CHAPTER 7: “If You Ever Did Need The Help, It Would Be There In A Second. No Questions Asked”: A Study of Perceived Impact of Out-of-School STEM Programs During COVID-19

This study examined four administrators and four instructors from an out of-school time (OST) summer science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) program as they made the transition from an in-person to a virtual program early in the COVID-19 pandemic in the Summer of 2020. The summer STEM program is one branch of an organization called Pathways which provides in- and out-of-school programming for Grades 5 through students during the academic year and over the summer; our study focused on students in Grades 5-9. Through semi-structured interviews, each participant was able to share supports that they found to be valuable during this transition. Additionally, Fornaro triangulated these findings with document analysis and observations as they were in an instructional role in the summer STEM program. The supports fell into the three themes: teaching supports, operational supports, and both teaching and operational supports. We share implications for other OST programs and virtual programming along with ideas for future research.