Cover letter

The after-school tutoring and counseling can be of great importance to the community in which it is built by providing numerous opportunities to the community both to the young people as well as other members of the society. The after school programs which would be provided inform of tutoring and counseling as a result of building a center to offer these services would add a lot of advantage to the community at large as well as afterschool experiences to the students during the after-school hours and also during holidays. However, this proposal tends to articulate the importance of the benefits which would accrue from building a community center responsible for offering most of these services as well as how these after school activities would be helpful to the community as a whole.

 

The proposal has also demonstrated and illustrated the problem and proposes the most appropriate method to research on the prevailing issue. The research to be carried out is purely secondary whereby the collection of data is done on the already existing information compiled by prior researchers in this field.

 

Most efforts which have been directed to improving the after-school activities mainly aim to strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of programs offered by  the after school hours tutoring and counseling center. As a result, most of the providers of after-school services tend to make plans that solely focus on their immediate partners and own organizations on the envisaged progress of the participants enrolled. It has however been very rare for providers to collaborate in the wider community efforts of creating innovative after-school programs for the youth in a community. Yet there is need to encourage collaborations to provide support for the youth during after-school hours.

 

Currently, the policy has the tendency of pushing after-school providers to adhere to quality, growth, and sustainability of the program. Thus, even at times when the programs are a larger network part, they should be typically responsible for their program’s own vision, quality as well as the outcomes for a particular group which they enroll. This mostly  results in an opposite effect, which is, instead of concentrating to coordinate the programs services in order to meet the communities needs on a wider basis,  the providers usually involves themselves in developing their internal capacities to attain the  outcomes  which are desired for the youths and community in the programs. In recent years the after-school programs have expanded, through formation of collaborations and linkages across schools as well as other organizations.

 

Findings resulting from many studies suggest that there is need for plans for quality after-school programs which should span over all communities. This is however achievable after all parties which are involved with responsibilities as well as interests of the youth welfare, and more preferably the disadvantaged ones, becomes united in order to engage them as well as other students and the whole community in the after-school activities, which are likely to contribute in promoting communities’ positive development. Hence after-school programs which are mostly offered by many community-based organizations, provides an opportunity of working together in these centers leading to a wider variety of opportunities for the whole community as well as the youths, and thus ensuring better outcomes are experienced for the overall population.

 

Table of contents

Cover letter…………………………………………………………………………………..1

Table of contents…………………………………………………………………………….2

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………….3

Problem statement…………………………………………………………………………..3

Aim and objectives………………………………………………………………………….4

Aim………………………………………………………………………………….4

Objectives……………………………………………………………………………4

Literature review……………………………………………………………………………..4

Review of the after school programs…………………………………………………4

The anticipated results of after school tutoring and counseling centre………………4

Specific and direct results of the after school programs……………………………..5

Research methodology………………………………………………………………………6

Qualitative and Quantitative data……………………………………………………6

Data collection……………………………………………………………………….6

Data analysis…………………………………………………………………………7

Reliability and validity………………………………………………………………7

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………8

References……………………………………………………………………………………9

 

Table of figures

Fig 1: Data collection process……………………………………………………………….7

Fig 2: Gantt chart…………………………………………………………………………….8

 

 

Introduction

The society nowadays seems to be more vigilant than ever in accepting the basic idea of holistic solutions to community and educational problems. Moreover, each and every day, foundations are being created in order to reach out to populations that are unprepared and unable to empower themselves. Hence the need to build the after school tutoring and counseling centers becomes very essential (Ehlers, 2009). This is mainly because these centers help in offering very vital services which contributes greatly in the development and advancing of the communities in which they are established due to there impacts both to the youths and the community as a whole (Buckley and White, 2007).

 

There is however no concrete reviews that have been carried out to systematically evaluate the impacts of after school programs that mostly are involved in attempting to enhance the personal and social skills of the youths, identifying the magnitude and nature of the outcomes of those programs through description of the features that effectively characterize these programs (Chung, 2008). However, almost the entire of these programs have an overall mission of promoting social and personal development of the young people. Although some after school programs usually offer a mixture of activities that include social, academic, recreational and cultural pursuits. Thus, these programs mainly concentrate on those aspects that are aimed at developing the social and personal skills of the youths (Fowler, Gudmundsson and O’Gorman, 2007).

 

Thus, the proposal aims at determining the benefits which are likely to accrue from building the after school tutoring and counseling centers which are responsible for offering diverse programs aimed at providing social and academic development (Buckley and White, 2007). The research to be carried out is purely secondary whereby the collection of data is done on the already existing information compiled by prior researchers in this field. The data collected is further subjected to analysis which determines the validity and reliability as well as providing basis of making conclusion and also accepting of rejecting the hypothesis (Ehlers, 2009).

 

Problem statement

The need for building an after school tutoring and counseling centre is inevitable in our communities. Thus, most of the communities have in the recent past embraced the idea of building these centers in their societies which helps in offering the after school programs which are very critical in empowering both the youths and the community as a whole (Ehlers, 2009). The other importance of these centers is to shield the youth from engaging in activities which will end up affecting their behaviors through involving themselves in bad groups which may severely affect their social and academic development (Buckley and White, 2007).

