When asked, practitioners, policy makers and parents will quickly affirm that out-of-school time programs provide young people of all ages with opportunities to build and use their social and emotional skills.

Why is it then, that there is such a paucity of research on why, how, and how much these programs contribute to skill development? What kinds of policy changes could help OST programs promote SEL more effectively? Has the press for these programs to demonstrate impact on academic outcomes helped or hurt the cause?

Listen to Karen Pittman and Nancy Deutsch with the University of Virginia’s Youth-Nex as they discussed these critical questions.