Developing the Afterschool Professional and the Profession: Addressing Quality and Scale

With the growth in the number of community-based and public school-based afterschool programs, attention has focused on how to best support and strengthen the quality of their offerings. What is the breadth and depth of professional development opportunities available for afterschool staff around the country? What are gaps in these offerings and what are barriers to their utilization? What are strategies for expanding these opportunities, and who might be key organizations to involve? The goal of the Afterschool Training Analysis and Inventory Project, a collaboration between the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the Partnership for After School Education (PASE), has been to assess what are the professional development opportunities available to part-time and full-time staff who work in or relate to afterschool programs, whether they are school teachers, principals or superintendents, or community agency youth workers, program managers or executive directors.