M O S T :: Mapping Out of School Time

ASSESSMENT : REPORTS

Link	Description	Publisher
REVIEW OF ADEQUACY FOR HSE CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES	Section 8 of the Child Care Act, 1991 states that the Health Service Executive (HSE) should prepare an annual report on the adequacy of child care and family support services, making this available to the Minister and other stakeholder bodies. The determination of adequacy is an ongoing process of review and reflection in order to improve the planning, development and delivery of effective services.	Tusla 2012
What’s the Plan? A Logic Model Resource Youth Workes	Over the last several years, the concept of outcomes focused work and quality assurance has come to increasingly underpin the delivery of child and family services in Ireland. Using an outcomes focused approach ensures that emphasis is placed on what the desired result will be instead of focusing on the number of outputs achieved.	FOROIGE Best Practice Unit 2013
State of the Nation’s Children 2012	This report provides an analysis of socio-demographic and child well-being indicators. It explores issues in relation to children’s health, education and social, emotional and behavioural outcomes. It also looks at both formal and informal services and relationships. It aims to inform Government policy on children, young people and families.	Irish Gov 2012
Síolta, the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education.	This site contains the Principles, Standards, Components of Quality and Signposts for Reflection which make up the main body of Síolta. The site has been designed to support your engagement with the Framework and may be used by you as an individual practitioner, in working with colleagues in your setting and also as a support for networking with other professional colleagues who work with young children from birth to six years.
Quality Standards Framework for Youth Work	The Quality Standards Framework Initiative aims to be developmental and act as a support tool for organisations and projects to document what is good or even great about what they do, while at the same time providing an opportunity for highlighting areas for continued improvement.	Department of Children and Youth Affairs website
Aistear	NCCA Aistear is the early childhood curriculum framework for all children from birth to six years in Ireland.
Child Trends Evaluating Programme Quality 2008	During the last decade, policy and public attention have focused increasingly on the out-of-school hours, and programs to fill this time have proliferated for children and youth. These programs serve varying purposes, including providing child care and a safe haven, improving academic performance, enhancing general youth development, allowing children to explore their interests, and preventing undesirable behaviours .Defining and measuring quality across diverse programs has been a challenge for the field. This brief identifies some of the advantages of using these tools and suggests a number of quality assessment tools currently available to assess program quality.
Proof Positive	Proof Positive This report explores two questions. First, how do we get practices that are proven to improve children's outcomes embedded within services for children, such as children's centres and schools? What kinds of systemic reforms can be successful in spreading evidence-based, effective programmes at the local level? Second, what is the scope of other types of systemic reform in improving children's outcomes? The pamphlet argues the need for a better understanding about how systems can be made more efficient using evidence-based practice. It also notes the need for further development of the evidence base on the impact that changing processes and structures can have on child outcomes.	Michael Little DEMOS UK 2011
The evaluation of the School Support Programme under DEIS: Changes in pupil achievement in urban primary schools between 2007 and 2013	This report has attempted to summarise achievement outcomes over the early years of the SSP under DEIS. The results are very encouraging, indicating that test scores at all grade levels increased significantly between the collection of baseline data in 2007 and follow-up testing in 2010. Furthermore, outcomes from the most recent round of testing in spring of 2013 indicated that, not only were the initial gains maintained, they were built on between 2010 and 2013. The gains are particularly evident in the junior grades and in schools that have high levels of disadvantage.	ERC 2013
Review NEWB	Review of the National Educational Welfare Board in the context of the Establishment of the Child and Family Support Agency	2012
Growing up In Ireland 13 year olds	School Obesity Family Relations	2012
National Economic and Social Council	Understanding PISA and What It Tells Us About Educational Standards in Ireland	2012
Growing up In Ireland 9Year Olds Report 3	*Growing Up in Ireland – ‘Influences on 9-Year-Olds’ Learning: Home, School and Community’* examines the ways in which children’s recreation outside school can influence their educational achievement. It places children’s activities in the context of their home, school and neighbourhood, highlighting important issues for policy development.	IE ESRI 2012
Celebrating Childhood beyond the School Bell: Framing Policy and Practice for Quality Out of School Services	A QDOOS national consultative process undertaken by Barnardos "Celebrating Childhood beyond the School Bell: Framing Policy and Practice for Quality Out of School Services"	2013
Shared features of High Performing After School Programmes: A follow up to TASC EVALUATION 2005 (fam107)	This study examined high-performing after-school projects funded by The After- School Corporation (TASC), to determine what characteristics, if any, these projects shared. Evaluators reanalyzed student performance data collected during the multi- year evaluation of the TASC initiative to identify projects where the TASC after-school program was especially likely to have contributed to improvements in students’ academic achievement.
