After-school Program Research Articles

A nutrition education service learning programme: Development, implementation and impact on participants

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the perceptions of university students who served as outside facilitators for evidence-based nutrition education for elementary-age children. Design: Qualitative case study. Methods: Thirteen undergraduate university students facilitated four nutrition education sessions for elementary-age students in an after-school programme using the Choice, Control, Change model as part of service learning curriculum. University students completed pre- and post-participation surveys. Elementary-age participants completed surveys after each session. Results: University students saw the benefit of this type of experiential learning with the following themes: knowledge application, learning about diverse perspectives and having a positive impact. Before the first nutrition education session, the university students felt excited, nervous and/or enthusiastic, and during and immediately after the sessions reported they felt confident. Participant engagement was low/mixed and classroom management was challenging, which may be linked to the university students’ perceptions that they were underprepared to work in a distracting social environment, and with behaviour typical to elementary-age children. The education session recipients reported they gained knowledge about healthy behaviours and believed that eating healthy foods is important. Conclusion: There are gaps in nutrition education programme theory and implementation by outside facilitators. These findings are relevant to those who provide health education services for surrounding communities. This study provides information about implementation barriers when outside facilitators lead nutrition education, alongside recommendations to improve these types of programmes in the future.

Analysis of countermeasures of after-school care services for primary school students in Baotou City

Since the implementation of the "double reduction" policy, Baotou City, as a pilot area in Inner Mongolia for promoting the "double reduction" work, has been actively, steadily, and orderly advancing the "double reduction" work. This paper analyzes the difficulties in the construction of after-school care services for primary school students in Baotou City and puts forward corresponding countermeasures, which have promoted the development of after-school care service institutions and facilitated the implementation of the "double reduction" policy.

Developing Methodologies for Co-Production of Knowledge: Data Production and Analysis in Community-Based Research Partnerships

This article reports on the development of a local methodological innovation that supports the co-production of knowledge side-by-side with community-based research partners. In addition to conducting critical ethnography, Shea reports on how educators within an after-school community science program and a researcher developed practices to surface community educators’ values, demystify the data analysis process, conduct collective analysis, and produce critical layers of data through storytelling. The discussion offers scholars interested in co-producing knowledge an imagination for how to revise existing and taken-for-granted research practices to shift knowledge production.

Out-of-school time use in Pakistan: A qualitative study featuring youth's voices.

The current study addresses the lack of out-of-school time (OST) research in low- and middle-income countries by exploring OST use in the context of Pakistan and incorporating youth's voices. Using a qualitative descriptive design with focus-group discussions, we conducted a study in three middle schools set in low- to middle-income neighborhoods in urban and rural areas of Karachi, Pakistan. We engaged 86 youth (50% girls; aged 10-15 years) that were purposefully selected from grade six (31.4%), seven (44.2%) and eight (24.4%) classrooms, balancing gender and locality. In each focus group, we asked participants to describe their afterschool activity routine on a typical weekday afternoon until bedtime. Digital recordings of discussions were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using content analysis. Based on sixteen focus groups with five to six participants in each group, we identified eight distinct categories: religious activities, schoolwork, screentime, helping adult family members, family time, outdoor play, indoor leisure activities, and hanging out with friends. We found that structured activities (e.g., religious activities and schoolwork supervised by an adult) were reported more frequently than unstructured activities (e.g., outdoor play and family time). Participation in activities varied by gender and location (i.e., urban vs. rural), highlighting disparities associated with the sociocultural context that marginalized youth face. Our findings provide a glimpse into the everyday lives of Pakistani youth outside of school. Additionally, they elucidate how economic resources, sociocultural norms regarding gender, and community safety shape youth's time use and socialization patterns. Findings from this study can inform the development of OST activities and initiatives aimed at promoting the positive development of Pakistani youth.

Lifestyle Behaviors of Bronx Middle-School Students Enrolled in an Afterschool Program: Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Shutdown.