 

 

Aim and Objectives

Aim

To determine why building after school tutoring and counseling centre is important

Objectives

• To demonstrate how the building of an after school tutoring and counseling centre affects the academic performance of the youths
• To analyze the impacts of an after school tutoring and counseling centre establishment in a community
• To illustrate the positive effects which accrue from an after school programs to social development of the youths in respective communities

Literature Review

Review of the after school programs

Evidence is accumulating that how as well as where youth usually spend their personal time outside the hours meant for school has important impacts for the youth development. However, there is an estimation of above 7 million children all over the United States who do not engage themselves in after school programs or have supervision from an adult during the after school period (Chung, 2008). This unsupervised time due to absence of after school tutoring or counseling ends up putting the youth at high risk for possible negative outcomes including behavioral and academic problems, drug use as well as other related types of risky behaviors (Fowler, Gudmundsson and O’Gorman, 2007).

 

On the other side the positive effects may include, the youth benefiting from being engaged in spending their time in structured pursuits responsible of offering many positive interactions opportunities with peers and adults, encouraging them to participate in contributing and taking initiatives, as well as containing engaging and challenging tasks that greatly help them in developing and applying personal talents and new skills.

 

The anticipated results of after school tutoring and counseling center

Thus, this has resulted in an increased interest in the after school programs value that are capable of providing the youth as well as the community as a whole with supportive and safe environment which is under supervision of adults and offering different beneficial opportunities, including experiences and activities that end up promoting the youth personal, academic, social, cultural and recreational development (Ehlers, 2009). There is however a very strong support from public for the after school programs, preferably from parents who are working and can’t immediately join with their children after school.

 

Previous reviews which have been done mainly concentrated on the programs benefits academically that usually offer tutoring, counseling or any other academic assistance to young people, but it has been determined that the results are mixed. However, there is a significant improvement in academic performance after participating in after school programs (Buckley and White, 2007). Moreover, the outcomes academically for youths who do not participate in the program has however, been inconsistent. Hence this has resulted, to some authors stressing on the need to carefully evaluate the effectiveness of various programs as well as other factors which are associated with the positive outcomes, which can be gained through the after school programs (Fowler, Gudmundsson and O’Gorman, 2007).

 

However, the probable social and personal benefits of these programs have been to some extent been overlooked. In addition, it’s nowadays evident that these programs can improve the youth’s social and personal development (Ehlers, 2009). These skills that are achieved through social and personal development cover areas such as self-management and self-awareness which includes; self-efficacy and self-control, social relationships which involves; leadership skills, conflict resolution and problem-solving as well as responsible decision-making and social awareness (Buckley and White, 2007).

 

Specific and direct results of the after school programs

After-school programs have been over recent past gained a wide spread approval from parents since it benefits many youth as well as children whereby it offers an outlet through which children can promote their creativity; they are also vital places in which children can end up establishing new friendships (Buckley and White, 2007). Moreover, some low and middle income neighborhoods, these programs are specifically critical since they usually serve as safe havens for protecting their children from negative influence. However, the specific effects of these programs usually involve;

Educational Advancement: The after-school programs are important to students because they mostly functions to supplement the education which the youths have received in schools which they attend. This is specifically very true with tutoring programs which includes the one being discussed. This is basically because the tutors helps the youths by giving them new ways to apply in order to effectively learn their material, as well as benefiting from the tutors encouragement which is provided (Ehlers, 2009).

Building Social Skills: This is a very important part of development of a child whereby the child develops good social skills through after-school programs. For instance, when a participant of the program usually take a painting lesson alongside other participants, he or she ends up building new friendships while learning values of selflessness, teamwork, integrity as well as the ways of encouraging others (Fowler, Gudmundsson and O’Gorman, 2007).

Promoting Healthy Habits: Mostly the after-school programs involves sports clubs where the youths and children gets engaged in the required exercise that ends up benefiting them in the future (Ehlers, 2009). This is mainly because the youths are supposed to spend some time on daily basis engaging in physical activities which can be acquired through them joining these programs.

Benefits the Working Parents: In situations where both parents work or in case of a working single parent, the after-school programs ends up providing a place which is safe for children and youths  to attend up to the point when  the parents come back from work (Buckley and White, 2007).

Research Methodology

Research is usually the process of finding out information as well as investigating what is not known in order to solve problems. Thus, based on the definition of research the researcher will embark on finding adequate and correct information for the purpose of solving his business questions as well as answering his aim and objectives (Booth, Columb, and Williams, 2008). The main aim of the study is basically to investigate the possible importance of building an after school tutoring and counseling center through researching on the perception and opinions about the same (Trochim, 2006). The research will be deductive whereby the researcher will be working from general to more specific concepts. For instance, it starts with thinking of a theory related to the topic of interest. Then the researcher narrows down into hypotheses which are more specific and can be tested. There is also more narrowing down when observations are collected in order to address the hypotheses (Trochim, 2006). Thus, the researcher is ultimately able to test the specific hypotheses using collected and analyzed data which leads to confirmation or not of the originally stated theory (ies).

