What is an Enrichment Program?
The National School-Age Care Alliance (NSACA) Quality Standards (Roman, 1998) describe the best practices in out-of-school time programs. The NSACA standards specify that “children [should] have a chance to join enrichment activities that can promote basic skills and higher-level thinking.” Examples of enrichment activities include group work on science projects, math games, and the study of plants and animals, and opportunities to create a newspaper, write a play, tackle homework, use computers, or participate in special interest groups or clubs. High-quality programs also provide time and space for children to become involved in long-term projects and productions (Roman, 1998).This Digest examines two broad categories of enrichment programs–extracurricular and academic enrichment–and discusses program funding opportunities.
