Collaboration: Building After-School Programs’ Capacity to Provide STEM Opportunities

• In Event: Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Partnerships and Capacity Building for Out-of-School Time Programs

Abstract

There is a pressing need to better prepare our K-12 youth in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and afterschool programs are uniquely positioned to help address this need. This paper presents a collaboration model and strategies that encourage and support collaboration, provide access to resources and knowledge, and increase the overall capacity of afterschool programs to deliver high-quality STEM programming and to engage underrepresented groups in STEM. Findings include significant benefits for afterschool practitioners who engage in the collaboration model and strategies, including feeling less isolated in their work, feeling better equipped to collaborate with others, having increased opportunities to share and leverage existing resources, and being more efficient and effective in their work.

Author

• Brenda Britsch, EdLab Group