The BOSTnet Roundtable Year in Review

2008/2009 Leadership Roundtable Series Reflection

Overview
For fourteen years, BOSTnet’s Leadership Roundtables have been one of the many professional development services we provide to the out-of-school time (OST) field. They are a key activity in our approach to quality improvement that focuses on building staff skills around identified field competencies. This past year, we updated the format and began holding Roundtables in communities outside of Greater Boston that have limited networking and professional development opportunities. In the past the Roundtable relied on panel discussions in which participants discussed effective practices used in their programs. This season’s offerings combined networking opportunities with research-based training presentations and collegiate conversations to foster a more inclusive learning community. Training topics were sequenced to build a body of core knowledge and to meet the needs of program staff for professional development credits through the Department of Early Education and Care. Thanks to the generous support of For Kids Only After School, Inc., BOSTnet re-launched the Leadership Roundtable on the North Shore while the Shapiro Foundation, the Boston Foundation, State Street, and others provided support for the Boston series to continue into its fourteenth year.

Review of Activities
The sequencing of events was an original concept. It has long been recognized that staff at OST programs experience turnover during or after the summer and there is a need for refresher materials at the beginning of the academic year with older staff in new positions or assuming new program projects. To address this need to orientate OST staff (including directors, coordinators, and new staff), BOSTnet launched the fall series with Quality Environments for Youth, an overview of what makes OST programs a unique developmental setting for youth, how it differs from formal education environments, and its potential as the primary pathway to healthy youth development. This environmental approach to building quality programs represents BOSTnet’s view of the field as a complimentary support for children and youth from what they receive during the school day.
The series continued with Promoting Positive Behavior, purposely front-loaded at the beginning of the academic year to address behavioral and group management issues as programs are assembling. Behavioral support training is consistently one of most requested and well-attended trainings we offer. As the year continued, Project-Based Learning provided a working structure for programs to intentionally frame enrichment activities, meet academic standards, and allow program staff to develop their own fun and engaging projects. The beginning of the Spring Series we had the opportunity to dig down into more complex issues that are a perpetual challenge for providers, including accountability and inclusion. To help support programs faced with shifting expectations and increasingly complex requirements, BOSTnet surveyed the many different tools for measuring program quality and provided a forum for programs to discuss some current issues they are facing in obtaining meaningful data. Inclusion also raised many questions for programs that are seeing many disabilities manifest as behavioral challenges – especially as the definition of disability is shifting to include social-emotional or cognitive disorders. The final Roundtable in the 2008–2009 series set for May 7th, Effective OST Communication in a Digital Age, will discuss program communication, outreach, and new web-based technology.

The presentations provided built upon the knowledge we have gained over the past few years running the Lead to Opportunities for Youth with Disabilities (LOYD), Promoting Positive Behavior, Engaging Families, the Facilities Initiatives, as well as best practices gathered from BOSTnet’s fieldwork. Leadership Roundtables on the North Shore were hosted by different organizations such as Girls Inc., the YMCA of Greater Lynn, Boys and Girls Club of Salem, Community Teamwork, Inc., and the North Shore Community College department of Education who also generously provided refreshments. The Boston Public Library where wireless Internet allowed for “real time” web searches and video feeds hosted Boston Roundtables. Every roundtable was evaluated and reflected upon on the day of the event, elevating key issues and capturing quotes and conversations, while providing transparency as to effectiveness and participant satisfaction. Reflections were posted on the BOSTnet blog at www.bostnet.blogspot.com and indexed according to topic or initiative. Comments were welcome to these pages by interested parties and attendees, allowing for anonymous comments to create a higher level of academic freedom and dialogue in the field. Research support was provided by Michael Bennett Monica Zgola handled logistics. Evaluations were developed and reviewed by Manosi Datta.

Observations
Over the past year we have connected to many great programs and staff and heard inspiring stories from staff that are working hard to make a difference in the lives of children and youth. Nearly 500 attendees participated in the 2008/2009 Leadership Roundtables in Boston and the North Shore. The level of experience of attendees was on average ten years or more in the field. Some commented that they felt most professional development was not raising their abilities but “refreshing” strategies or approaches they already felt confident they knew. There was also consistent representation by “line staff” however; this was more the case for Boston than the North Shore.

Programs are stressed by shifting and increasingly unrealistic expectations, inconsistent directions set by funders and policy makers, and, of course, the economy. Many see a diminishing of the community they found in the OST movement, and are interested in continuing to network and share ideas. A major obstacle to this is the limited funding strategies available to programs that creates a more competitive environment and less cohesion in the movement. Many current leaders (many attendees over 20 years in the field) wonder about the upcoming leaders that are needed to keep the field growing and strong. Response to the Leadership Roundtables was positive, as evidenced by solid attendance, increases in blog readership, and positive reviews collected in evaluations. With fewer professional development dollars available and increasing professional development requirements for licensed programs, many providers see BOSTnet’s Roundtables as their primary staff-training option. We will continue to use participant’s feedback to improve our offerings to better serve the field. A few of the suggestions we are currently evaluating include providing specific Roundtables for different level staff, and providing more afternoon trainings for direct staff when they have paid program time.

