News

The afterschool field is dealing with a workforce crisis that includes major challenges with recruiting and retaining direct service staff. Although these challenges need to be addressed in the short-term to ensure young people have uninterrupted access to quality afterschool programs, longer-term we must move past these immediate challenges and answer the question:

Afterschool Professionals Appreciation Week is a time to recognize, appreciate and advocate for those who work with young people during out-of-school hours. The week is marked by celebrations and public relations efforts encouraging appreciation and support for all the afterschool professionals who make a profound difference in the lives of young people. 

Over the last 20 years, progress has been made in research, practice, and policies related to program quality, yet workforce stability, recruitment, and retention of direct service workers continues to be a challenge. As the professional association for the field, NAA’s mission is to create a strong and valued profession.

State of American Literacy Report Findings

The new State of American Literacy Report, by the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, identifies critical literacy needs. The report, which includes surveys and interviews with more than 1,200 students, parents, teachers, adult learners and experts in adult and youth literacy from October to December 2021, underscores the significant impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on literacy learning for both adults and youth K-12. This disruption has impacted access to quality instruction, remediation and intervention. Low literacy was already an issue prior to the pandemic, with more than 40 million adults in the U.S. possessing low literacy skills and youth reading levels stagnating.