Sanford Health

Out of School Time (OST)

Today, many parents need to find someone to care for their school-age children for an hour or two before school starts, or anywhere from two to four hours after the school day ends. Not to mention finding care on holidays, early dismissals and during summer vacation. When you add it up, that’s a lot of time out of a school-age child’s life – time that can be spent in activities which help him or her develop physical, mental, social, and emotional skills.

School-age children do not need someone just to watch them; they require skilled caregivers that provide supervision and a safe place to be while their parents work. These caregivers need to assist children in finding their interests and talents and encourage them to practice and apply new concepts they may have learned at school.

 

Trainings:

  • Training opportunities for licensed or registered childcare providers.
     
  • Class instructors strive to help caregivers obtain information and confidence in one's ability to provide quality care for children.

Technical Assistance:

  • CHILD Staff are available to do an on site observation.  This observation provides the means to develop an action plan to assist child care programs with program improvement efforts.

 

Articles:

To access services contact us at (605) 333-0698 email us at childsrv@sanfordhealth.org

 

 

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Benefits of NAA Accreditation

The benefits of National AfterSchool Association Accreditation include:

  • Accreditation leads to sustained program improvement. This is documented through ASQ team program improvements made and annual reports on continuing compliance sent to NAA and verified every four years through the Endorsement Visit process.
  • The NAA Standards for School-Age Quality specifically address the indicators of quality programs reflected in current research. Examples include meeting the developmentally different needs of youth, 5-14 years, involving children and youth in program planning, providing positive interactions between children and youth and adults, and ensuring a safe and challenging environment for children and youth in out of school time.
  • Quality programs lead to better outcomes for children and youth:
    • Protects the well-being of children and youth
    • Supports emotional and social development for children and youth
    • Enhances academic achievement for children and youth
  • The Accreditation process promotes a team approach to program improvement. Staff, parents, and children and youth play significant roles in the self-improvement approach to a quality program. Documented results include:
    • Creates a competent, caring, and qualified staff who work withschool-age children and youth
    • Transforms individual staff members into a strong professional team.
    • Creates a pool of “solution makers.” 
    • Generates valuable feedback for staff from outside sources.
    • Increases staff confidence and morale.
    • Promotes “buy-in” to Accreditation Standards and self-improvement process. 
    • Encourages and teaches staff “to talk the talk” to all stakeholders (e.g.,parents, community, colleagues).

THE BENEFITS OF NAA ACCREDITATION

Creates program advocates for children and youth, parents, and the community.

NAA Accreditation ultimately leads to a better trained workforce, leading to greater stability and ultimately better outcomes for children and youth. Programs reap the benefits from well-trained staff members who typically transfer this knowledge when they move to other programs.

Source: http://www.naaweb.org/pdf/BenefitsofNAAAccreditation.pdf

7/31/2008

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