Background: A minority of American youth meet CDC lifestyle behavior recommendations. Children in the Bronx face barriers to healthy behaviors amplified by COVID-19. This research evaluated baseline behavior among distinct cohorts attending afterschool programming before and after the COVID-19 shutdown. Methods: Three Bronx public schools collected demographic and behavior data at the start of the 2021-2022 school year. This was compared to baseline data from students during the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years at 1 school. Results: During the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years, 76 students completed lifestyle behaviors questionnaires. During the 2021-2022 school year 89 students completed questionnaires. Participants surveyed after the COVID-19 shutdown drank more sweetened beverages (Median (IQR) = 3 (2-5) cups/day vs 2 (1-4) cups/day, P = .029) than those surveyed before the pandemic. Changes to the distribution of sleep (8 (7.5-9) hours/day vs 8 (6-9) hours/day, P = .005) and fast food consumption (1 (0 to 2-3) times/week vs 1 (1 to 2-3) times/week), P = .004) without changes in medians were also observed. PA hours completed weekly trended toward significant decline (4 (2-5) hours/week vs 3 (2-5) hours/week, P = .09). Conclusions: Changes in behaviors including sleep, physical activity, and sweetened beverage and fast food consumption observed after the COVID-19 shutdown highlight the importance of robust programming to promote healthy lifestyle behaviors in youth.

Seeing Black Girls in Their Glory: Cultivating Spaces that Facilitate Black Girls’ Psychological Safety

Black girls are regularly exposed to physical, emotional, and psychological violence in schools. Spaces intentionally created for and by Black girls can offer them psychological safety, where they can feel comfortable being their authentic selves. In the current qualitative study, we explored Black adolescent girls’ sense of psychological safety using individual, semi-structured interviews with 16 girls ( Mage = 17.36 years) who participated in Black Girl Magic Crew (BGM), an after-school program in the Southeastern United States. This program was created for and with Black girls and focused on their identity development, mental health, and academic preparation. Drawing on the psychological framework of radical healing and Black feminism in qualitative inquiry, we depicted the practices and curricular elements that enabled the girls to feel psychologically safe in BGM. Findings demonstrated that within BGM, participants (a) were validated, (b) seen in their glory, and (c) freely expressed themselves. The authors discussed the implications of study findings for Black girls’ psychological safety and co-creating Black girl spaces that prioritize liberation and healing.

방과 후 라틴댄스 활동이 비만 아동의 혈관내피세포 기능 및 혈류 반응에 미치는 영향

방과 후 라틴댄스 활동이 비만 아동의 혈관내피세포 기능 및 혈류 반응에 미치는 영향

Understanding STEM Outcomes for Autistic Middle Schoolers in an Interest-Based, Afterschool Program: A Qualitative Study

Current research underscores that there are only a few evidence-based programs that teach STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) as part of their curriculum, especially for autistic students. Even fewer programs focus on engineering and design learning. Hence, we developed an informal afterschool maker program to develop autistic and non-autistic students’ interests in engineering to understand their experiences learning STEM concepts and values while applying the engineering mindset to develop projects. This qualitative study aimed to explore and understand students’ experiences participating in STEM activities in the maker club. We interviewed twenty-six students (seventeen autistic and nine non-autistic), nine teachers, and thirteen parents representing diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds across three public middle schools in a large urban metropolitan city between 2018 and 2019. Our thematic analysis yielded four themes: (1) active participation in STEM; (2) curiosity about STEM topics, concepts, and practices, (3) capacity-building to engage in STEM learning; and 4) understanding of the importance of STEM education in daily life. The results of this study enabled us to understand that students were deeply engaged with the content and curriculum of our program, expanded their knowledge base about scientific concepts, used engineering-specific scientific terminologies, and engaged with the engineering design process to conceptualize, test, improvise, and problem-solve. Furthermore, this afterschool engineering education program created a safe, nurturing, and stimulating environment for students to build engineering readiness skills.

