Programs vary in terms of their recruitment policies, procedures, and time periods. It is important for the policy to be clear about for who is eligible to participate and advertise when the recruitment period is happening. Clear procedures and information are critical to ensure that you reach your intended audience. Recruitment procedures may include distributing paper flyers or advertising online (see Tool 7: Tips for Developing Outreach and Marketing Materials), having a table at a school or community event, speaking about the program at a public forum or meeting, sharing recruitment materials with school-day teachers and counselors, or hosting a recruitment fair - perhaps during lunch or a schoolwide assembly. Eventually, program staff may work with returning participants to devise and implement recruitment strategies in a peer-to-peer format.

As you think about your recruitment policies and procedures, it is important to take into account the ratio of youth to adult staff members. Many factors matter when determining your ratio. Find out if your state has licensing guidelines for child care and youth programs. State- and county-funded youth programs may be required to adhere to a certain ratio. You can typically get these from your state's department of human services website. Licensing regulations provide a baseline, but you may choose to operate under a lower youth-to-adult ratio based on your specific program needs. Also consider the age of the participants (in most cases, younger youth will need a lower ratio than older youth) and the type of activity (an arts activity such as pottery involves a great deal of staff instruction and one-on-one coaching time for a participant to build skills, whereas a soccer or basketball program actually requires a large number of participants to play a successful game and may not require as many adults). What about the program location? A program held outdoors or in a large, public space might require a lower ratio to facilitate proper supervision. It may be okay to have a higher ratio of youth to staff members in a smaller classroom or program space.

Whatever your ratio, make sure to have a backup plan if staff members are sick; even afterschool and expanded learning programs need substitutes. Site-level leadership should not be responsible for facilitating program activities on a regular basis but can be asked to substitute for an absent staff member. High-quality and prepared staff members are critical to good afterschool and expanded learning programs; however, don't be afraid to invite volunteers, interns, and family aides to help with program activities and work alongside prepared staff. Volunteers can be a great help in supporting participants' success individually or in small groups.

It is our job as afterschool and expanded learning program leaders to ensure the safety of our participants. We recommend making sure that all full- and part-time staff members undergo a formal background check. Local businesses can usually do this for you for a small fee (or in some cases for free if you are receiving public funding for your program). In addition to a routine background check for full- and part-time staff members, we strongly recommend that volunteers and aides who work with youth also undergo a background check. Sometimes you can accept a completed background check on an individual but make sure that it is valid by calling the company that completed the check. (An example might be a school staff member who had a background check completed when hired.) Finally, make sure that all vendors who work with youth or are in the program space with youth complete your background check or have their own background check procedures in place. Again, verify that the vendors' background checks are from an approved entity and current. Keep the official certificate of background check completion in each staff member's file.

Securing background checks is a critical step to ensure that young people are safe in your program. However, we urge you to consider other procedures to promote youth safety. Ensure that the program space is secure and largely closed to the public; visitors must sign in and out, wear a name tag, and be accompanied by a staff member at all times. Make sure that family members know the program phone number(s). One staff member should be assigned to be in the program space with the phone when program volunteers and subcontracted staff members are working with young people in the program. Then if a family member calls, someone knowledgeable can take the call rather than the call perhaps going to voicemail. Make sure to assign staff members to zones in outdoor activity areas to ensure that everyone is aware of people leaving or entering the space. Always do spot checks with groups of youth, making sure that everyone is accounted for at specific time intervals. This is an especially good tactic for outdoor activities, in large program spaces with multiple rooms, and on field trips.

A key part of your recruitment process is to create a clear and easy way for youth to enroll in your program. All new participants should complete a program enrollment form - either in print or online - that asks, at a minimum, for their name, address, and family member contact information and provides opportunities for family members to sign various permission forms. You can use Tool 8: Sample Participant Enrollment Form to give you an idea of where to start. If possible, program staff members should meet with families after they initially enroll in the program. Remember to have the enrollment materials available in the languages commonly spoken in the surrounding community; when needed, offer assistance to families in completing the forms.