The Coming Year
We are currently working with partners to plan the upcoming series and expand the Roundtables in the South Shore and Central Massachusetts for the 2009/2010-year. As BOSTnet assumes its role as the Massachusetts’ affiliate for the National Afterschool Association, some changes may be made to both the delivery and geographic reach of our Roundtables. We are constantly developing new topics and refining old ones based on lessons learned from our fieldwork and research. In collaboration with the DEEC, Roundtables will be evaluated according to standard expectations of training organizations and other entities may be involved in delivering these events or informing the content. Funding for these events may be provided by organizations acting in unison, as was demonstrated by organizations on the North Shore this past year, or assistance may come from private or governmental channels as has traditionally supported the Boston series. The series topics with locations and hours will be listed on www.bostnet.org.

LOYD: Inclusion Roundtable

"There seems to be a growing number of kids with special needs" one program coordinator says. "In the [years] I have worked here, I don't know what it is... they just seem to need more and more." What do you do when all your kids have special needs? One site director reported that in the same program were children presenting ADD, OCD, PTSD, and Spectrum Disorders. Another program director asked whether how to practice inclusion when what seems to work is to remove the child from time to time. "If they're not included in gym, then what? If they are just put on the computer because that's the only way not to cause trouble... are we doing a service just babysitting?" What if the funding has remained flat (or vanished) while the needs increased as well as higher standards of quality. These questions are far above the old format of Inclusion that were challenges are posed and then strategies are employed. When people know several strategies but are overwhelmed, what then? "How do typical kids fit in when many children have challenges"

It appears from comments at the Roundtable that Inclusion is still part of the wealth of services that Out-of-School Time programs can provide and researchers such as Gary Siperstein of the Center for Social Development and Education claim that many school environments can learn from the success of Inclusion in Out-of-School. This is in keeping with the strong relationship-base within many programs and the flexibility that programs have in creating activities that instruct about life as well as socialize. Out-of-School staff want an open environment. They want to make accommodations as well as many at the Roundtable knew the basics about most disabilities and some had worked in therapeutic Out-of-School programs for years. There was a healthy feeling of "try and try again" in letting kids come to the program as who they were and to move them into forming new relationships with their peers as well as push out into new experiences. Nevertheless, there was frustration as it seems that many directors are beyond the "basics" of inclusion and are ready for the next level - a level of complexity that no longer allows for solutions on the cheep but a more thoughtful approach and consistent high-level supports to staff and understand the limits of Inclusion.

One limit would be over-representation of children and youth with special needs within a program. The other limit may be resources. A program that takes in a child or youth who otherwise has a one-on-one during the day may not be able to absorb that child or youth. Programs themselves need to have policies in place that structure how program directors can communicate to families the benefits of including their child in the program as well as some of the limitations. However, if there is a language barrier or family members are opposed to discussing a perceived condition, what then? When a parent demands that their child is included but not with a realistic timeframe or perhaps without taking into consideration the needs of other children or youth at the program, what then? A child with Autism may not be able to run into the program and be included in the first day, or three weeks, but may need time as well as the right amounts of inputs from staff. Too much and the staff forces relationships - too little and there is risk of a benign neglect. This time to negotiate with one family or parent may be available, but what if there are a majority of parents and families with similar demands but divergent issues. Again, the "all or nothing" approach to Inclusion may put ideology over practicality.

One interesting observation from this discussion and the many questions was that the majority of issues were with emotional or emotional disabilities. In an on-line survey of participants 82% wanted assistance on children and youth with ADD/ADHD. Emotional disabilities came in second at 73% and trailing that was working with children with undiagnosed disabilities at 55%. Amongst the "traditional" disabilities such as mobility, cognitive only 9% felt they needed support in those areas.

Programs are asking for increased assistance in providing quality training to staff (78%) and assistance in funding to pay for additional services (82%). This later one is such a complex subject it will be addressed in another posting at a later date.

There is good news and many free resources on-line. BOSTnet has some resources available on Inclusion that may help in training staff and funding opportunities are always included in the BUZZ and the website. Resources on the website are divided into different areas, the most predominant being sports and arts inclusion. These areas were central to a series of BOSTnet events in previous years under the LOYD initiative. The idea that sports (physical activity) and arts can serve as a way to include more children and youth with special needs and that these not form the basis of the program but can be engaged as needed. These areas are useful no matter what the program's own content is - such as academics, because with the flexibility that programs have, setting up time to work on an arts project or engage in physical activity may serve to get children to work together. BOSTnet is also working on the 5th All Means All Conference for 2009 which will be shaped in part by conversations in the field.

While there was a good deal of information covered in the presentation, this Roundtable seems to have raised more complex questions than answered them. We hope that we can work on these issues and find solutions that reinvigorate the field to reach out to children and youth with special needs and not be overwhelmed.

