Quality at the point of service: profiles of practice in after-school settings.
A unique observational data set was used to explore quality at the point of service in after-school programs. Staff practices in after-school settings were represented on a series of unidimensional scales closely indexed to staff behavior. In order to account for heterogeneity of staff performances, pattern-centered methods were used to construct profiles of common staff practices. Results revealed six pedagogy profiles that were classified in terms of three broad types of performances delivered by after-school staff: (1) positive youth development, (2) staff-centered, and (3) low-quality. Staff membership in these profiles was not related to youth-staff ratio. However, results revealed significant differences between the profiles on the content of the offering and the age of youth in the setting.
Smith
Charles
C
Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality, 124 Pearl Street, Suite 601, Ypsilanti, MI 48198, USA. charles@cypq.org
Peck
Stephen C
SC
Denault
Anne-Sophie
AS
Blazevski
Juliane
J
Akiva
Tom
T
D000293:Adolescent; D041923:Adolescent Development; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D006801:Humans; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D011786:Quality Control; D012574:Schools / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States