Building the After-School Field

	THE CENTER FOR AFTER-SCHOOL EXCELLENCE » The after-school workforce is diverse by design. After-school educators include teachers, artists and other specialists, youth workers, parents, and high school and college students. Many after-school educators do not have college degrees, and they face steep barriers to beginning or completing college and finding courses in the field of after-school. In 2006, TASC launched The Center for After-School Excellence, an initiative to expand higher education opportunities for after-school educators by helping them earn credits or degrees in the after-school field at the university level. » Visit website

The past decade has seen dramatic expansion in the quality and quantity of after-school programs for kids, and in practitioners’ understanding of how to structure programs and train staff to help kids achieve the best possible outcomes. Yet there is still a long way to go, and millions more families who need great after-school programs. TASC is dedicated to building the after-school field in these and other ways:

• By encouraging and pursuing research on the practices that lead to the best outcomes for children
• By developing, and encouraging the development of content and curriculum ideally suited for delivery through after-school
• By working with after-school organizations to develop common measures of accountability, and encouraging programs to adopt them
• By working with after-school organizations to broaden their understanding of quality, and maintaining a relentless focus on enhancing the quality of kids’ experiences
• By strengthening the alignment between school-day and after-school learning
• By expanding training and higher education opportunities for the after-school workforce
• By working to build after-school systems in cities across the nation
• By informing city, state and national policy
• By sharing lessons TASC has learned in nearly a decade of developing and evaluating a system of comprehensive after-school programs in New York City