After-School Programs and Academics: Implications for Policy, Practice, and Research	This report focuses on the growing program-evaluation literature, observational studies, and commentaries and statements of program standards by practitioners and advocates in the context of OST. The reports begins by showing that after-school programs can have positive academic effects, though many do not. To understand the ingredients of an effective program, it examines empirical reviews of program evaluations, observational studies, and practitioner writings. The report concludes by identifying some promising approaches to program improvement and arguing that research on ways to intervene to improve program effectiveness is the highest priority.
Sustainability Reporting Guidelines	Sustainability reporting is the practice of measuring, disclosing, and being accountable to internal and external stakeholders for organizational performance towards the goal of sustainable development.
The Quality of School-Age Child Care in After-School-Settings	This brief identifies the features of high-quality after-school settings that have emerged from the research and are reflected in program quality tools. It also examines key research linking program quality to positive developmental outcomes; it reviews current practice in program quality assessment; and it offers considerations for policymakers regarding future school-age care decisions in order to promote high-quality programs. Finally, it includes a listing of program quality assessment tools
OST What Works HFRP	This brief looks at 10 years of research on after school programs and finds implications for the future of the after school field. 2008
Companion to HFRP Issues and Opportunities in OST	Research Companion to an Issues and Opportunities in Out-of School Time Evaluation Research Brief From
Evaluation of the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development Out-of-School Time Programs for Youth Initiative 2008	This report describes program implementation and youth experiences in programs for high school youth delivered through the Out-of-School Time Programs for Youth (OST) initiative of the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD). In particular, this report describes OST programs and youth participants under the initiative’s Option I funding category, which is the largest and most comprehensive of the initiative’s three program options and is designed to fund OST programs in neighbourhoods across New York City.
The Evaluation of Enhanced Academic Instruction in After-School Programs: Findings After the First Year of Implementation 2008	This report presents findings, after one year of program implementation, from the Evaluation of Enhanced Academic Instruction in After-School Programs — a two-year intervention and random assignment evaluation of adapted models of regular-school-day math and reading instruction in after-school settings for students in grades 2 through 5
North Carolina Center for Afterschool Programs Self-Assessment and Planning for Quality
Survivors ' Test For Successful After School Initiatives	Can your afterschool and summer programs handle the heat and pressure to survive/be sustained? Take this test and see how your programs score.
Self-assessment schedule for youth work	The self-assessment schedule for youth work is intended primarily as an inspection tool, to be completed by the youth service in advance of an inspection by the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED). The quality statements which form its core are those of the revised framework for inspection which, following consultation, is now being published alongside this self-assessment schedule.	Ofsted
Cultural Partnerships for Youth Curriculum Guide	The Cultural Partnerships for Youth (CPY) Program asks youth to participate in an arts-based afterschool program which meets for three hours a day, three days a week. The program is organized into two twelve-week semesters, for which the youth sign up in September and February. This afterschool program is taught by teaching artists, counselors and social workers, with a site supervisor present every day.	PASE
Evidence-Based Programs to Prevent Children from Entering and Remaining in the Child Welfare System: Benefits and Costs for Washington	The 2007 Washington Legislature directed the Institute to estimate whether “evidence-based” programs and policies can “reduce the likelihood of children entering and remaining in the child welfare system, including both prevention and intervention programs.” In this report, we study three basic questions: Is there evidence that specific programs “work” to improve these outcomes? If so, do benefits outweigh program costs? Finally, what would be the total net gain to Washington if these evidence-based programs were implemented more widely?	Stephanie Lee, Steve Aos, Marna Miller
The Costs of Out-of-School-Time Programs: A Review of the Available Evidence	The Finance Project and Public/Private Ventures are studying the costs of high-quality out-of-school-time programs. The full report, to be published in 2007, was commissioned by The Wallace Foundation as part of its commitment to improve the quality of out- of- school learning opportunities for children and families.To inform this work, the project team reviewed the literature on costs and quality in out-of-school- time programs and in related fields. This report presents the findings of the literature review on costs and includes bibliographies of resources on costs and quality.	By Christianne Lind, Nanette Relave, Sharon Deich, Jean Grossman, and Andrew Gersick PPV
the ARTS career guide welcoming young people into the world of professional arts work	The Arts Career Guide is a crucial component of the arts programs PASE conducts throughout the city, many of which are made possible by the support and leadership of the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation. This guide is designed to provide young people, their families, and those who work with them every day a place to go for information about the amazing diversity of career options in the arts, how to get started, and where to go for free or low-cost programs in New York City.	PASE
Youth Development Outcomes Compendium		Elizabeth C. Hair, PhD., Kristin A. Moore, PhD.,David Hunter, PhD., and Jackie Williams Kaye, M.P.H.
