Progress on Past Recommendations
The recommendations from 2019-20 and the program’s progress on those recommendations include:
Understanding and measuring success: Given the significant change to virtual programming and the lack of typically available data to understand progress towards goals, there was an opportunity to think differently and creatively about how to understand the program’s effectiveness. The program revised its family event surveys to better align to the content and structure of family events. Site coordinators also shared anecdotal data from students, such as their appreciation for art activities during this challenging time, and students’ request to their Site Coordinator when the staff’s internet went out for a few minutes. When the group came back together, the students asked if they could stay on longer, for at least as many minutes as they had missed, to make up for it.
Clarifying the focus of virtual programming: The program’s adaptability and creativity of the past year is evidence of their commitment to be responsive and supportive to student and family needs throughout the pandemic and school closures. They identified priorities at the start of the 2020-21 year that reflected this reality, including a focus on students’ regular attendance, family engagement, learning online tools to facilitate programming, and continuing to develop new partnerships. The program made progress in each of these areas, as they had a higher proportion of regular attendees than in past years, consistent engagement at virtual family events, and developed several new partnerships in 2020-21.