This was an evaluation of a national project that fosters more positive attitudes and stronger affiliations among middle school teachers, students, and parents within school communities.
NIOST served as the evaluator for the Discovering Community Initiative, a project of The After School Corporation (TASC). The Met Life Foundation awarded TASC a grant to administer a national project that fosters more positive attitudes and stronger affiliations among teachers, students, and parents within school communities.
The goal of the initiative was to give middle school students, their teachers, and families the resources to strengthen and celebrate their communities and help teachers better understand and appreciate the students and parents that comprise the community in which they teach.
The initiative was carried out through school based afterschool programs in six areas: Baltimore, MD, Boston, MA, Rhode Island, Queens, NY, Utica, NY, and Pinellas County, FL. NIOST managed and oversaw the research and evaluation component, including the creation and dissemination of issue briefs, activity tipsheets, etc., that were shared with a broad spectrum of afterschool program leaders.
