Sample Program Plan

Math that Matters

Topic:

When talking about subjects that students enjoy and dislike, there is this high dislike for math. I have
always enjoyed doing math, and I want to create an afterschool program that focuses on showing how
math can be fun and engaging. I so want to answer the lifelong question of, when will I ever use math
outside of the classroom? by applying math to everyday activities and careers.

My program will include five key components that will hopefully make my program effective. All of the
key findings are found in Denise Huang and Ronald Dietels article Making Afterschool Programs Better.
1. Goals
a. Description: Goals are clear and follow throughout the whole program in structure and
content. Its important to also include the voices of the children because it makes them
feel as though they are contributing to their future and will partake in things they are
interested in.
b. Key findings related:
i. having clear defined goals with internal and external evaluations can help
improve the program
ii. a specific emphasis like science, technology, homework support, community
involvement or arts can lead to high quality programs
iii. It is better to maintained a more consistent linkage with the school day
c. Here are some examples of how this component might look in my program:
i. Each of the students will have person goals that they will address at the
beginning of the program, such a mastering the distributive property. They will
then evaluate their progress at the end of each month. If they feel like they have
mastered it they will move on to a new goal, but if not then they will make
smaller goals that are related to how they might achieve their larger goal.
Granger talks about how It is clear that to be effective, programs should
actively involve participants, be intentional about their goals, and focus on the
interactions between youth and staff (Granger, 2008), so with clear goals the
students and staff can collaborate and work towards an effective goal plan.
ii. The program is going to be centered on math but will also include some science,
technology and community involvement when we illustrate math used in the
real world. The students parents will help by coming in make connections
between these topics, showing how math is used in their daily life.

iii. We will also have highly trained staff in math and science so that they will be
able to help the students with their homework.
iv. A major component of this program that I want to emphasize is its connection
with the school. The staff in the program will be trained on the mathematic
techniques used by the teachers. This way the staff will be are able to help their
students learn math the same way that is taught in the classroom. Then if the
student is still not comprehending the topic then they will branch out to other
math techniques and try teaching it that way.
1. This school would also have another program where teachers usually
stay afterschool so when they do, one of the program staff will stay with
the teacher and address lessons that will be addressed for the month,
how they will do it, and what should be achieved. That staff will then go
back and share that information with the remainder of the staff.
2. Leadership
a. Description: Leadership should have prior experience in the topic, making them welleducated. They should also be able to stay for a long period of time to help maintain a
relationship with the students. Leadership positions also need to set high expectations
and have acceptable social skills to collaborate with the students and staff. They should
also be highly interested in connecting the goals of the program with the overall
evaluation of the program.
b. Key findings related:
i. The best programs had leaders articulate a clear program mission, vision
statement, and goals
ii. It is also important for the leaders and staff to maintain good relationships with
the school day while allowing the staff to have a voice.
iii. In relation to the whole program its important that the leader had an active
voice in decisions about curriculum and instruction program leadership and
decision-making.
c. Here are some examples of how this component might look in my program:
i. The leadership at my program will have experience designing curriculums prior
to this program. They will also have set major and minor goals that they hope to
accomplish.
ii. This leader should also be able to make at least a ten year commitment. This
would also include the flexibility to expand on the program that might lead to
adding another location, while still having them having them work remotely
with the original location.
iii. As Bennet mentions, "Afterschool programs have the potential to build a
connection between schools, parents and community partners. (Bennet, 2012)
so I will try to bride the afterschool program with the school. This will be done
by having the leader have a strong connection with the principle so they can
communicate the goals of the school to try and integrate them into the
program, relatively of course.