The mediating effects of motivation on the relations between occupational stress and physical activity among underresourced afterschool program staff

ObjectiveGuided by Self-Determination Theory, this study aimed to examine the potential mediating effects of autonomous and controlled motivations on physical activity (PA) experiences of afterschool program (ASP) staff with occupational stress.MethodA total of 58 ASP staff provided full data. Staff occupational stress and self-determination motivations for PA were assessed. Participants’ daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was measured using accelerometer wear. A path analysis was used to address the research purpose.ResultsOccupational stress negatively and indirectly predicted daily MVPA which was mediated by controlled motivation (β = − 4.15, p <.05). Autonomous motivation directly and positively predicted daily MVPA across all types and levels of ASP staff occupational stress (β = 9.93, p =.01).ConclusionsAutonomous motivation is a powerful predictor of staff PA levels despite the degree to which they experience stress. In contrast, controlled motivations are more vulnerable to occupational stress, and can lead to lower MVPA.Trial registrationConnect Through PLAY: A Staff-based Physical Activity Intervention for Middle School Youth (Connect). https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03732144. Registered 11/06/2018. Registration number: NCT03732144.

Evaluating Dual Language Education Programs in Taiwan: Structure, Instruction, and Learning Outcomes

Despite the increasing popularity of dual language education programs in Taiwan, limited research assesses their effectiveness. This study evaluated eight English Immersion Programs (EIPs) in Taiwan, representing a dual language education model, using the Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education (GPDLE) framework. Interviews with the management team and a questionnaire for Native English Teachers (NETs) assessed the alignment of program structure and instruction with the GPDLE. A quasi-experimental design, including pre-tests and post-tests, examined the English listening and reading outcomes of 74 fourth to sixth-grade students in two randomly-selected EIPs over a year. The findings reveal that 83% of the EIPs fully adhered to the program structure outlined in the GPDLE, while only 33% of teacher instruction exhibited full alignment, with an additional 57% demonstrating partial alignment. Notably, significant improvements in reading were observed among fourth-grade students, and both reading and listening skills showed substantial enhancements in the fifth and sixth-grade students. The study recommends adopting a financially sustainable, user-paid model for an after-school English immersion program, supporting Taiwan&amp;rsquo;s 2030 Bilingual National Initiative.

Who benefits and when? Understanding differential treatment effects of an online professional development program

The quality of educational experiences has a direct impact on children’s development and overall wellbeing. To ensure that children receive high-quality education experiences it is important that educators are trained in current best practices and feel efficacious in the implementation of these practices. Professional development (PD) has shown to be an effective mechanism for addressing educator knowledge and promoting feelings of self-efficacy. However, multiple barriers exist to delivering in-person PD (e.g., time and resource constraints). Online PD represents an attractive alternative for many educators, but the research on the effectiveness of online PD is mixed. The current study evaluates the effectiveness of a series of PD courses designed to promote positive youth development and identifies subgroups of educators who benefitted from the courses more than others. Results indicated improvement in feelings of self-efficacy around the implementation of practices to promote positive youth development, but new teachers in afterschool programs benefitted more than other educators.

