A Summary Report comparing Cambridge OST Staff
Engagement and Participation FY '19 and '20
​By Mercedes Soto, Impact Evaluation Advisor, 
Agenda for Children OST
March 30, 2021

As the 2020-21 year comes to a close, the Agenda for Children OST, we will spend part of the summer reviewing the 2020-21 participation data. Although this year was hard, we as a community continued to demonstrate commitment to our professional development.
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Be on the look out, towards the end of the summer, for your organization's professional development summary reports and individual transcripts.  
In the meantime, here is a link to an aggregate report comparing Staff Engagement and Participation in AFCOST Activities in 2018-2019 and 2019-2020.  

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A Report of Cambridge OST
Organization Program Profiles, Summer 2020 
​By Mercedes Soto, Impact Evaluation Advisor, 
Agenda for Children OST
July 6, 2020

​A summary report of survey organizational program profile  data collected from Out-of-School Time (OST) Directors from 46 Programs in Cambridge.    

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View the Presentation

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Family Engagement Storytelling Project Stands at the 'Intersection of Media and Educational Justice'
Authors: Global Family Research Project Staff
May 19 2020 

An article about how the Cambridge Agenda for Children’s Stories of Family Partnership offers a new approach to building capacity within the out-of-school-time community.

Read the Article

Report of OST Director Engagement and Experience
​By Mercedes Soto, Impact Evaluation Advisor, Agenda for Children OST
February 26, 2020

A report of findings from Out-of-School Time (OST) 2018-19 Director Level Surveys, Interviews and Participation Data. OST Directors are a key lever in achieving positive child and youth outcomes.  To what extent does participation in AFCOST activities increase the capacity of directors to lead high quality OST programs?

Read the Report

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Engaging Cambridge Middle School Youth in Out-of-School Time Opportunities
​By Ramon Gonzalez, Give a Summer, Annie Leavitt, Middle School Network, Kelly Royds and Khari Milner, Agenda for Children OST
June 25, 2018

With data collected in two surveys taken by Cambridge Middle School youth on participation and interest in summer and after school programs, this report examines why there is still a percentage of students who are not participating in either type of program and proposes strategies to increase engagement in youth who miss out on these opportunities.

Read the Report

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Framing Evaluation: Towards a Theory of Change based Evaluation Framework for Cambridge Agenda for Children Out-of-School Time
By Kelly Royds, Impact and Evaluation Advisor
February 28, 2018

​This report presents a comprehensive analysis of Agenda for Children Out-of-School Time (AFCOST) monitoring and evaluation needs and introduces a monitoring & evaluation framework for AFCOST activities, including an updated Theory of Change & logic models for core activities.

Read the report

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2018 Summer Resource Guide for 6th, 7th and 8th Graders
By Annie Leavitt, Middle School Network Coordinator
March, 2018

The Middle School Network produces a biyearly resource guide to help teachers, parents and OST providers find and connect young people to current OST opportunities. If you are interested to see the archive of previous resource guides, click here.

Read resource guide

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Back to the future: Envisioning Cambridge Public Schools with the OST Community of Cambridge
April 19,2017

On March 29, 2017 Agenda for Children Out-of-School Time Initiative, in partnership with the Cambridge Nonprofit Coalition, brought together 45 professionals representing 34 child and youth work organizations and initiatives across the city to support the new Superintendent, Dr. Kenneth Salim, envision the future of Cambridge Public Schools (CPS)

Read the Report

Selected Publications from the OST Field

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OST Research

• America After 3PM 2020 Report
  The Afterschool Alliance's 4th edition of America After 3PM provides a detailed account of children in the afterschool hours, identifying: trends of participation in, and unmet demand for, afterschool programs; the experiences and opportunities programs afford; and which children and families are missing out, and why.  ​http://afterschoolalliance.org/AA3PM/
  
• SEL+OST=Perfect Together: A Conference Report - A conference report on social and emotional learning hosted by the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning, sponsored by The Wallace Foundation and America’s Promise Alliance in conjunction with the SEL Exchange.
• Afterschool Alliance Issue Briefs - free short research summaries on OST
• Afterschool Matters - free publication from NIOST, issues available online
• Harvard Family Research Project - free searchable research database
• Global Family Research Project - A national platform for forward-thinking perspectives on family and community engagement research, practices, policies, & strategies
•  Youth Development Insight blog - blog by University of Minnesota - Extension Center for Youth Development

Resources & Curriculum for OST Programs

• Boston Children's Museum Educator Resources - Curriculum kits and field trip information
• The Exploratorium - Free STEM activities and digital library
• NASA Afterschool Universe - Free STEM curriculum and activity ideas
• National Summer Learning Association - Summer program planning guides and technical assistance
• PBS Kids Lab Out of School Activities - Free Math and Literacy curriculum for OST
• The SEDL National Center for Quality Afterschool - Curriculum, training toolkits, and more
• Creative Reuse Center - Activities to reuse, recycle and create