iv. The leader will also share their thoughts along the way, either with an assistant
director or the staff. This would include all of the large ideas and changes of the
program to help keep everyone in the loop and in good communication.
3. Staff
a. Description: The staff position would also require experience, a time commitment, and
follows similar expectations of the leaders. They should be able to motive students
while collaborating with the other staff and parents.
b. Key findings related:
i. It was found that program staff at high quality sites also tended to have low
turnover rates and that the majority of the staff had been at their current site
for three years or more.
ii. The majority of programs employed unique and innovative strategies to engage
students in the afterschool setting, placing a particular emphasis on making
learning fun.
iii. The staff who were well educated and who created positive relationships and
interactions between the staff and the students were observed in virtually all
high quality programs
c. Here are some examples of how this component might look in my program:
i. I fell that the staff can make or break a program so I will first find staff what are
will trained in math and science. I would most likely look for recent graduated
students who have received their Bachelors degree in mathematics and have a
passion for teaching. Hansen and Larson mention how their "Results showed
that the ratio of adults-to-youth in a program was modestly related to youth
reporting higher rates of developmental experiences" (Hansen and Larson,
2007). This program would have at least one staff member for ever seven kids
to help keep a good student to staff ratio.
ii. Math often has this stigma of being boring or a whole different language. I
would find staff who have good social skills that would be able to help make the
students feel comfortable and relatable, while making sure that they can make
the subject fun.
iii. The staff should be able to make at least a three year commitment and they will
be highly evaluated, looking up previous experience with teaching, or other staff
recommendations.
iv. The staff should not only have experience in math but they should know how to
apply it to other subjects which is one of the main goals of my program.
v. The staff should also be ready to deal with children of all backgrounds, such as
those with learning disabilities or impairments.
vi. Depending on the area that this program starts in, there might also be a
language requirement such as Spanish to ensure that the students are
comfortable asking questions and contributing.
4. Program
a. Description: The program will align with the regular school day, allowing for some study
time but also making the topic interesting. Would be helpful if it included technology,

science, and the arts to help with engaging the students. There should be some variety
throughout the day and should include some of the students interests.
b. Key findings related:
i. The best programs provided substantial time for recreational and crafts
activities, keeping students engaged while exercising other parts of their brains
ii. The majority of programs employed unique and innovative strategies to engage
students in the afterschool setting, placing a particular emphasis on making
learning fun.
iii. Of the better programs, over half of the programs took field trips to enhance
student learning and motivation.
iv. Many of the high quality programs had social or character development in their
curriculum as well as a community involvement component.
c. Here are some examples of how this component might look in my program:
i. Math is often seen as boring so a major goal of the program will be to make the
topic fun and interesting.
ii. The program will include computer games to help teach them math program. I
mean what kid doesnt like computer games.
iii. The program will also have outside involvement from the students parents, as
well as community leaders. For example the kids might have presentations from
the city council or from a dad who is a dentist. We will also find out what career
paths the students are interested in and then try to bring in people of those
professions.
iv. They will also take field trips to math and science museums. This will help
expand their horizons.
v. They will also create things like rockets and paintings to help appeal to more
students interests. And in doing so we would be teaching them some important
components of mathematics.
5. Evaluation
a. Description: Evaluation is key to see what the program is doing right and what they
could improve on. Evaluation can include internal and external methods that relate to
the set goals. Change would be made if necessary to try and work towards continuous
improvement.
b. Key findings related:
i. Good programs had both formal and informal internal evaluations
ii. External evaluation methodologies typically included pre-post testing or
classroom evaluations, comparison groups, surveys, focus groups, observational
assessments, or a combination of methods.
iii. For the reading and math programs that were closely affiliated with school
districts, approximately one third of the programs mentioned having an external
evaluator.
c. Here are some examples of how this component might look in my program:
i. I would take the LIAS tool and evaluate the program at the beginning. I would
then evaluate it again after each session. So if they work in a semester system it

would be at the end of each semester. We would then look to see if we met the
set goal for the program and if not make altercations.
ii. We would also evaluate the children on their goals, we can ask them if they felt
the goals were helpful and how it makes them feel to either reach their goal or
to not.
iii. We would also evaluate the overall progress of the students math
achievements by talking to their teachers to see if the students in the
afterschool program did any better in the class than those who were not in the
program. We would also look to see if this had an effect on the attendance or
participation rates.
iv. Lastly we would get feedback from the parents to see if the program has
impacted the students thinking skills (maybe they are asking different questions
at home, or are thinking more critically at home), because like Bennet says,
"Afterschool programs have the potential to build a connection between
schools, parents and community partners" (Bennet, 2012) so we might as well
try to bridge these environments if possible.