Hi Prime Time friends, my name is Charles and I’m the new Director of Research at Prime Time. As the original design-lead for the Program Quality Assessments and Youth Work Methods trainings, I’ve been traveling to Palm Beach County for two decades as a consultant to help with troubleshooting and evaluation of results. I’m thrilled now to be part of the Palm Beach County team and work full time on Prime Time’s many research and evaluation projects. I truly believe in what you do and I look forward to helping tell the story of positive human development that your work represents. The work you all do in Palm Beach County sets the bar for quality improvement (and rating) system (QIS/QIRS) policies across the United States and internationally!
I’m writing now to say hello, and to thank you for the overwhelmingly positive response we received for our annual Customer Impact Survey. The Satisfaction Survey was completed by out-of-school time (OST) practitioners in late May and early June. Below we are sharing the results that are shaping the next few years of Prime Time. This blog is an opportunity to share what we found and why we think it’s important.
Who Responded to Prime Time's Customer Impact Survey
To start, let’s talk about who responded: We heard from 376 OST staff, about 20% were executive directors, about 20% were site coordinators, and a little over 50% were front line instructors. This is a good mix of perspectives. Because we currently have around 1,500 active users in Prime Time’s Registry database, the response rate was about 25% which we also think is pretty good. There were 50 questions on the survey, several of which were open-ended and, on average, it took about 12 minutes for you to complete. We know how busy and stressful these times are, so thank you for making time to give us feedback!!!
Major Findings
Let’s dive into major findings – the big patterns in the data. At this general level, there were three: High customer satisfaction, support for a comprehensive package of services and recognition that both adults and children are feeling the stress and uncertainty during this 'new normal' period you have reported experiencing. We asked three types of question about overall satisfaction with Prime Time’s services:
- Are you satisfied with services received in the past year?
- Were we responsive to your needs?
- Would you recommend us to others? The scale was 1-10 where 1 was most negative and 10 was most positive. The average score to these three questions was 9.2. That’s a very high level of customer satisfaction.
Our goal is to “delight” our customers and these numbers make us think we are meeting that goal with most of you.
We also asked you what your most successful experiences were with Prime Time. Many of you told us why your partnership with Prime Time was powerful:
“Prime time is the main reason I am who I am today they really help you learn new ways to help understand kids of all ages. They came in a few times and I always offered them to observe me because there feedback is awesome. They don’t talk down. They uplift you and really show the best side of supports. I want to thank them for everything and helping me be the best counselor to these kids and expanding my knowledge.”
Another theme was that Prime Time’s comprehensive mix of services was a big part of successful experience. We received quite a few responses that emphasized “mix” in personal terms:
“I have had successful experiences with performance reports, coaching, Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELOs), development trainings and financial incentives, which have allowed me to expand and cultivate my professional skills.”
Others emphasized how the mix of services helps in the tough work of managing OST programs:
“The trainings and college pathways have been very beneficial for me and my staff. The training helps us learn more and be engaged with our students. The pathways are helpful for financial help.”
If overall satisfaction with Prime Time’s responsiveness was high, and our partners experienced success with the wide array of services we offer, this was in part because OST professionals increasingly need the support during these challenging times. In the survey, we framed the challenge this way: Since 2020, we have all experienced a “new normal” – the game-changing effects of the global pandemic and fears about COVID-19, interruptions to schooling and disruption of afterschool attendance, rising cost of living and household stressors, etc. Eighty five percent of you agreed that the new normal was real and tangible in OST programs.
When we asked OST program managers and instructors about the kinds of child and adult stress they were seeing the results were alarming. Seventy percent said they were seeing increases in children’s stress behaviors or decreases in children’s attention spans or both.
We asked about these two issues – stress behavior and inattention – because these are predictors of lots of troubles in later adolescence and adulthood. If we can help children build skills to manage behavior and attention, we’re making a big difference in their lives. Fortunately, with lower adult-youth ratios and less emphasis on competition, OST settings are perfectly positioned for this wellness work. Also referred to as positive youth development and it’s what our definitions of program quality, for example, are all about.
Equally alarming, however, was the finding that during this moment of increased child vulnerability, adults are having challenges staying in jobs. Fifty-four percent of OST professionals said they were seeing higher levels of staff turnover, loss of program memory due to turnover and lower staff motivation for the work. This means that at the same moment when children need consistent relationships and program traditions the most, our field is less able to provide them. These findings are no surprise. We’re hearing the same from all quarters, i.e., the child mental health crisis, the school attendance crisis, the pandemic learning gap, etc.
But what it does mean for us at Prime Time is that the focus on vulnerable children and adults is ever more important to us. Because we heard from you, “impact on vulnerable children and adults” shows prominently in our goals to address in the near future. Your insights define our efforts to be responsive in real time.
Your insights define our efforts to be responsive in real time!
Customer delight, success with a broad mix of services and increased focus on vulnerable children and adults were the major findings. Now let’s talk specifics: What did OST professionals in Palm Beach County say about Prime Time’s direct supports for child outcomes, for the quality of programs and for career advancement of individual OST professionals?
Child outcomes. Prime Time’s expanded learning opportunities (ELO) offerings bring expert providers to OST programs for multiple session of specialized content in supporting the academic day, caring for the whole child, discovering arts and culture, leadership pathways and exploring technology. This is the kind of skill building that many parents/guardians pay for in fee-based clubs and through private lessons.