A 16-week school-based intervention improves physical fitness in Slovenian children: a randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a 16-week school-based physical activity (PA) intervention on physical fitness (PF) (speed, hand-eye coordination, flexibility) of 8- to 9-year-olds. Methods: A total of seventy-eight boys and girls (boys: n = 45, aged 8.4 ± 4.9years; girls: n = 42, aged 8.6 ± 0.5years) from a school in Slovenia were randomly assigned to either a group with an after-school PA program (EXP) or a control group (CON) that participated exclusively in mandatory physical education (PE). The EXP group engaged in the extracurricular PA program for 60 min twice a week for 16 weeks, concurrent with regular PE classes. The program primarily involved elementary PE games that included elements of athletics (e.g., skipping, push- off running, hopping, crossstepping, and jumping) and gymnastics (e.g., handstand, forward roll, backward roll, hand support jumps, squat jump on a vault box, climbing on horizontal bars, incline benches and ropes, crawling, and jumping rope). Standardized tests appropriate for this age group were used to assess PF, including the sit and reach test (SAR), the 30-meter sprint, and the alternate hand wall toss test at distances of 1.0 and 2.0 m (AHWT 1.0 and 2.0). Results: There was a significant group-time interaction for SAR test (EXP group increase: +1.6 cm, +6.3%; CON group decrease: -0.1cm, -0.4%; p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.361), and the 30m sprint (EXP group improvement: -0.4 s, -6.3%; CON group decrease: +0.1 s, +1.6%; p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.193). Similarly, the EXP group improved by +2.1 points (+25.6%) in the 1.0 m wall throw with the alternating hand, while the CON group showed only minimal changes (-0.2 points, -2.4%; p < 0.001, ηp2 = 0.545). No significant interaction was found for the 2.0m toss (EXP and CON group both -0.1 points, -2.6%; p = 0.888, ηp2 = 0.001). Post-hoc analyses with paired t-tests revealed that the EXP group showed significant improvements in SAR test (p < 0.001), 30 m sprint (p < 0.001) and AHWT 1.0 test (p < 0.001), while the CON group showed no significant changes in SAR test (p = 0.533), 30 m sprint (p = 0.150), AHWT 1.0 test (p = 0.186) and AHWT 2.0 test (p = 0.430). Discussion: The results of the study showed that the extracurricular program with only two additional weekly sessions significantly improved the components of PF in 8- to 9-year olds. Significant improvements were observed in the areas of flexibility, speed and coordination, as shown in the SAR test, 30-meter sprint and 1.0-meter handwall toss tests. However, no similar improvements were observed in the 2.0-meter handwall toss, which illustrates the specific areas of impact of the program.

Participation in organised sport to improve and prevent adverse developmental trajectories of at-risk youth: A systematic review.

Healthy after-school activities such as participation in organised sport have been shown to serve as important resources for reducing school failure and other problem/high-risk behaviour. It remains to be established to what extent organised sport participation has positive impacts on young people in unstable life circumstances. What are the effects of organised sport on risk behaviour, personal, emotional and social skills of young people, who either have experienced or are at-risk of experiencing an adverse outcome? The database searches were carried out in March 2023 and other sources were searched in May 2023. We searched to identify both published and unpublished literature. The intervention was participation in leisure time organised sport. Young people between 6 and 18 years of age, who either have experienced or are at-risk of experiencing an adverse outcome were eligible. Primary outcomes were problem/high-risk behaviour and a secondary outcomes social and emotional outcomes. Studies that used a control group were eligible for. Studies that utilised qualitative approaches were not. The number of potentially relevant studies was 43,716. Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Only seven studies could be used in the data synthesis. Five studies were judged to have a critical risk of bias and were excluded from the meta-analysis. One study did not report data that enabled the calculation of effect sizes and standard errors. Meta-analyses were conducted on each conceptual outcome separately. All analyses were inverse variance weighted using random effects statistical models. Two studies were from Canada, one from Australia, and the remaining from the USA. The timespan of the interventions was 23 years, from 1995 to 2018. The median number of participants analysed was 316, and the median number of controls was 452. A number of primary outcomes were reported but each in a single study only. Concerning secondary outcomes, two studies reported the effect on overall psychosocial adjustment at post-intervention. The standardised mean difference was 0.70 (95% CI 0.28-1.11). There was a small amount of heterogeneity. Three studies reported on depressive symptoms at 0-3 years follow-up. The standardised mean difference was 0.02 (95% CI -0.01 to 0.06). There was no heterogeneity between the three studies. In addition, a number of other secondary outcomes were reported each in a single study only. There were too few studies included in the meta-analyses in order for us to draw any conclusion. The dominance of Northern America clearly limiting the generalisability of the findings. The majority of the studies were not considered to be of overall high quality and the process of excluding studies with critical risk of bias from the meta-analysis applied in this review left us with only 7 of a total of 13 possible studies to synthesise. Further, because too few studies reported results on the same type of outcome, at most three studies could be combined in a particular meta-analysis and no meta-analysis could be performed on any of the primary outcomes.