North Shore Roundtables: Outcomes and Evaluations

There is a great deal of discussion at the funder level - and the policy - about how programs should assess themselves and how the diverse field of Out-of-School Time (that many say spans all ages and types of programs from year around to summer and weekend) needs to be evaluated.

There are basically two modes of thought: One proposes that Out-of-School Time needs to be evaluated vis-a-vis the school day. That improving programs means aligning them with school methods, norms, and expectations. This is a de facto if not in sutu way of extending the school day - which is a fancy way of saying Out-of-School Time becomes like-school-time. The other mode of thought is that programs need to be assessed based on the specific and unique elements that define a Out-of-School Time program and that evaluation of programs need only be against other programs. If there is improvement in academics in school and that student is a child in an Out-of-School program that is good, but not a benchmark of program quality.

The group gathered on the North Shore were lively and there were many ways people took up the idea of assessment and evaluation. There was discussion that assessment and evaluation are often used interchangeably - or at times mistakenly - to mean a similar thing (just as many competencies or outcomes are not on students but part of elements of effective management) One program director remarked that there is a distinction and one way to avoid confusion is to consider any tool to be assessment as long as it measures specific aspects of the program (an arts project, family engagement, etc) and larger program-wide data to be part of evaluating the program or organization. An interesting discussion was also about what tools promoted an academic-focus or put links to the school day or subjects as major elements of quality - missing the focus on the social-emotional development of children or the long-term values added to the community. In all, most agreed that they were not professional evaluators and that sometimes they will just collect data and "let the funders make sense of this all."

Evaluation and assessment are part of our popular mind. They are enforced by a culture of customer service that has been so pervasive in the past thirty years many of us seem not to remember a time when our civil society gave us what was good for us rather than constantly asking us what we want. Whether this is a positive or negative development has yet to be seen. Years of viewing social services as customer driven and creating an attitude that the public does not have a commonwealth but is comprised of a diverse network of consumers has indeed changed our landscape and how we interact with one another and run our programs. The resources we have placed into assessment and evaluation may perhaps give us a better point of view - or at least numbers to toss around and fun data charts we can post on our walls. However, has this process of constant assessment and evaluation led to an increase of quality at our programs? This question may actually require further evaluation. Perhaps we need to ask only those questions we want to answer - we are consumers after all...

North Shore Directors Roundtable Reflections

Hosted by the YMCA of Peabody, the NDR gathered together providers from the North Shore region of Massachusetts. The presentation on Promoting Positive Behavior was the second in BOSTnet's series of free professional development for this community. Behavior is a very requested topic by programs as they seek to train a staff of varied backgrounds to work with children with varied needs. Promoting Promoting Positive Behavior is an approach with supports (tools and some on-site interventions) that seek to establish a culture of prevention and recognition that many challenging behaviors stem from staff needing to improve their group management and to establish strong relationships with the children or youth, some behaviors are passing or have no "quick fix" solutions, and a few children have special needs above what an average program can provide. The presentation was perhaps too much of an overview at times since the average experience level in the room was 13 years, however 50% of attendees greatly enjoyed the round table with 80% listing the presentation as beneficial. It was surprising that 99% of attendees supervised staff but not so surprising given OST that those same people also were administrators (95%), provided some level of direct service (59%), as well as raised funds (40%), or "did everything as program director." Also not surprising was that this seasoned staff had attended "tons," or "a lot," and even "a million!" trainings on OST subjects. While many say this is a "new field," this level of experience needs to be better used so that these leaders can not only be recognized for what they already know, but can pass these skills on to workers as well as future directors.

Some interesting moments of the event were the comments time and again saying that OST needed to distinguish itself from school and to be recognized for the value it brings as youth development and that the flexibility of programs and and the element of fun and engaging activities that have, as one practitioner said, "children running into the building." "When do you see children running into school?" Many directors said that they did not feel recognized by schools and that they did not see the benefit to "become more like schools... or being put into a partnership where you are bossed around." This is interesting to hear since there is a push for increased partnerships between programs as well as more emphasis on school partnerships and programs structuring themselves as extensions of the school day. "They're robbing them of their childhood" one director said in conversation. These are very strong words and indeed, the issue at stake is whether OST remains a distinct field that continues to grow, or is absorbed into the school system.

Out-of-School Time programs generally solve behavioral issues through a more relations-based approach, that certain behaviors are accepted (skipping, laughing, having fun with friends), and some behaviors are encouraged (asking questions, having a say in choosing an activity, voicing opinions). This is in contrast to an increasing use of "zero tolerance" at younger ages and a "school to prison pipeline" within many school districts, and certainly more so in low-income districts. The behavioral approach that encourages discussion and prevention may not work in the confines of school. However, this does not mean that this approach is not valid for the kind of environment most directors want their programs to be for young people.

For any partnership to thrive, it must be between equals.