What is the focus of the Florida Standards for Quality Afterschool Programs?

The focus of the Florida Standards for Quality Afterschool Programs is to guide self-assessment and program improvement. These standards are designed to provide afterschool programs with a framework to evaluate their services, identify areas for enhancement, and ultimately improve the quality of care and educational support they provide to children. By emphasizing self-assessment, the standards enable programs to reflect on their practices, align their objectives with best practices, and engage in continuous improvement processes that promote high-quality experiences for participants.

The essence of these standards lies in encouraging programs to understand their strengths and weaknesses, engage in meaningful evaluation, and adopt strategic changes that advance their effectiveness. This approach not only benefits the programs themselves but also enhances outcomes for the children they serve, as program quality is closely tied to positive youth development and learning outcomes.

In contrast, while uniformity, evaluation for funding, and conducting student assessments might be components or related discussions in the context of afterschool programs, they are not the central aim of the Florida Standards. The emphasis here is on providing a structured pathway for programs to improve their operations rather than standardizing all programs or solely focusing on assessments for funding purposes.