Organizational Self Assessment	This Organizational Self Assessment is an instrument to assist your organization in identifying your strengths and challenges. Use it as a learning tool and decision-making aid in determining how you would like to move forward in enhancing the sustainability of your organization	Bailey House,
National Collaboration for Youth Competency Observation Assessment Tool	The tool can be used by front-line youth workers, peers, mentors and coaches to provide examples of what each competency looks like and by supervisors to assess the level to which a youth worker has developed the competencies needed to work effectively with youth. It can also be used as a training outline to assist trainers in describing an organization’s expectations for youth worker behaviour and attitudes. Assessment tools are designed to be coaching tools, not performance reviews, so that individual staff member’s competencies can be gauged and plans made to ensure progress toward skills development.	National Collaboration for Youth
Building a Common Outcome Framework to Measure Nonprofit Performance		What Works/Urban
An Investment in Quality: Services, Inclusion and Enterprise	Since 1986, the National Economic and Social Council has produced five reviews of economic and social policy. These reports - A Strategy for Development (1986), A Strategy for the Nineties (1990), A Strategy for Competitiveness, Growth and Employment (1993), Strategy into the 21st Century (1996), and Opportunities, Challenges and Capacities for Choice (1999) have documented developments of the Irish economy and society, and provided a framework for the negotiation of the national social partnership agreements. The Council has now completed a sixth review of economic and social strategy. The "Overview, Conclusions and Recommendations" of this review were published in November, 2002 as NESC Report No. 110. The Council is now publishing the main report from which those recommendations and conclusions were derived.	NATIONAL ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL
Framework for the inspection of local education authorities	This revised framework for the inspection of local education authorities (LEAs) constitutes the basis for continued inspections of LEAs by Ofsted and the Audit Commission from January 2004. Many LEAs have been inspected twice, and the outcomes of that work have helped foster the development of this inspection regime that aims for sharper, shorter inspections to assist LEAs in their task of supporting schools	Ofsted
Inspecting Youth work	A revised frame word for inspection 2001	Ofsted
National Youth Agency Enjoying and Achieving:	The implications for youth work of Every Child Matters	Jill Jones
Guide to SELF-EVALUATION for EMPLOYMENT projects	Evaluation is not an exact science, and the guide does not attempt to lay down fixed rules for self-evaluation. Instead, it offers a framework for the design and use by project managers of self-evaluation procedures, appropriate to the activities of their own projects, and tailored to the needs and capacities of their own project teams. Like all good ideas, self-evaluation is really very simple. Indeed, self-evaluation is a central part of everyday human behaviour. As we go about our daily tasks, we are constantly engaged in sequences of imagining (planning action), doing (performing practical tasks), and reflecting (evaluating the results of action). Whether we are baking a soufflé or running a business, we review our original plans and our practical actions in the light of our actual experience, and adjust our approaches and methods in order to improve the performance and outcomes of these tasks.	ESF
The New Programming Period, 2007-2013 Indicators for Monitoring and Evaluation : A PRACTICAL GUIDE	This working paper has two major objectives: First, it provides an introduction into the methodology of indicator systems as a management instrument in the framework of Structural and Cohesion Fund programmes; and, second, it provides practical guidance for the authorities and stakeholders in Member States that are responsible for Structural and Cohesion Fund programmes, in particular for the creation of an indicator system as required by the General Regulation on Structural Funds.	ESF
Quality Framework Initiative Guidelines for Centre Development Planning YouthReach Centres 1 & 2	The model of centre development planning outlined in these guidelines will support a centre in developing its centre plan over an eight-month period. The model assumes that the centre has access to a facilitator for a period of five days, spread through the eight months.