The beautiful game bringing families together: children's and parents' experiences of a family football programme.

Children are consistently not achieving recommended levels of physical activity (PA) despite it being a compulsory requirement of the national curriculum in England. Fruit and vegetable consumption also falls below recommended levels for both adults and children. With school PA increasingly being outsourced, football foundations (linked to professional football clubs) are now prominent providers of children's PA. However, research exploring coach-led interventions in schools is limited with a particular gap in knowledge surrounding the qualitative experiences of children and parents/carers. The current study therefore aimed to explore the experiences of children and parents engaged in a 6-week family football programme. Family football is a free after-school programme engaging parents/carers and their children, to enhance their engagement in PA and healthy nutritional habits. A purposive sample of parents/carers and their children (N = 36) took part in qualitative focus groups to discuss their experiences of participating in family football. Reflexive thematic analysis revealed two themes: (i) healthy lifestyle facilitators and challenges and (ii) added value of programme participation. Children discussed programme content around nutritional practices and parents/carers discussed examples of where nutritional practices had improved at home, though some parents/carers and children highlighted persistent barriers to health improvement. Both parents/carers and children reflected on how the programme had enabled them to spend dedicated time with one another. The findings emphasize the significance of direct parent/carer involvement in school-based health interventions as well as the value of coach-led interventions in the enhancement of PA enjoyment, nutritional knowledge and connectedness of families within schools.

Enrichment, empowerment, and emancipation: Chinese and Latinx immigrant parental investment in U.S. bilingual education

ABSTRACT Immigrant parents have varied yet comparable language ideologies, perspectives, and experiences. In this qualitative case study, 67 immigrant parents were interviewed, 37 Chinese and 30 Latinx, whose children were enrolled in Mandarin–English and Spanish–English bilingual after-school programs at two urban public elementary schools in the U.S. Northeast megalopolis. Critical discourse analysis of the interview transcripts revealed parents’ encompassing beliefs in bilingual education as a sociocultural investment in learning Chinese and Spanish. The study identifies three types of sociocultural investment: enrichment, empowerment, and emancipation. Enrichment is premised on the immigrant parents’ expectations of additive bilingual development in their child’s education. Empowerment is rooted in the immigrant parents’ agentic motivations to instrumentalize their child’s non-English language and provide cultural capital for immediate and transnational contexts. Emancipation emerges from immigrant parents’ experiences of liberation from subtractive bilingualism, limited educational experiences, and negative associations of ethnolinguistic identity institutionalized by the dominant (White) English-speaking society. These findings indicate that the cultures and languages transmitted through immigrant parents’ sociocultural investment in bilingualism are equally transmissible through investment in bilingual education. (176 words)

Examining Anti-Poverty Programs to Address Student’s Unmet Basic Needs at Texas Hispanic-Serving Institutions over the Course of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Many post-secondary institutions have implemented anti-poverty programs to address students’ basic needs insecurities. This study examined the provision of 17 types of basic needs programs at Texas Hispanic-serving institutions over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic with the aim to identify changes in the number and types of programs offered as well as factors that may influence the presence of specific types of basic needs programs on campus. While the average number of basic needs programs per institution varied little over time, the specific types of programs that were offered changed. Institution type as a 2-year or 4-year institution was associated with providing on-campus mental health services, on-campus physical health services, and after-school care for students’ children at pre-pandemic and anticipated post-pandemic time points and employing students and free food or meal vouchers at the pre-pandemic time point. The percentage of students receiving Pell Grants was associated with basic needs programs to assist students applying for public services and referrals to off-campus health services pre-pandemic and anticipated post-pandemic. The presence of an on-campus free food pantry was associated with the percentage of students receiving Pell Grants at the anticipated post-pandemic time point only. Over the course of the pandemic, there were changes to the types of basic needs programs offered. Some types of basic needs programs were associated with institutional and/or student characteristics. Given the continued presence of basic needs programs through the course of the pandemic and into the post-pandemic period, the use of these kinds of programs and services to support students, while influenced by external factors such as the pandemic, appears institutionally established as a way to facilitate going to college for students in need.

