Catalog

Catalogs

Title	Duration (hours)	Description
Elements of the Environment	2.00	A positive environment for out-of-school time programs is as vital to the success of a program. It is important for the staff to understand the powerful effect the environment has in supporting the overall goals of school-age care and afterschool programs. Once staff members understand the role of the environment, they will be able to create an atmosphere in which children's and youth's growth and development are supported by the ways in which the space is arranged and managed, materials are chosen and maintained, and interpersonal relationships are developed. This course will help examine the indoor, outdoor and interpersonal environments of their program, gain knowledge on how to use all environments effectively, and identify a variety of ways to enhance the out-of-school time environment for children and youth.
Shared Space 101	2.00	Afterschool programs share space and facilities that are used by other people and for other purposes during the school day. Learning how to accomplish this in a positive way is essential for effective programming. This course offers participants the opportunity to examine some common issues that can occur when sharing space, as well as strategies to effectively share space with a variety of people.
Social-Emotional Learning and Enhancing Quality	0.75	All children and youth need social- emotional and character skills in order to thrive in school, work, and life. By their design and structure, high-quality expanded learning and out-of-school time programs provide valuable opportunities for children and youth to develop such social-emotional and character skills. This course will introduce participants to social-emotional and character skills and their relationship to the California Quality Standards for Expanded Learning Programs.
Building Relationships with Children and Youth	2.00	An environment that fosters positive relationships between children, youth and adults is critical to creating a high quality program. This course supports participants in exploring how to build positive, meaningful relationships with children and youth, in order to plan programs that best meet their needs.
Leading Teams and Organizations with Head and Heart	2.00	As leaders, we must ensure that we are not only modeling social-emotional and character skills ourselves, but creating program environments for staff to thrive in these areas. Organizations can intentionally embrace and uphold practices that create safe environments for staff to develop and hone such skills individually and collectively, especially amongst change. In this course, participants will understand three stages of change, and how staff experience each. Participants will also become familiar with adaptive leadership strategies for managing change within organizations.
We Are: Supporting Self-Awareness and Self-Management	0.75	As staff, our understanding of how youth’s negative responses affect emotions and behaviors is a key lever in how we create opportunities for young people to develop social-emotional and character skills such as self-awareness and self-management. During this course, participants will learn about how young people’s responses affect personal emotion and behavior, and how group agreements can support safe environments. Participants will reflect on current strategies and will learn about resources to support the development of young people’s self-awareness and self-management skills.
Utilizing the Quick CASP Assessment Tool	2.00	CalSAC partnered with the Summer Matters campaign to create our Quality Summer Program training series. Summer months bring unique opportunities for learning outside the traditional school year and walls. High quality summer learning programs change students’ lives for the better with an opportunity to improve their academic achievement and readiness to learn. Developing quality programs requires intentional, ongoing development. Engage in activities that will help identify and strengthen the quality of your summer learning program. Utilizing the Quick CASP Assessment Tool is the second module in the Quality Summer Programming Training series. Creating a high quality summer learning program first starts with assessing the program at every level from the planning stages to the implementation of the program. In this module, participants will understand the language used in the Quick CASP Assessment Tool to describe quality summer programming and learn about the Quick CASP Assessment Tool to guide program quality improvement.
Engaging the Community in Quality Summer Programs	2.00	CalSAC partnered with the Summer Matters campaign to create our Quality Summer Program training series. Summer months bring unique opportunities for learning outside the traditional school year and walls. High quality summer learning programs change students’ lives for the better with an opportunity to improve their academic achievement and readiness to learn. Developing quality programs requires intentional, ongoing development. Engage in activities that will help identify and strengthen the quality of your summer learning program. Engaging the Community in Quality Summer Programs is the third module in the Quality Summer Programming Training series. People need to know how important summer is to the children and youth in your program and across the state. Summer learning program staff are all torchbearers for quality summer opportunities. In this module, participants will gain a deeper understanding of elements of high-quality summer programs by identifying resources to help strengthen their summer program offerings, engaging in collaborative reflection and planning, and developing clear goals for the summer program.
Creating a Quality Summer Program	2.00	CalSAC partnered with the Summer Matters campaign to create our Quality Summer Program training series. Summer months bring unique opportunities for learning outside the traditional school year and walls. High quality summer learning programs change students’ lives for the better with an opportunity to improve their academic achievement and readiness to learn. Developing quality programs requires intentional, ongoing development. Engage in activities that will help identify and strengthen the quality of your summer learning program. Creating a Quality Summer Program is the first module in the Quality Summer Programming Training series. In this module, participants will learn about the importance of high quality summer learning programs for youth, elements of high-quality summer programs and effective tools to guide programs in their ongoing development of quality programming.
Communicating with Families	2.00	Communication and positive relationships with families improve when program staff recognize family members as partners. Staff can benefit from acknowledging their feelings about families and identifying how these feelings help or hinder working with families. This course provides participants the opportunity to identify their attitudes towards families, consider how their attitudes can enhance or detract from their ability to develop positive relationships with families, and examine how a program’s overall environment supports strong staff-family communication.
Community Resource Mapping	2.00	English Learner families can often benefit from accessing low-cost/free services such as legal services, English classes, food banks etc. Afterschool Programs often do not have the resources to provide all of the services that they would like to provide to English Learners and their families. This course serves as a compliment to Healthy Cultural Identities and Engaging Families and Communities, an in-person training offered through CalSAC's English Learner Training and Professional Development Project. This online course can also be used by a wide audience to help participants engage with an example of what Community Resource Mapping looks like.
