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.
A Profile of the Evaluation of New York City Department of Youth and Community Development's OST Programs for Youth Initiative
Profile Information
- Full Text (HTML)
- How to cite
- About the OST Database
Program Description
| Overview | The New York City (NYC) Department of Youth and Community Development’s (DYCD) Out-of-School Time (OST) Programs for Youth Initiative provides funds to support OST programs for elementary, middle, and high school students across NYC. This initiative is designed to address a broad range of developmental objectives for youth and to serve the needs of NYC’s families and communities. |
| Start Date | September 2005 |
| Scope | local |
| Type | afterschool, weekend, summer/vacation |
| Location | urban |
| Setting | public school, community-based organization |
| Participants | elementary through high school students |
| Number of Sites/Grantees | 622 programs (2008) |
| Number Served | 50,618 youth (2005–06); 68,449 youth (2006–07); 81,213 youth (2007–08) |
| Components | Programs operate in NYC schools or community-based organizations (called center-based programs). Trained staff provide a variety of activities including homework assistance, academic support activities, sports/recreational activities, and arts and cultural experiences. The initiative funds three program options. Option I programs serve elementary through high school students and also includes 15 “Priority Middle Schools” in which OST programs collaborate with state-approved Supplemental Educational Services providers to offer intensive services to youth. Option II programs serve students of any grade level and use private match funds to subsidize at least 30% of their OST budgets. Option III programs collaborate with the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation on three different types of programs: therapeutic recreation and educational services for youth with disabilities, academic support programs, and life skills programs that help youth learn how to manage their finances. |
| Funding Level | over $44 million in 2005–2006; over $117 million in 2008–2009 |
| Funding Sources | NYC DYCD |
| Other | DYCD contracted with the Partnership for After School Education (PASE) to provide technical assistance and professional development workshops for OST program staff. |
Evaluation
| Overview | Designed to report on the initiative’s first 3 years, the evaluations examine program characteristics and attendance; participants’ social, emotional, and academic outcomes; and the initiative’s capacity to assist working parents and improve community-level capacities to serve youth during the OST hours. |
| Evaluators | Policy Studies Associates, Inc. |
| Evaluations Profiled | Report on the First Year Implementation of Programs for High School Youth Report on the Initiative’s First Three Years |
| Evaluations Planned | Policy Studies Associates will continue to evaluate the program, including an evaluation of the OST Transition to High School program. |
| Report Availability |
Russell, C. A., Reisner, E. R., Pearson, L. M., Afolabi, K. P., Miller, T. D., & Mielke, M. B. (2006). Evaluation of DYCD’s Out-of-School Time Initiative: Report on the first year. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates. Pearson, L. M., Russell, C. A., & Reisner, E. R. (2007). Evaluation of OST programs for youth: Patterns of youth retention in OST programs, 2005–06 to 2006–07. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates. Available at: www.policystudies.com/_policystudies.com/files/Year_2_Report.pdf Russell, C. A., Mielke, M. B., & Reisner, E. R. (2008). Evaluation of the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development Out-of-School Time Programs for Youth Initiative: Results of efforts to increase program quality and scale in year 2. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates. Available at: www.nyc.gov/html/dycd/downloads/pdf/ost_evaluation_year_2%20_report.pdf Russell, C. A., Vile, J. D., Reisner, E. R., Simko, C., Mielke, M. B., & Pechman, E. (2008). Evaluation of the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development Out-of-School Time Programs for Youth Initiative: Implementation of programs for high school youth. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates. Russell, C. A., Mielke, M. B., & Reisner, E. R. (2009). Evidence of program quality and youth outcomes in the DYCD out-of-school time initiative: Report on the initiative’s first three years. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates. Available at: www.wallacefoundation.org/KnowledgeCenter/KnowledgeTopics/CurrentAreasofFocus/Out-Of-SchoolLearning/Pages/evidence-of-program-quality-and-youth-outcomes.aspx |
Contacts
| Evaluation | Elizabeth Reisner Founder and Principal Policy Studies Associates, Inc. 1718 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 400 Washington, DC 20009 Tel: 202-939-5323 Fax: 202-939-5732 Email: ereisner@policystudies.com |
|
| Program | Denise Williams Acting Commissioner Out of School Time Programs The City of New York Department of Youth & Community Development 161 William Street New York, NY 10038 Tel: 212-676-9845 Email: dwilliams@dycd.nyc.gov |
|
| Profile Updated | May 9, 2011 | |
Evaluation 2: Implementation of Programs for High School Youth
Evaluation Description
| Evaluation Purpose | To describe youth engagement in OST high school programming, program features and approaches associated with social and educational benefits for youth, and strategies used to build program capacity. |
