Children & Youth Investment Trust Corporation

DC Standards for Out-of-School Time

For the past three years, the DC Standards for Out-of-School Time have undergone significant reviews and critiques by many stakeholders. This edition -- its first and most formal presentation – is a concerted and strategic effort to encourage meaningful dialogue on the Standards’ fundamental role in out-of school time programs in the District of Columbia. As time goes on, the Trust will review and modify the Standards to reflect the current realities of out-of-school time programs.

The publication of the Standards supports several goals for the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation. First, the Trust is reporting on the many years of investment in this project, acknowledging both those who contributed to this project and the importance of continuing this work. Second, the Trust seeks to re-engage the community around the factors contributing to high quality community-based after-school programs. These Standards will provoke meaningful discussion and serve as the basis for developing criteria for the various types of after-school programs. And finally, with the publishing of the Standards, the next phase of the project can begin. Plans are underway to develop a two-stage pilot implementation project in which selected community-based organizations will first assess their programs and then begin adopting the Standards.

The Standards publication is available as an Adobe pdf file.