New brief highlights how policymakers and practitioners are expanding access to OST programming for low-income students

The National Academies’ Board on Children, Youth and Families developed a 16-member committee of field experts to conduct a consensus study on learning and development in K-12 out-of-school-time (OST) settings, including before-school, afterschool, and summer programs. The committee’s review will focus on students from low-income backgrounds in urban, rural, and suburban contexts. To support this study, the committee held a three-part workshop from October 2023 to April 2024, to hear from various stakeholders, including state officials, students, and program staff, about their efforts and experiences in supporting, expanding, and participating in OST programs within low-income communities.

The committee’s recently released brief, “Promoting Learning and Development in K-12 Out-of-School Time Settings," summarized some of the major themes discussed during the workshops. Expanding equitable access arose as a key issue among speakers throughout the sessions.

At the program level, practitioners spoke about the intersectional barriers that can prevent programs intended for under-resourced communities from actually reaching those communities. Providers addressed barriers to access by incorporating solutions to obstacles within their program structure. For instance, speakers raised transportation as one of the most pressing barriers to participation, which prompted programs such as Life Pieces to Masterpieces to provide transportation to and from their students’ homes to ameliorate the difficulties that would prevent students and families from accessing the program. In addition, the location in which programs operate can ease the burden of transportation; some speakers suggested the importance of meeting students and staff where they are naturally, such as public schools or in their neighborhoods.

Speakers at the national, state, and local levels identified investment in OST as another major obstacle in increasing access to OST programs, especially in low-income communities. Using American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding, the Georgia State-Wide Afterschool Network (GSAN) developed the Building Opportunities and Out-of-School-Time (BOOST) program to provide grants to OST programs serving historically under-resourced communities, with the goal of expanding access and improving programmatic quality. In addition to allowing grantees to dedicate funds toward transportation and enrollment fees to increase accessibility, the BOOST grants also set aside $5 million to support funding for applicants who were not competitive in the grant process, which was an issue echoed by Melissa Sadorf, president of the National Rural Education Association. To support funding capacity and program expansion in rural settings, Sadorf suggests asset mapping and a shared programming model that allows rural communities to pool allocations for shared services like transportation.

Along with pooling resources, other collaborative strategies, such as cross-system partnerships, were hailed as viable and efficient methods for expanding access. National and statewide intermediaries like Every Hour Counts and Nashville After Zone Alliance (NAZA) recognize the extensive nature of OST programming and coordinate entities such as governments, school districts, nonprofits, and libraries to create systems that can streamline the allocation of resources, build coalitions for advocacy, and support program quality through data collection and evaluation, and workforce development. In addition, as noted by Jessica Donner of Every Hour Counts, “intermediaries have connections with nonprofits in ways the school system does not, which helps to drive resources to youth who have low access to OST programs.”

Partnerships and relationship building were also important within programs. Practitioners noted that fostering and strengthening partnerships amongst programs, schools, and communities is key to building trust and expanding access to after-school programming. Susan Sekaquaptewa from the University of Arizona’s Tribal Extension Program (a part of 4-H) highlighted that the program is developed in collaboration with youth participants and works closely with the Hopi Tribe — the community it serves, as all program staff are members of that community. Likewise, Momentum Bike Clubs, which serves Title I students, partners with teachers from their affiliated schools to serve as mentors and recruit students into the program. In both programs, leveraging community and developing positive relationships between the students, the programs, and their schools has been critical in expanding access and awareness.

Other key themes discussed in the public sessions include program and job quality, youth voice and leadership, and staff challenges, which are detailed in the full brief. The National Academies’ full study, which is sponsored by The Wallace Foundation, is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2025.