Quality and Accountability in the Out-of-School Time Sector

March 1, 2009
Charles Smith, Thomas J. Devaney, Tom Akiva, and Samantha A. Sugar

In the fragmented OST sector, defining and measuring quality in terms of staff behaviors provides a common framework that can reduce obstacles to performance improvement and streamline data-driven accountability. This chapter views the point of service as the critical unit of study because it is ubiquitous across OST programs and because it is the place where key developmental experiences are intentionally delivered.