
By Katie Landes, Director
It’s official! Today marks the release of the long-awaited Georgia Afterschool & Youth Development (ASYD) Quality Standards.
Why this is kind of a big deal
- Over 280,000 of Georgia’s school-aged children participate in an afterschool program, but those programs can look vastly different from provider to provider. The ASYD Quality Standards directly address this by building a shared understanding around what quality afterschool means.
- Georgia joins 32 other states that have quality standards for their afterschool programs. The release of Georgia’s standards shows a commitment by the state to provide Georgia’s youth with enriching experiences after the last school bell rings.
- These standards will help families and stakeholders understand what quality afterschool programming looks like.
- Most importantly, the quality standards will ultimately help afterschool programs help ensure our youth are on track to succeed in school, work and life.
So, what are these quality standards?
- The Georgia ASYD Quality Standards are a framework providers can use to evaluate and improve their programs, and they are organized in nine categories called quality elements.
- The standards can help providers figure out what they are doing really well, and where they could improve.
- The goal is for ALL afterschool programs in Georgia to use the ASYD Quality Standards to help ensure Georgia’s youth are receiving enriching, high-quality out-of-school time experiences.
What now?
Help us get the word out! Check out our ASYD social media toolkits for afterschool providers and for partner organizations, or, if you’re on a time crunch, send one of our tweets below with just one click! Thanks for your continued advocacy and support. Together, we can work to ensure all youth have access to quality afterschool programs.
The new Georgia Afterschool & Youth Development Quality Standards have just been released! Learn more at: http://georgiaasyd.org/ #GeorgiaASYD [Click to tweet this!]
We are committed to continuing to improve the quality of our program. That’s why we support the new #GeorgiaASYD standards. [Click to tweet this!]
The Georgia ASYD Quality Standards is a collaborative project funded and endorsed by the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services, the Georgia Department of Education, and the Georgia Department of Public Health. To learn more, go to georgiaasyd.org