In April 2008, Public Private Ventures issued a report commissioned by the Packard Foundation on the best ways to promote quality while serving preteens in afterschool programs. The report, Putting It All Together: Guiding Principles for Quality After School Programs Serving PreTeens provides a succinct look at five essential elements that will help preteen make the important transition from their elementary school through their middle school years.
Grounded in youth development research, the six elements as quoted from the report are having a:
1) Focused and intentional strategy - programs have a clear set of goals, target specific skills and deliberately plan all aspects of the program with a youth development framework in mind.
2) Exposure, duration and breadth - programs are designed to: a) provide preteens with a sufficient number of hours per week over anextended period of time to achieve program outcome goals; and b) allow preteens to attend a variety of activities.
3) Supportive relationships - programs emphasize positive adult - youth relationships regardless of the curriculum.
4) Family engagement - programs strive to include families through various strategies, such as clear communication and a
welcoming environment.
5) Cultural competence - programs have diverse staff whose backgrounds are reflective of participants and who create practices and policies that: a) make services available to (and inclusive of) a variety of populations; and b) help participants
understand and value a broad range of cultures.
6) Continuous program improvement - programs strengthen quality through an ongoing and integrated process of targeted staff training, coaching and monitoring, and data collection and analysis.
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