From staff-to-student ratios and enrichment to cost and transportation, here’s what Los Angeles parents should consider when choosing an afterschool program.
Every weekday afternoon, the final bell rings and thousands of Los Angeles parents face the same quiet math problem: Who is with my child right now, and what are they actually doing?
For some families, the answer is an afterschool program that’s little more than a supervised waiting room. Kids parked in front of a screen, killing time until pickup. For others, it is a space where a nine-year-old discovers she loves building rockets, or a shy second grader finds his voice on a stage for the first time.
That difference is the whole ballgame, and as families across Los Angeles sort through their options, it is worth slowing down to ask not just, “Is there a spot for my child?” but “Is this the right spot?”
Start with what you need
When it comes to afterschool programs, no two families are shopping for the same thing, and that’s OK. Some parents are laser-focused on cost. Others care most about location and logistics: Can my child get there without me rearranging my entire workday? Still others are shopping for a specific kind of enrichment — STEM, arts, sports — or simply want to know that their child will be safe and supervised by trained, vetted staff.
Naming your priority first makes it much easier to tell which programs are a genuine fit and which just sound good on a flyer.
What to look for
Program directories are full of options, but not all “afterschool programs” are created equal. Experts in the out-of-school-time field, including the National Afterschool Association and the California AfterSchool Network, point to a handful of concrete indicators (e.g., California’s Quality Standards for Expanded Learning) that separate a program that is genuinely developing kids from one that’s just watching them.
- A variety of programming, not a single activity on loop. Look for a mix of academic support, arts, sports, science and creative projects. This variety lets different kids find their thing.
- Positive staff-youth and peer relationships. Look for trained staff who know children’s names, notice when a kid is struggling and build a culture of respect and encouragement. Strong relationships with caring adults and peers are an important part of whole-child development, helping children feel connected, supported and ready to build a healthy relationship with learning that can last a lifetime.
- Appropriate staff-to-student ratios. Ask how many children each staff member is responsible for during a typical afternoon. Reasonable ratios allow adults to supervise children safely, respond to individual needs and create the consistent relationships that support social-emotional development.
- Active engagement. If children are sitting idle with nothing to stimulate their thinking, they are just waiting.
- A nutritious snack or meal. Growing brains and bodies need fuel, especially in the afterschool stretch when kids are running on fumes from a full school day.
- A safe, easy way to get there and back. Transportation trips up more Los Angeles families than almost anything else. A program that operates right on your child’s own campus removes that barrier entirely. The bell rings, and the day simply continues.
- A genuine link to academics. The best programs don’t treat homework help and enrichment as separate tracks. They braid them together, reinforcing what’s happening in the classroom while building skills a classroom day doesn’t always have room for.
Enrichment is the whole point
Here’s the mindset shift we encourage every parent to make: Afterschool time shouldn’t be thought of as a supplement to the school day. At its best, it complements the full day, giving kids room to build communication, collaboration, creativity and critical-thinking skills that do not always fit inside a six-hour academic schedule, but that pay off for the rest of their lives, in school and eventually in their careers.
This is really the whole philosophy behind LA’s BEST. We expand what’s possible for a child once that final bell rings, building on strengths kids already have, in ways a classroom alone often can’t. Homework help happens every day, but so does real STEAM programming, the arts, sports and hands-on projects that let kids walk out having discovered something about themselves they didn’t know that morning.
The bottom line for parents
If you’re evaluating a program, don’t be shy about asking direct questions:
- Who is supervising my child, and are they trained?
- What does a typical afternoon actually look like?
- Is there a cost, and what does it include? How do kids get there and home?
- What will my child be doing?
At LA’s BEST, our answer has stayed the same since former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley founded the program in 1988: Every child who attends one of our 201 Los Angeles Unified School District elementary schools has a seat, free of charge — from transitional kindergarten through fifth grade — no waitlist and no fine print. Nearly 24,000 children and more than 1,400 staff show up for that promise every day.
Whatever afterschool choice you make, don’t settle for a program that simply holds your child’s place until you arrive. Look for one that helps them grow into it.
Evelyn Wang, Ph.D., is Director of Evaluation at LA’s BEST and has more than 15 years of experience researching academic, social-emotional and community-based supports for students and families across Los Angeles County. She also serves on the California Afterschool Network’s Research & Evaluation Strategy Committee. Learn more at lasbest.org/evaluation.
