Measuring afterschool program quality using setting-level observational approaches.

As the importance of afterschool hours for youth development is widely acknowledged, afterschool settings have recently received increasing attention as an important venue for youth interventions. A range of intervention programs have been in place, generally aiming at positive youth development through enhancing the quality of programs. A growing need has thus arisen for reliable and valid measures of afterschool quality. This study examined the extent to which the two observational tools, i.e., Caregiver Interaction Scales (CIS) and Promising Practices Rating Scales (PPRS), could serve as reliable and valid tools for assessing the various dimensions of afterschool setting quality. The study shows the potential promise of the instruments, on the one hand, and suggests future directions for improvement of measurement design and development of the field, on the other hand. In particular, our findings suggest the importance of addressing the effect of day-to-day fluctuations in observed afterschool quality.