After-School Programs to Promote Positive Youth Development

Nancy L. Deutsch, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. Her research involves how different contexts influence adolescent lives and identities, with a focus on out-of-school contexts and youth-adult relationships. Her first book, Pride in the Projects: Teens building identities in urban contexts (NYU Press, 2008) is a qualitative study of youth experiences in an urban after-school program that explores issues of relationships, gender, race, class, and intersectionality in teens’ identity construction as it occurs in out-of-school settings. Her second book, After School Centers and Youth Development: Case Studies of Success and Failure, co-authored with Barton Hirsch and David DuBois (2011, Cambridge University Press), won a Society for Research on Adolescence Social Policy Book Award. Her research has been funded by the William T. Grant Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, among others. Dr. Deutsch is affiliated with Youth-Nex, the U. Va. Center to Promote Effective Youth Development.

“In After-School Programs to Promote Positive Youth Development, editor Nancy Deutsch and her colleagues provide an overview of current research, practice, and policy on PYD … . appropriate for those who are involved in developing, implementing, researching, evaluating, or funding these programs for youth. This audience may include researchers, practitioners, educators, program developers, funders, and policy makers. … content certainly spans education, psychology, public policy, and leadership fields, and within psychology, there are clear connections to developmental and educational psychology.” (Michelle Stroffolino Schmidt, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 62 (50), December, 2017)

• Executive Summary: Overview of Brief and Recommendations for Practice and Policy.- Chapter 1. Why After-School Matters for Positive Youth Development.- Chapter 2. Understanding What Makes the "Magic" Happen: Key Components of Engaging After-School Programs for Children and Adolescents.- Chapter 3. Measuring Youth Participation, Program Quality, and Social and Emotional Skills in After-School Programs.- Chapter 4. Let's Talk After-School: The Promises and Challenges of Positive Youth Development for After-School Research, Policy, and Practice.