opportunities for students, including apprenticeships and non-traditional credit-earning activities. Funds will be used to: (1) form a national advisory group of practitioners, researchers, and other leaders to address conceptual questions and influence the development of the model; (2) launch a high school ELT pilot in three to five schools in New York City; and (3) conduct a fiscal analysis of public and private funding streams to support high school ELT.