Staff Instructional Practices, Youth Engagement, and Belonging in Out-of-School Time Programs

This study explores staff instructional practices in OST program activities, a topic related to effective teaching practices in schools, but distinct in important ways. The study involves analysis of a sample of 1176 youth nested in 147 program offerings and three additional replication samples. Instructional practices considered include welcoming atmosphere, active skill-building, and opportunities for youth to make plans, make choices, and reflect on their learning. Results reveal significant positive relationships between a composite score of observed staff practices and youth survey reports of engagement across the four samples. Further analyses show that the provision of active skill-building predicts engagement (and not belonging); while welcoming atmosphere predicts belonging (and not engagement), and some age-instruction interactions are found.