— Welcome from the Managing Editor of Afterschool Matters, Spring 2018 — Wellesley College, home of the National Institute on Out-of-School Time, has a significant connection to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, site of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting. 1 page. By Georgia Hall — Critical Friendship: Helping Youth Lift as They Climb Together. By Tanya G. Wiggins. Critical friendships can help youth build their own social capital and counteract negative messages from society and peers. 9 pages. — Youth-Led Participatory Action Research: Promoting Youth Voice and Adult Support in Afterschool Programs. By Yolanda Anyon, Heather Kennedy, Rebecca Durbahn, and Jeffrey M. Jenson. Participatory action research with a social justice emphasis can help keep middle school students engaged in afterschool. 9 pages. — Seed Balls and the Circle of Courage: A Decolonization Model of Youth Development in an Environmental Stewardship Program. By A. R. S. Wenger-Schulman and Lauren Hoffman. Drawing on child-centered pedagogy from Native American traditions, facilitators help young New Yorkers take responsibility for the local ecology. 6 pages. — Positive Change Through a Credential Process. By Tinnycua Williams. Being forced to earn a school-age care credential was an unexpected boon for this afterschool program director. 3 pages. — Measuring Program Quality, Part 2: Addressing Potential Cultural Bias in a Rater Reliability Exam. By Amanda Richer, Linda Charmaraman, and Ineke Ceder. Like assessments of youth outcomes, the instruments used to assess program quality need to be as free from bias as possible. 9 pages. — Beyond "Research Into Practice". By Diane Gruber. Review of Creating Research-Practice Partnerships in Education by Penuel & Gallagher. 2 pages — Also available on the The National Institute on Out-of-School Time site: https://niost.org/Table/Journal/Afterschool-Matters-Spring-2018/
