ABSTRACT
Recently, after-school programs have received national attention because of their potential to promote positive youth development and reduce the risks associated with being unsupervised after school, before parents or guardians return home from work. Although some research has addressed the potential benefits of after-school programs, relatively little has addressed the value of high-quality program implementation and its relation to improving youth outcomes. The main goal of this chapter is to discuss
the importance of the quality and quantity of program implementation in the development of after-school programs. In this chapter, examples from a recent evaluation of the Maryland After School Community Grant Program (MASCGP) is used to describe the relationship between program characteristics, such as program structure and type of activities offered and changes in youth behaviors. This study is not intended to assess the effectiveness of after-school programs, but rather to describe potentially important features of after-school programs as a guide to future program development.