We asked you how those ELO offerings were working and you said just fine: 85% of you told us that ELO offerings were very important in helping your children understand pathways for academic success and subsequent STEM and technology careers. A slightly higher percentage said the same for generic success skills like wellness, leadership and team-work. These outcomes set the foundation for school-aged children’s subsequent successes in school, life, and eventually, the work force.
This means that when Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County – Stories and STEM are spotlighting engineering and math-focused activities the staff who are watching believe that children are learning about careers; and it means that when Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) empowers youth by equipping them with public speaking skills and helping them discover their passions that children are learning how to be leaders. We ask the children about how engaged they feel in both focus groups and surveys but its you, as the experts in the room, that give us greatest confidence. This is what it looks like to make a difference for children.
Program Quality. Continuously improving the quality of OST programs is another primary purpose of Prime Time’s work. If the ELOs work directly with children, working with adult staff to assure the quality of adult-child interaction – how OST instructors teach and guide - is also an important piece of that puzzle. Our shared quality standard – the Palm Beach County Program Quality Assessment (PBC-PQA) is focused helping adults be expert guides for children’s hearts, hands and heads.
This means that in addition to the advanced skills the ELO providers are working on, Palm Beach County’s high quality OST settings are always in the background, working on the basics of self-regulation, helping children feel, safe, competent and engaged. Those basic supports for managing behavior/emotion and focusing attention are exactly the skills that you told us you are most worried about in the conditions of new normal.
To get the big picture on the program quality work, we asked you how Prime Time’s comprehensive package of eight services – (1) performance reports, (2) coaching, (3) ELOs, (4) professional networking, (5) career supports, (6) professional development, (7) college certification/credit, and (8) financial incentives – was helping you to continuously improve. Eighty-two percent said that these eight services were very important for improving the quality of OST settings.
Perhaps more importantly, almost 80% said that these services were important for helping you stay in your job and in the field. We see this finding – that Prime Time services help increase job tenure – as one of the most important results in the whole study.
In this time of labor market instability, if we can help people stay in their jobs longer, and build those relationships with children more deeply, then we want to keep doing that and build upon it. Remember, more than 50% of you said that you were seeing increased turnover, increased loss of institutional memory and lower staff motivation in our field.
We also want to work with you to tell that story, the one about increasing job tenure in the face of turbulent labor markets and heightened child and family stress. The focus on increasing job tenure also just became another focus of our strategic plan for 2025-2028.
In the survey, we had many comments like these:
"Financial incentives have motivated staff to try and learn the concepts of QIS, it has helped our organization with retention" and "The financial incentive was a great way to get staff hired and to also keep staff on board."
We believe that keeping staff in jobs for longer tenures is a critical aspect of quality. It is deeper relationships with consistent adults that help children dig into their bag of attachment skills and use the adult in the room as a model, as a mental hand-hold, a point of reference for self-control during moments of challenge.
Career Advancement. Delivering great content to children from consistent adults using high quality practices, required highly skilled adults. The eight core services we noted above are all about professional skill building, but career advancement is the special focus of Prime Time’s career supports, professional development, and college certification/credit pathways. Each of these services are supported by financial incentives designed to help staff stay in jobs, attend trainings and pursue credit and certification at Palm Beach State College.
Seventy-eight percent of Prime Time’s clients have participated in these services and received financial incentives to do so. Forty-two percent have used these resources to pursue degree credit or certificate pathways at Palm Beach State College. If we extrapolate from our sample of 376 to the entire 1,500 OST professionals in the Prime Time Registry data base, this suggests that Prime Time has supported more than 630 currently active OST professionals to pursue higher education.
And we know that these professionals believe that that the professional advancement services work: Eighty-five percent of these folks said that these services were very important for the growth of their own professional skills, for improving the quality of services at their program, and for helping them stay in the field and on the job.
Education Pathways. Survey participants expressed excitement over the significant impact our educational initiatives are having on the OST field. Many of you (or more than 50% of survey respondents) have expressed interest in exploring new educational opportunities. In fact, projections show this could represent more than 800 potential candidates - demonstrating the substantial demand you have for such a program.
The feedback you provided shows the immense benefits of our degree programs, college credits, and certificate courses. Many of you affirmed how these offerings contribute directly to your professional development, career progression and workforce retention. The financial support and educational opportunities have helped you become better directors, mentors and OST professionals. You've seen tangible improvements in your skills and the overall quality of the OST programs with whom you work. As one of your colleagues eloquently stated,
"I love that this program is so beneficial across the board for not only the children but for the staff as well."
Our college credit and certification pathways are truly enhancing your capabilities in ways that positively impact the youth you serve. We are thrilled you are part of this transformative initiative and look forward to continuing to elevate the OST workforce through our educational offerings.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read through the results of our annual Customer Impact Survey. Your feedback and insights are invaluable to us as we continue to shape and improve our services to better meet your needs and the needs of the youth, OST programs and OST professionals we serve.
As we move forward, we are committed to focusing on the areas you highlighted as most important: maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction, providing a comprehensive mix of services, and addressing the challenges faced by both children and adults in the current climate. Your responses are already guiding our strategic planning for 2025-28, and we are excited to implement new initiatives that will support your work even more effectively.
Together, we are making a significant impact on the lives of the youth in Palm Beach County and beyond. Your dedication and hard work are truly inspiring, and we are honored to support you in your mission to foster positive human development. Let’s continue to work together to create a brighter future for all.