| Evaluation Design | Non-Experimental: Data were collected on 122 programs serving high school youth in each of the 2005–06 and 2006–07 school years and on 111 programs in operation in fall 2007. Surveys were completed by 110 Option I high school program directors and 1,238 Option I high school participants in spring of 2007. To survey high school participants, evaluators first randomly selected 43 high school programs. Participant data represent the responses of high school participants attending 29 of these 43 randomly selected high school programs in the evaluation’s participant-survey sample (67% of sampled programs). In addition, the evaluators selected eight Option I high school programs as “in-depth” sites: three were part of the randomly selected in-depth sample of 15 Option I programs identified during the first year of the OST evaluation, and the other five were selected based on information available from DYCD Online and DYCD program managers indicating that the programs used varied program models and activity strategies. During visits to the in-depth sites, evaluators conducted interviews with program directors, staff, and youth participants, and observed program activities. |
| Data Collection Methods |
Interviews/Focus Groups: Interviews focused on understanding program implementation and quality, and the factors influencing youth engagement in their OST programs. |
| Data Collection Timeframe | Data were collected from the fall of 2005 to early 2008. Observations were conducted in 2007–2008. |
Findings:
Formative/Process Findings
| Activity Implementation | Over half of high school OST programs offered a wide range of program activities, while the rest tended to focus on a single area that most often reflected the sponsoring organization’s core mission or expertise. Across all OST high school programs, academic enhancement activities and recreational activities were most commonly offered. These and other activities frequently incorporated opportunities for both formal and informal youth leadership and input. Programs provided opportunities for youth to learn about careers and college, participate in internships, and gain understanding of both their local and global communities. |
| Program Context/ Infrastructure | According to interviews, programs focused on two main areas in their efforts to build internal capacity to successfully serve high school youth: (a) improving staff skills and expertise, and (b) maximizing program resources through funds development and external partnerships. Participants reported that their OST programs exposed them to new, beneficial experiences. More than two-thirds of participants “agreed a lot” that they “feel safe” in their program (69%), and more than half felt that “they belong” (59%), they “matter in their program” (56%), and they “are successful in the program: (53%). More than half “agreed a lot” that they “get along well with other participants in the program” (52%), “have a lot of friends in the program” (52%), and “get to know the other participants in the program well” (51%). |
| Recruitment/ Participation | OST programs serving high school students enrolled 8,332 participants in the 2005–06 program year and 13,097 participants in the 2006–07 program year across 122 programs. At the beginning of 2007–08 program year, 8,790 participants were enrolled in 111 programs serving high school. From the initiative’s inception through December 2007, a total of 24,944 high school students have participated in the initiative’s programs. On average, high school participants attended 97 hours of OST programming during the first year of the initiative and 105 hours in the second year. The evaluation identified four features that were typically present in programs that were especially successful in reaching and serving older youth: (a) creative, age-appropriate strategies to recruit youth and encourage their continued participation; (b) staff who could relate to youth and staff with expertise in activity content areas; (c) activities designed to meet the developmental needs of older youth, (e.g., career- and college-oriented activities and leadership opportunities); and (d) program partnerships to increase the fiscal and other resources available to the program. Overall, high school participants in center-based OST programs attended more hours (116 on average) of OST programming than did participants in school-based OST programs (79), consistent with the greater number of program hours offered by center-based programs (373 hours vs. 286 hours, respectively). Program directors reported varied strategies for recruiting and retaining high school youth in OST programs, including the use of stipends, the encouragement of strong staff relationships with participants, youth-friendly outreach methods, and development of strong relationships with schools. |
| Staffing/Training | Program activities were typically led by professionals, including teachers and program specialists, and were supported by young staff members trained to work with high school youth and to deliver enriched activity content. In order to provide diverse programming by qualified staff, program directors often brought in people from their partner organizations to provide staffing. |
Summative/Outcome Findings
| Academic | Participants reported in interviews and surveys that their OST programs contributed to improvements in their grades and educational performance. Specifically, majorities reported that the program helped them get better grades in school (77%), feel better about schoolwork (76%), finish homework more often (68%), read and understand better (71%), write better (67%), better use computers for schoolwork (64%), and solve math problems better (58%). |