HCDE left a notable impression at the 2024 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Conference, held April 11-14 in Philadelphia. The meeting is the largest gathering of education researchers, with HCDE Research and Evaluation Institute (REI) division team members joining approximately 15,000 attendees.

REI coordinators Dr. Jesus Campos and Joanne Pham led a session from research that underwent review and was accepted for presentation. Co-authored by fellow coordinator Likita Durden-Holmes, the study utilized data from the Center for Afterschool, Summer and Enrichment (CASE) for Kids to investigate the impact of parental participation on parental satisfaction within after-school programs.

“Our findings underscore the importance of actively involving parents in such initiatives. Our study sheds light on the influence parental participation has on parental satisfaction within the context of out-of-school and afterschool programs,” Dr. Campos said. “Despite the known obstacles, our research reiterates the intrinsic value of optimizing parental engagement across all facets of afterschool activities.”