The Role of Staff in Behavior Guidance: Elementary Students	2.00	Guiding and managing the behavior of children and youth are some of the biggest challenges that out-of-school time program staff face. Staff needs to be actively engaged in supporting children and youth in: 1. Building inner self-control. 2. Making and fostering friendships with children and youth from all backgrounds. 3. Making responsible, age-appropriate choices. 4. Understanding natural and logical consequences for behaviors. 5. Taking responsibility for behaviors. By the end of this course, you will be able to: - Understand your reactions to the behaviors of children and youth, and learn to use this information to respond more effectively. - Learn to use behavior guidance strategies at the appropriate time.
The Role of Staff in Behavior Guidance: Middle and High School Students	2.00	Guiding and managing the behavior of youth are some of the biggest challenges that out-of-school time program staff face. By the end of this course, you will be able to: - Understand your reactions to the behaviors of children and youth, and learn to use this information to respond more effectively. - Learn to use behavior guidance strategies at the appropriate time.
Developmental Trends 101	2.00	In order to provide developmentally appropriate programming, it's important to understand how children and youth develop physically, emotionally, and cognitively. This course will provide information about the developmental trends that are associated with different age-groups (K-8) and how these trends relate to day-to-day programming.
Integrating Academics and Enrichment	2.00	It is essential that skills presented during the instructional day are reinforced by the learning opportunities presented in out-of-school time programs. Presenting materials in alternative learning formats encourages children and youth to participate, and it is through this participation that programs help promote mastery. During this course, participants will develop an understanding of the California Content Standards for Public Schools, including the Common Core Standards, and explore how to integrate them into a balanced afterschool program.
Going Deeper: Supporting Social-Emotional Learning and Character Development	2.00	It is important for staff to reflect on the practices they are implementing throughout the program to create environments in which young people can experience social-emotional learning and practice character skills. Just as important, staff must reflect on their own personal social-emotional and character competencies and how they demonstrate those in the program, acting as a role model for program participants. During this course participants will complete a self-reflection tool to identify actions they can take to strengthen their abilities to support social-emotional and character skill development.
Coaching with Head and Heart	2.00	Leaders and managers need strategies to support others in their own growth and development. In this course, participants will be introduced to a coaching process that supports individuals to make more conscious decisions, build off their strengths and internal resources and take new action. Participants will understand when coaching is needed, the mindset required, and the critical skills needed for effective coaching, including deep listening and inquiry.
Knowing Yourself as a Leader	2.00	Leadership in out-of-school time programs ranges from simple observation to active participation in program design and implementation. Leadership is an on-going process involving continuous learning, and taking time to discover their values, goals, skills, talents, and strengths will help staff to understand the type of leaders they are and the type of leaders they desire to be. In this course, participants will learn to develop a personal mission statement and identify strengths and weaknesses in skill development.
Supervising with Head and Heart	2.00	Like young people, our own social-emotional and character competencies are important to reflect on if our desire is to create environments in which adults can successfully support young people in developing such skills. In this course, participants will explore social-emotional and character skills that support supervisors, as well as the personal roadblocks, power and potential pitfalls that supervisors may experience. Participants will also become familiar with a management framework to strengthen their supervision.
Cultural Competence: Diversity, Identity, and Engagement	2.00	Many programs engage children, youth, families, and staff from diverse cultural backgrounds. In order to best serve their community, out-of-school time program staff need to develop the vocabulary and skills to engage with people from different cultures. During this course, participants will explore how culture can impact and shape individuals, examine their own cultural identities and how these identities may impact their interactions with others, and levels of engagement with diverse groups.
Incentives and Motivation	2.00	Motivation, incentives and rewards can help pull a team together and keep a successful staff on track. In our profession, incentives rarely come in the form of extra earnings, so we have to be creative in designing incentives. During this course, participants will look at several strategies for providing meaningful incentives for staff, as well as techniques to determine what motivates them and their staff.
Creating Respect and Safety	2.00	Out-of-school time programs provide a safe space for children and youth, both physically and emotionally. Staff need to understand how to create safe environments to ensure that children and youth feel safe in order to fully participate in the program. This course will provide participants the opportunity to explore their own relationship to safety and support, set group agreements for the series, and discover their FRAME.
Introduction to Evaluation	2.00	Quality programs operate with the idea that they will change, improve, and grow. Knowing how to identify areas needing improvement is the key to program quality, which must be continually evaluated to identify strengths and weaknesses. In this course, participants will learn what evaluation is, why it is important for programs, and ways they can evaluate their own programs.
The Role of the Site Leader	2.00	Supervising adults is challenging under any circumstances, but in out-of-school time, supervision can be even more challenging because those supervised needs to be independent workers who are creative, energetic, enthusiastic and calculated risk takers. The afterschool site leader must have an arsenal of skills and strategies to be both a leader and a supervisor. This course offers a basic overview of the roles and responsibilities of the site leader or supervisor and how those roles support a culture of team excellence and mutual support.
Homework Assistance	2.00	Supporting children and youth with their homework is a basic element of nearly all out-of-school time programs, yet it is something that can be challenging for many OST professionals. During this course, participants examine the importance of homework assistance, as well as strategies and skills to provide effective homework assistance.