Best Practices
Best Practices:
Guidelines for School-Age Programs
The research-based best practices for programs that serve children before and after school.
by Michael Ashcraft
Price: $16.00

© 2005
140 pages, paperback
ISBN: 0-9719304-5-7

Best Practices for:

  • Relationships with staff
  • Relationships with children
  • Administration
  • Equipment
  • Environments
  • Diversity
  • Inclusion
  • And much more!

This book looks at the best practices for school-age programs—tying together brain research, children's development, and the theories of school age child development. Building off solid research and theory, Mike Ashcraft gives us a guidebook for planning and implementing quality school age programs

Mike Ashcraft reviews the research on school age care, and the research on society's attitudes toward school-age programs. Research, theory, and practice are weaved together in this exciting book.

Full of case studies and practical ideas, this book will help you design, renovate, or improve your after-school program. If you work with children, this book will help you with your most important task: facilitating the positive development of the children in your care.
About the Author
Mike Ashcraft is the CEO of Children's Choice Child Care Services in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He and his wife Chelsea are the co-founders and CEOs of the organization which provides school-age care programs in Albuquerque and staff training and technical assistance all across the country. They both provide training in the areas of Afterschool Environments, Curriculum, Behavior Management, Social Development, Brain Development, Leadership, and a course on Brain-Compatible Staff Training. Mike holds a Master of Arts Degree in Education with an Emphasis in School-Age Care, and is a doctoral candidate with Nova Southeastern University in Organizational Leadership with an Emphasis in Not-For-Profit Organizations. He has more than 18 years of experience in school-age care. He is an Accreditation Endorser for the National Afterschool Alliance. He is an experienced trainer of trainers in the field of School-Age Care. He has served as a training and technical service contractor and a professional writing contractor for the New Mexico State Department of Education. He serves as an adjunct professor on the faculty of Concordia University, teaching college courses in school-age care programming. He is certified as an Advanced Quality Advisor from the National Institute on Out of School Time. He is the current President of the New Mexico School-Age Care Alliance and the current Secretary of the New Mexico Association for the Education of Young Children. Mike's academic interests include science, leadership, brain-compatible learning, and adult learning. Mike and Chelsea have one incredible daughter, Madison, and they are expecting another child in May of 2005. For fun, Mike reads, skis, gardens, listens to music, and plays with his daughter. He can be reached at ashcraft@childrens-choice.org.

Table of Contents

Read an excerpt from the Introduction

Read more about the companion volume, the Best Practices Workbook
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