Superintendent of Schools SUBJECT: THE BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF BROWARD COUNTY

The Boys and Girls Club of Broward County (BGC) in partnership with Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) implemented the fourth year of the Youth Educational Success (YES) program in 2003-04. Funded by the Florida Department of Education, the YES program is an after-school program that provided small group and computer-assisted instruction to improve the educational and social skills of at-risk youths at seven BGCs in Broward County. The attached report highlights patterns of implementation, operational changes from 2002-03, impact of the program on achievement and student self-esteem, and perspectives of program stakeholders. In 2003-04, the YES program continued to face several barriers to full implementation. The program was operational for less than five months, and as in the previous year, attendance levels were low, academic alignment between BGC and BCPS teachers was minimal, and consistent implementation across sites was not achieved. Enrollment targets were met, however, the program model was restructured to serve fewer students in 2003-04 and the number of weekly instructional hours per student was reduced from four hours per week to three. Participants registered increases on measures of student self-esteem, while norm-referenced reading scores of participating and non-participating students did not differ over time. However, these findings may not reflect the full impact of th