Date of Award
2001
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Karen B. Ruskin
Committee Member
Charles L. Faires
Keywords
academic pursuits, afterschool, attendance, citizenship, complex process, comprehensive program, decision-making, development, enrollment, expanding program, extended-day program, flexibility, framework, improved skills, increased interest, increased enrollment, interviews, modeling, natural reciprocity, needs, nonparticipants, parent surveys, participants, posttest results, pretest results, priority, professionalism, program, recreational skills, relationships, Schubert, school experience, staff interest, staff members, strategies, student needs, student surveys, students, support, teacher interviews, tension, translation, year-end report
Abstract
This report explains the progress of a program for participants who benefited more than the typical nonparticipants in an afterschool extended-day program. Schubert (1997) stated, "To develop school experience that genuinely engage students and teachers in citizenship, gives meaning and direction to their lives" (p. 82). Results of the study showed that the participants' development was a complex process about the natural reciprocity between self and others with an emphasis on building relationships and providing programs to support student needs. The staff members have always demonstrated through modeling that students are the school's first priority.
Students commented that staff interest made a difference in how they viewed themselves and their academic pursuits. Staff members experienced a sense of professionalism because they were involved in the decision-making process and were allowed flexibility in developing strategies to meet the needs of the students.
At the conclusion of the program, the students who participated demonstrated (a) improved skills evidenced by pre- and posttest results, (b) increased levels of recreational skills evidenced by the results of student and parent surveys, and (c) increased interest levels and decreased levels of tension evidenced by student and teacher interviews. An analysis of the program's end-of-the-year report indicated there had been increased enrollment attendance. The results presented a framework of successful strategies for translation into a comprehensive and expanding afterschool program.