Not all participants will remain in the program after they enroll, but being communicative about the norms and expectations of the program will promote retention. When you take an enrollment form from a participant or his or her family member, make sure to give them an information sheet about the program so that they know what to expect, including when the program starts, attendance policies, and other logistical details. See Tool 9: Participant Enrollment Confirmation to Family for samples. Some programs offer rolling enrollment during the entire program period, which might be necessary in the first year of operation. Eventually, however, consider using a contained enrollment period to avoid disrupting the afterschool and expanded learning community after it has begun.

During enrollment, you will be collecting a variety of information about your participants and families. As they participate in your program, you will gain additional access to confidential information (e.g., school records if you are partnering with a school, participation information, and perhaps personal family information). For a variety of reasons, staff members may be asked to share participant information, and it is important to establish procedures to help staff members appropriately respond to such requests.

One way to do this is to include permission for certain low-risk information sharing in the consent language on your enrollment form. For example, you can ask family members to sign a consent form stating that the program may meet with teachers or family members about the participant's experience in the program, give participants a program satisfaction survey at the end of the semester or session, and use photos of their child in a local news story, in a school newsletter, or on the program's website or brochure.

Other, higher risk information-sharing requests will require a specific informed consent form signed by a family member. Some examples of these requests include sharing information with a counselor or therapist or when planning for an individualized education program, sharing academic progress or academic records for an evaluation or research study, sharing information on a family's economic well-being or access to health care, or asking young people to participate in surveys or focus groups about more than just program satisfaction.

If the request is related to a formal research study or an external evaluation, the research team must provide consent forms unique to the study that have been approved by the relevant Institutional Review Board (IRB). (The IRB is a committee that reviews research and protects the rights of study participants.) Because of confidentiality issues, a consent form completed by the participant's family or legal guardian is essential for the release of information. Use Tool 10: Consent to Share Information for confidential matters. It also is ideal to get assent or agreement from participants before sharing their information, whether informally or with a separate assent form. You can use Tool 11: Participant Assent Form to get started. Bear in mind, however, that an assent form is not a stand-alone document and must be accompanied by a permission or consent form signed by an appropriate family member. Sometimes specific protections are required for youth who are wards of the state (i.e., in foster care or a residential facility). If you have youth participants who are wards of the state in your program, please check your state guidelines or with the Guardian Ad Litem's office before sharing information and photos.

Attendance policies can vary from one program to the next, and often young people are involved in multiple programs with different attendance policies. Some may have required attendance, with penalties for absence, whereas others may have drop-in policies that allow for irregular attendance. The research is clear that participants benefit most with sustained attendance. Program participants with higher levels of attendance have demonstrated a number of improvements, including positive peer relationships, decreased problem behaviors, and increased social skills when compared with participants who attend less frequently (Fredricks & Eccles, 2006; Riggs, 2006).

In the section on evaluation, we discuss how you can use the attendance data you collect to examine whether you are meeting your program goals. For now, it is important to understand how having an attendance policy (and collecting good attendance data) can help your program. For example, requiring attendance can make staffing, programming, and transportation decisions easier because you will know how many youth are likely to be present at any given moment. However, drop-in attendance can be valuable for attracting hard-to-reach populations, which may be an explicit goal of your program. Because attendance issues can be complicated and can vary from program to program, it is a good idea to establish clear attendance policies to ensure that staff members, school administrators, participants, and their families all have a clear understanding of the program's expectations.

An example of an attendance policy is as follows: (1) Every time a participant is absent, a staff member will contact a family member, unless the family or school-day teacher has notified the program. (2) After three unexplained absences, a staff member will request a meeting with the family to find out why the participant has not been attending and reinforce the benefits of attending. (3) If the program has a waiting list, program leaders may consider counseling the participant to officially drop out of the program if he or she is not attending.

