Using Continuous Quality Improvement to Support After-School STEAM Programming in California After-School Sites

• In Event: Equity-Oriented Improvement Approaches in Diverse Educational Settings: Insights From England, California, and Beyond

Abstract

The California Department of Education’s Expanded Learning Division (EXLD) engaged in a multiyear effort to bring continuous quality improvement (CQI) mindsets and practices to the 4,500 afterschool sites supported by state funding. Through this effort, EXLD intended to support afterschool sites in becoming learning organizations that engaged in routine self-assessment and improvement work. Our mixed methods study, now in its second year of statewide data collection, provides the first systematic investigation of over 1,600 of quantitative data points and 10 qualitative site visits to explore how afterschool staff at different organizational levels understand CQI, enact CQI, and use CQI to improve STEAM programming.

Authors

• Jared Boyce, SRI International

• Andrea D. Beesley, HMH