Thus, the study will be able to determine the exact perceptions of the involved people on the importance of building an after school tutoring and counseling center. For the purpose of this study, secondary research will be used. Moreover, some extent of descriptive research methods will also be utilized. This method enables the possibility of the study to be quick and cheap (Trochim, 2006). There is also the possibility of suggesting on the anticipated hypotheses. Thus, the descriptive approach will be used in the study, which utilizes the study observation however; descriptive method of study mainly gathers information about the present condition.

Qualitative and Quantitative data

During the study the two types of data to be used are: quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data is the one which is measured and quantified in a certain way whereas the qualitative is more complex compared to quantitative data, this is because it is more related to academic articles and theory which is sometimes more difficult to analyze and interpret (Booth, Columb, and Williams, 2008). However, concerning this study, the researcher will analyze the quantitative data from the reports and peered journal concerning the issues of after school programs importance whereas concerning the qualitative data; the analysis will focus on the possible opportunities which exist for opening a luxury restaurant as well as the anticipated benefits from the investment (Trochim, 2006).

Data collection

The secondary data will be used because primary data collection is not possible for the secondary research. Secondary data collection will involve reviewing other data collected for different research projects related to one being done. Thus, the collected data will come from the peered journals as well as other previous case studies concerning the importance of after school programs. Also academic article from online databases will be considered (Trochim, 2006).

 

Table 1: Data collection process

Objectives	Data	Sources
1	Mostly Qualitative and also some quantitative	Theory, databases and books.
2	Mostly quantitative and also some qualitative	Previous case studies, related websites and databases.
3	Quantitative and Qualitative	Theory, Previous case studies, Database, financial reports.

 

Data analysis

            For each objective both quantitative and qualitative data will be used by the researcher to answer his business question. The analysis will thus be realized with the connection of both qualitative and quantitative data in order to obtain realistic answers to the objectives. The analysis will then demonstrate if it is important to build an after school tutoring and counseling centre to the community. However, the different interpretations which can be provided by the researcher can make qualitative data analysis complex (Trochim, 2006).

Reliability and validity

Reliability of the study was satisfactory, because it was possible to replicate the same results on subsequently repeated trials. Thus, due to the ability of replicating research procedures used using same research procedures and tools would add to yielding consistent measures enabling the researcher to draw conclusions satisfactorily, make generalized claims of the research as well as formulating theories (Booth, Columb, and Williams, 2008). The study’s validity was also concrete since the study would accurately assesses and reflect the researchers specific concepts which he or she is attempting to measure, thus it indicates the success of the study by accurately measuring what the researcher will be intending to measure (Trochim, 2006). However, since the researcher focuses on qualitative data collection based on academic articles and official sources, the researcher could finally, consider the research as safe, correct and unbiased.

 

 

 

Table 2: Gantt chart

The study activity	Timelines
Preparations of the proposal	By 20th February
Complete literature review	By 30th February
Complete fieldwork	By 15th April
Complete data analysis	By 30th April
Give presentation	By 20th May
Present the final report	By 30th May

 

Conclusion

            An after school tutoring and counseling center has numerous positive contributions which are directly reflected to those who benefit from the programs which are offered there. Hence whenever this kind of a center has been established within a certain community there are so many effects associated to it and more preferably the youths who are directly involved in this programs. This is mainly because majority of the youths are school attending hence they usually go to these centers after school where they end up getting both social and academic assistance as well as development (Fowler, Gudmundsson and O’Gorman, 2007).

However, the proposal aimed at determining the possible benefits which would accrue from building this kind of a centre within any community set up. Thus, in order to achieve this secondary research would be carried out which would then lead to collection of secondary data mainly from the already existing information (Ehlers, 2009). The data is the followed by analysis which determines the validity and reliability of the data hence can also be used to conclude on the validity of the hypothesis (Buckley and White, 2007).

The research method proposed would be very critical in the analysis of both the qualitative and quantitative data collected. This is because these two types of data involve description of different situations which then requires different methods of the data analysis.

 

 

 

 

Reference:

Booth, W. C., Columb, G. G., and Williams, J. M.  (2008). The Craft of Research. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Buckley, E. J. and White, D. G.  (2007). Systematic review of the role of external contributors in school substance use education, Health Education, Vol. 107 Iss: 1, pp.42 – 62

Chung, A. (2008). After school programs: keeping children safe and smart. Washington: Editorial Publications Center

Edwards, S. and Martinez, K. (2006). Fun literacy activities for after-school programs: Books and beyond. Nashville: School Age NOTES

Ehlers, C. C. (2009). Encyclopedia of cross cultural school psychology. New York: Springer Science and Business media

Fowler, J. L., Gudmundsson, A. J. and O’Gorman, J. G. (2007). The relationship between mentee-mentor gender combination and the provision of distinct mentoring functions, Women in Management Review, Vol. 22 Iss: 8, pp.666 – 681

Trochim, W. M. K. (2006). Deduction & Induction: Deductive and Inductive Thinking. Available at: http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/dedind.php