The program team should expect to build in exceptions to the attendance policy to account for other positive experiences in which participants may become involved. A participant may join a sports team for a season or be in the school play, for example. Programs may provide flexibility for hard-to-reach youth. A young person with a difficult home life may really enjoy program activities but have a hard time committing to regular attendance.

Afterschool and expanded learning programs are a critical part of helping young people succeed in both school and life. For that reason, it is important that programs do not become just a reward for good behavior or doing well in school. Have an up-front conversation with families and school leaders and urge them not to use attendance in the program as a consequence or a reward for behavior in school but rather as an opportunity for all young people to grow and develop.

Attendance policies may vary from site to site depending on the school, other afterschool or extracurricular options, transportation, and other variables. Regardless of the policy, it should be written; agreed on among the afterschool and expanded learning program team members; and shared with the participants, their families, and the school.

Program rules should be universal; specific; understandable; based on the strengths of young people; and, if possible, positively phrased. Ideally, program staff members should work with young people to develop a set of behavior guidelines. This promotes ownership and helps young people feel more responsible for their actions. Refer to Tool 12: Making Rules as a Team for rule-making activity ideas.

Program rules should be aligned with school rules but also reflect the afterschool and expanded learning program. For example, many schools have a quiet-in-the-classroom policy or a stay-in-your-seat rule. Afterschool and expanded learning programs are characterized by activity and experiential learning, which often requires movement and noise. Program leaders should share program rules with school-day staff members to explain why some of the rules may not apply to the program. Program staff members should have open conversations with young people about why some behaviors may be okay in afterschool and expanded learning activities but not during the school day. These conversations are especially important with elementary-age youth who may be confused by the differences. See the section on program delivery for more information on behavior guidelines and discipline policies.

Once established, distribute the discipline policy and behavior guidelines to program partners, school staff members, and the families of participants to receive feedback. Remember that discipline can be culturally influenced, and it is important that families understand how your program will handle rules and discipline. Also, make sure to read your policy aloud to the participants and post it publicly. Document all disciplinary incidents using a standard form and make sure to share documentation with the participants and their families. As a general philosophy, discipline policies that actively support a young person's growth and development are ideal.

Everyone benefits from having a set schedule. School-day staff members will know what to expect in their building, program staff members will know what program activities are happening when, and young people will know where to go and for what activity. Ideally, your schedule should remain constant throughout the entire school year. At a minimum, the schedule should stay the same during the program session so that everyone involved can rely on it. The program staff should document the monthly/weekly/daily schedules and make the schedules available to families at the time of enrollment. Use Tool 13: Program Schedule for ideas about creating a schedule. Schedules should be posted in various places in the program space and online, if possible, for young people, their families, and staff members to view and communicate major events, such as a family night.

Schedules also are a great way to get everyone excited about upcoming activities. Remember to get help from program staff members, participants, and school-day staff members when creating the schedule to make sure everyone has a say in what is happening. Use holidays and other local events to make themed weeks or months or hold special events.

As your program really gets under way, you will have more and more youth participating in more and more activities, and it will soon become important for you to track and document what is happening in your program. Documentation is important for a variety of reasons: It helps the program staff understand how the program is doing in the continuous program quality improvement cycle; it helps promote trust between the school site, the program staff, and families; it helps the program's central office understand how well the program is doing and where additional supports are needed; and it provides a written record if problems or questions arise at any point. Many different types of documentation may be used, including forms (e.g., attendance sheets, sign-out sheets for family members, bus lists if your program provides busing home, and enrollment forms), curriculum materials (e.g., activity plans, written program goals, and activity lists), and youth and program assessments (to document what individual youth are learning and understand how a program is doing in delivering a high-quality experience for youth).

You also may consider creating youth portfolios, which can be a great way for program staff members and youth to document their experiences in the program. The primary purpose of a portfolio is to allow a young person to showcase his or her program experiences and successes, which enables program staff members to monitor and support youth by understanding their work, interests, and lives outside the program. Young people should be the primary drivers of constructing their portfolios, and the process should help develop bonds between youth and staff. You can use Tool 14: Portfolio Guide to get started.