Professional Development

The Learning in Afterschool & Summer Project (LIA) is an effort by afterschool advocates and leaders to unify the field of afterschool and focus the movement on promoting young people’s learning. This means offering opportunities not found at home or in school and applying our most recent knowledge on learning to our afterschool practices. One of the resources they have recently provided is a video describing the five learning principles that are key to promoting young people's learning.

Libraries provide a lifeline for teens, their families and communities across the nation by providing a safe and supervised space for adolescents to engage in creative, educational activities with caring adults and mentors. But a variety of significant developments point to a need for libraries to change in order to successfully meet the needs of today’s teens.

At the Afterschool Alliance, we are thrilled to start off the new year with the release of the first in a series of issue briefs that explore the many ways afterschool programs are playing an integral role supporting the academic, social and emotional growth of middle schoolers across the country.  In partnership with MetLife Foundation, this year’s series of issue briefs will focus on the Common Core State Standards, students with disabilities and other special needs, the use of data to improve afterschool programs, and keeping kids safe and supported in the hours after school.  

 Robotics is a fast-growing program for youth, adding an attractive hands-on component to STEM education. However, many afterschool sites struggle with finding the resources they need to begin and sustain their youth robotics activities.