National Center on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment Resource Library

Staffing shortages preceded the pandemic, but have been exacerbated by them, leading to a drop in capacity to enroll and serve youth at a time that these supports are most needed. This issue brief, published by Temescal Associates and How Kids Learn Foundation, explores the reasons for the staffing shortage, the impact, and potential strategies that keep equity in the forefront. A companion webinar, Responding to the Afterschool Worker Shortage, can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHhOwZxWm20&ab_channel=HowkidsLearn

This slide deck presents research on how parents, teachers, and Out-of-School Time (OST) providers perceive the value of OST in children’s social, emotional, and academic development. A companion toolkit, available in Spanish too, includes a video of research highlights and a playbook for educators, providers, and advocates to communicate the benefits of OST programs and develop policies that make these opportunities more accessible https://bealearninghero.org/ost-toolkit/. 

There’s also a webinar called Making the Case for OST: The Perspectives of Parents, Educators, and Providers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7e8zl3zCN4&ab_channel=IanF

This webinar shares information from a study about the state of relationships in schools and Out-of-School Time (OST) programs in Minnesota by the Search Institute. The study shows that only 60% of youth report having a strong developmental relationship with an adult, with only 38% saying they had a strong relationship with an adult in school and 73% in OST. It explores barriers and how we as adults can do better in building relationships, especially important in these times of the pandemic. The related study is The State of Relationships: Young People's Relationships with Adults in Minnesota Schools and Out-of-School Time Programs.  https://www.search-institute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/IE-State-of-Relationships-Report-PFINALv2-1.pdf

This report summarizes findings from focus groups and interviews from four states (WI, MA, CA, FL) about why family child care providers enter the field, stay in the work, or leave the field. Reasons cited for leaving include early childhood systems and policies such as challenges with licensing, as well as the lack of support and respect. The report includes implications for future research and for policies. 

Given the prominence of the child care licensing system, it is important to determine how it can be more equitable on behalf of the providers, and the children and families it serves. This issue brief provides questions for licensing administrators and their staff to help identify and consider inequities in the licensing systems. The questions are organized into eight sections: (1) licensing leadership; (2) licensing staff; (3) communication; (4) provider and family voices; (5) data and evaluation; (6) regulations; (7) pre-licensure and initial support for providers; and (8) provider training and technical assistance.  

See the excellent related webinar, Role and Responsibility of Licensing in Achieving Equity in the Early Childhood System

This issue brief outlines eight strategies with state examples for improving child care compensation: (1) compensation scales and standards; (2) wage stipends and bonus payments, (3) tax credits for child care educators; (4) ARPA stabilization subgrants; (5) child care assistance; (6) benefits; (7) apprenticeships; and (8) Pre-K parity for child care. Although focused on early childhood, these strategies are applicable to the school-age field too. There is also a webinar, Child Care Compensation Counts: 8 Strategies, with panelists from IL, DE, and PA to share work they are doing on compensation scales and wage stipends. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDHxRseiRa8

BUILD hopes to hold provide more events on the other six strategies. This resource supports equity. 

This issue brief, published by Temescal Associates and How Kids Learn Foundation, outlines how out-of-school time (OST) programs can provide a professional pathway into relieving the national teacher shortage, which has worsened during the pandemic. There are advantages to this pathway such as: (1) knowledge and skills that OST professionals gain are similar to those required of teachers; (2) many OST professionals are people of color who bring a unique understanding of the communities youth come from; and (3) surveys show that OST professionals are interested in this pathway. The brief includes interviews with system planners and participants in teacher pathway programs. A companion webinar can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct95g7qPaAY&ab_channel=HowkidsLearn

Every Hour Counts is a national network of 28 city intermediaries who have launched a Workforce Development Workgroup to identify strategies to recruit, retain, and support the workforce during the current staffing crisis. Ideas include increasing compensation, creating cooperatives to provide benefits, offering sabbaticals and family medical leave for those experiencing burnout, and finding a way to increase supports to directors who are also experiencing burnout.

This revised IACET accredited professional development module developed by the National Center on Afterschool and Summer Enrichment (NCASE) in collaboration with the National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning (NCECDTL) addresses several aspects of Out-of-School Time (OST): history of the field, children and families' needs, workforce needs, and qualities and responsibilities of an effective OST professional.

Inequity is commonly associated with groups that suffer from discrimination related to their race, ethnicity, nationality, language, religion, class, gender, sexual orientation, or disabilities. Out-of-School (OST) programs and organizations can explore implementing accountability strategies to help reduce inequities that are a result of limited access to resources and services.  

The Equity Planning Checklist is designed to support OST programs and organizations in fully assessing policies and practices that foster equity.  This checklist includes guiding questions to consider during system-wide equity planning and implementation.