After-School Child-Care Programs: A Closer Look at Quality

In a June 2007 study, researchers set out to explore the benefits of having high-quality after-school programs in place for school-age children. The notion of quality tends to be a subjective one, so it is imperative that this term is defined early on. The quality of a program is assessed based on two separate categories. The first focuses on structural features, such as child-to-staff ratios, number of children in a group, qualifications and education level of staff, as well as the training and length of service of the staff. The second focuses on process features, such as youth-adult relationships, youth-adult interactions, variety in program offerings, availability of program resources and activities that promote cognitive engagement, as well as opportunities to promote autonomy and choice. When a community organization seeks to begin a youth program, of any kind, there are eight fundamental principles to guide them:

1. Physical and psychological safety
2. Appropriate structure
3. Supportive relationships
4. Opportunities for meaningful youth involvement
5. Positive social norms
6. Learning-oriented, with skill-building activities
7. Balance of autonomy and structure
8. Connections with school, home, and community

These principles are put forth by a national Committee on Community-Level Programs for Youth. These principles are crucial to developing after-school programs that will promote a wide range of positive developments within children that will arguably affect them throughout the rest of their lives.

The research abstract briefly presented here acts as a springboard to peruse upon the notion of working parents, childcare, and how it all intertwines and affects society as a whole. A poll taken in the year 2003 showed that some 6.5 million children were involved in after-school programs; however an additional 15.3 million children would have participated in after-school programs if they had had access to such programs. These numbers, presumably, have only increased since the 2003 poll data. This leads one to think about the significant portion of the population that is made up of working parents in need of finding after-school programs. This need translates into a race for resources or, in some areas, complete lack thereof aforementioned resources. Parents are placed into positions of just finding programs that are affordable within their budgets and often overlook the more qualitative evaluations of a program. Are their children safe? Are they being treated well? Are the staff nice and this facility clean? These are basic questions that parents on a tight budget ask to insure the well-being of their child. However, the focus should not just be the maintenance of the child’s well-being, but rather the positive enhancement of developing characteristics within that child. The abridged summary of the study presented here showed marked improvement in areas such as work habits, study skills, task persistence, as well as an overall general improved academic performance and overall improved feelings and attitudes.

The current research supports the notion that after-school programs are not all created equal and that there needs to be more expected of these programs. There needs to be affordable after-school child-care that facilitates the growth of a child. No longer will it be acceptable for these programs to simply meet the basic needs of children by supervising from afar, an over-crowded room full of children, providing a snack of cookies and milk, and playing a cartoon movie for the children to watch for hours and hours. Instead, a new standard of after-school child-care is emerging in the shape of these programs that have quality-care and overall developmental enhancement at the heart of their mission. These programs will pioneer the way and will take after-school child-care programs to the next level, well beyond the basic needs version mentioned above, and create a new norm that is both affordable and widely available for working parents everywhere.