A comprehensive evaluation plan is critical to summer program quality and sustainability, and will provide you with a 360-degree view to identify program strengths as well as opportunities to improve in future summers. Use this guide to create evaluation plans that are aligned to research and evidence and better understand your impact, reflect on quality, identify program strengths and challenges, and develop processes for continuous improvement and long-term sustainability.

This checklist will help summer learning program leaders plan and execute site visits so that guests leave the experience feeling enthusiastic about your impact and invested in the long-term success of your program.

SCRI found evidence that BellXcel Remote did help to bridge the gap between a disrupted 2019-20 school year and the new 2020-21 school year and was able to engage youth in summer distance learning. Analysis of end-of-program stakeholder surveys demonstrates that the program kept scholars, families, and staff engaged in a myriad of academic, enrichment, and SEL activities.

Central to BellXcel’s approach to summer learning is its commitment to rapid-cycle continuous improvement because quality can’t wait. This brief presents SCRI’s review of BellXcel’s quality assessment process and its dedication to guiding partners through continuous quality improvement.

In 2020, BellXcel engaged McClanahan Associates, Inc. (MAI) to conduct a literature review to learn more about quality assessment (QA) in Out of School Time (OST) programs and understand the research support for BellXcel’s quality standards and indicators. In this SCRI Asks, Wendy McClanahan, president and founder of McClanahan Associates, Inc. (MAI), shares her unique perspective on quality assessment (QA) in out-of-school time (OST) programs.

This SCRI Asks features Q&A with Christina A. Russell of Policy Studies Associates and Corey Newhouse of Public Profit, editors of Measure, Use, Improve! Data Use in Out-of-School Time. They reflect on BellXcel’s chapter, Thinking Outside the Logic Model, written by our own Brenda McLaughlin and Bryan Hall, and share practical tips and guidance.