Building Effective Afterschool Programs

"This book provides a unique source of information, experience, and evidence that is essential for any educator or policymaker involved in planning afterschool programs for children."
Robert E. Slavin, Codirector
Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk
Johns Hopkins University

Raise the caliber of your afterschool program with these exemplary models and get outstanding results!

Through a comprehensive review of various afterschool programs across the United States, respected authority on program effectiveness, Olatokunbo Fashola, sheds new light on "what works" to increase academic achievement during nonschool hours. Administrators, policymakers, teachers, and researchers can benefit from the examples of both the successes and the shortcomings encountered by their colleagues in the quest to create enhanced learning opportunities in safe and enriching environments.

This unique resource provides a practical overview of the research and best practices that can be easily adapted and applied in the development of highly effective afterschool programs. A complete discussion of the purposes, functions, methodologies, implementation, and evaluation of numerous programs is provided and organized for quick reference.

Building Effective Afterschool Programs features:

• Exploration of critical factors necessary for success, such as planning, training, structure, and content
• Step-by-step overview of how to create effective programs, from needs assessment to the effects of various types of programs on children
• Straightforward guidance on how to evaluate the effectiveness of afterschool programs, including design models
• Real-life examples that can be implemented to build afterschool programs with specific goals, including literacy improvement, enrichment of nonremedial skills, enhancement of volunteer tutoring programs, and cultural and character development through community-based programs

Olatokunbo (Toks) S. Fashola is a senior research fellow with Optimal Solutions Group and an adjunct research scientist and faculty associate at Johns Hopkins University. She has served as principal investigator, evaluator, and advisor for several programs and program evaluations across the country.

Prior to joining the Optimal Solutions Group, Fashola was the research director of the Comprehensive School Reform Center at the American Institutes for Research (AIR), where she was primarily responsible for the evaluation and production of AIR Reports. This work involved reviewing and evaluating the effectiveness of K-12 programs. Fashola was also involved in the National Longitudinal Study of the No Child Left Behind Act (NLS-NCLB) and served as a senior content advisor for the What Works Clearinghouse in the area of high school dropouts.

Her more recent work addresses the education of African American males, afterschool programs, schoolwide reform, and program evaluation and rigorous research in general and special education.

Toks Fashola is the editor of Educating African American Males: Voices From the Field (Corwin Press, 2005) and wrote some of the book’s chapters. She wrote Building Effective Afterschool Programs (Corwin Press, 2001) and Show Me the Evidence!: Proven and Promising Programs for America′s Schools. Fashola has also served as an author of book chapters in Effective Programs for Latino Students.

Fashola has served on panels to reputable organizations such as the U.S. Department of Education′s IES and the National Academy of Science′s Committee on Research in Education as well as the National Science Foundation. Her work has been featured on National Public Radio (NPR) and on Public Broadcasting Services (PBS).

She has served as an expert witness in the area of desegregation and currently serves on the National Education Steering Committee of the Campbell Collaboration, an international methods organization dedicated to conducting systematic reviews of academic and social science research. Fashola also serves as a national advisor to the Boys and Girls Club of America.

Toks Fashola’s areas of interest include reading, early childhood education, data-driven decision-making, afterschool programs, high school dropouts, emergent and adolescent literacy, and research methods.