The Harvard Family Research Project separated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to become the Global Family Research Project as of January 1, 2017. It is no longer affiliated with Harvard University.
Volume XII, Number 1 & 2, Fall 2006
Issue Topic: Building and Evaluating Out-of-School Time Connections
Special Feature
Professional Development Revisited
Professional development is important for ensuring quality in out-of-school time (OST) programs. In our last issue, we examined the evaluation of professional development in OST and other human service fields. Below, we highlight new resources that have come to our attention since the publication of that issue.
Harvard Family Research Project. (2006). Changing the conversation about workforce development. Cambridge, MA: Author. Building on the theory of change for human service workforce development outlined in the last issue of The Evaluation Exchange, this report submitted to Cornerstones for Kids uses findings from an empirical literature review and key informant interviews to draw conclusions about the methodological and content limitations of research on workforce development and their impact on children. The report also offers 10 recommendations for research, policy, and practice. Coming soon!
The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement. (2006, February). Redefining professional development: Schools can become true learning communities for teachers. Newsletter. The February issue of this monthly newsletter discusses the characteristics of effective professional development, the content focus and format of delivery for professional development, active engagement of teachers, and an expansion of the definition of professional development. www.centerforcsri.org/files/Feb06newsletter.pdf
Roy, P. (2006). Training manual: NSDC's standards for staff development. Oxford, OH: National Staff Development Council. This guidebook presents a plan and supplemental materials for conducting a 1-day workshop to educators on NSDC's standards for staff development. store.nsdc.org
Yoo, J., Brooks, D., & Patti, R. (2004). The role of organizational variables in predicting service effectiveness: An analysis of a multilevel model. Research on Social Work Practice, 15(4), 267–277. This article uses multilevel modeling to examine the role of organizational context in predicting service effectiveness. Organizations whose workers have more routine work, strong leadership qualities, and supervisor and coworker support predict better child outcomes.
National Youth Development Learning Network. (2006, July). Recognition and rewards for youth development workers. Professional Development E-Newsletter. These 4-page e-newsletters explore promising strategies in youth development designed to further attract, develop, and retain youth development workers. The July 2006 issue presents the benefits of and strategies for providing recognition and rewards. www.nydic.org
Out-of-School Time Resource Center. (2006). The OSTRC conference evaluation toolkit. Philadelphia, PA: Author. Developed by OSTRC as described in the last issue of The Evaluation Exchange, this tool kit is now available. This new resource introduces tool kit surveys, discusses how to use the tool kit for evaluation, and shares useful templates for planning conference evaluation. www.sp2.upenn.edu/ostrc/conference_eval/index.html