Sparring with Femininity

This ethnography explores how a group of adolescents—predominantly girls—negotiated a sport-for-development program centred on the traditionally masculine pastime of mixed martial arts (MMA). The ethnographic setting was a youth centre in central Montréal that provides free after-school programming for youths aged 11 to 18 years. Our analysis yielded three prominent themes: 1) ‘girls don’t do MMA,’ in which we discovered how young female pugilists actively challenged residual stereotypes that cast them as ‘too soft’ to play violent sports such as MMA; 2) ‘a mixed bag of martial artists,’ in which we learned how local youths conceived MMA as a vehicle for supporting innovative agendas that extended well-beyond the sport of MMA; and 3) the ‘racialization of self-defence,’ in which we witnessed how self-defence against complex social realities (profiling and marginalization) experienced by many non-white youths in the area were integrated into the teachings of the MMA program. Collectively, these themes raise important questions about the socially significant role(s) that MMA plays in the lives of local youths with respect to their race, class, and gendered identities.

Long-term music instruction is partially associated with the development of socioemotional skills.

This study aims to investigate the development of pitch-matching, rhythmic entrainment, and socioemotional skills in children who received formal music instruction and other non-music based after school programs. Eighty-three children, averaging 6.81 years old at baseline, were enrolled in either a music, sports, or no after-school program and followed over four years. The music program involved formal and systematic instruction in music theory, instrumental technique, and performance. Most control participants had no music education; however, in some instances, participants received minimal music education at school or at church. Musical development was measured using a pitch-matching and drumming-based rhythmic entrainment task. Sharing behavior was measured using a variation of the dictator game, and empathy was assessed using three different assessments: the Index of Empathy for Children and Adolescence (trait empathy), the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (theory of mind), and a Fiction Emotion-Matching task (state empathy). Results revealed no time-related associations in pitch-matching ability; however, formal music instruction improved pitch-matching relative to controls. On the contrary, improvements in rhythmic entrainment were best explained by age-related changes rather than music instruction. This study also found limited support for a positive association between formal music instruction and socioemotional skills. That is, individuals with formal music instruction exhibited improved emotion-matching relative to those with sports training. In terms of general socioemotional development, children's trait-level affective empathy did not improve over time, while sharing, theory of mind, and state empathy did. Additionally, pitch-matching and rhythmic entrainment did not reliably predict any socioemotional measures, with associations being trivial to small. While formal music instruction benefitted pitch-matching ability and emotion-matching to an audiovisual stimulus, it was not a significant predictor of rhythmic entrainment or broader socioemotional development. These findings suggest that the transfer of music training may be most evident in near or similar domains.

Engagement in Sedentary and Physically Active After-School Programs Among African American Children with ADHD and Disruptive Behavior Disorders.

Sport and physical activity (PA) programs are an important developmental resource for youth with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Disruptive Behavior Disorders. The purpose of this study is to assess sport participation rates, PA participation, and after-school supervision rates among African American children with ADHD and/or Disruptive Behavior Disorders. In this cross-sectional study, parents of African American children with elevated symptoms of ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder, and/or conduct disorder (N = 175, 6- to 12-y-old, 31% female) reported after-school program participation over the past year. Logistic regression analyses tested relationships between ADHD symptoms, oppositional defiant disorder symptoms, and conduct disorder symptoms, likelihood of regular participation (≥2d/wk) in sport, PA, and sedentary after-school programs, and likelihood of being supervised and unsupervised after school. All regressions controlled for age, sex, income, and medication status. Sample participation rates were descriptively compared with participation rates of same-aged peers regionally, and nationally, reported in 3 national surveys. Parents in the local sample reported higher rates of sedentary after-school program participation (54%) but lower rates of PA program participation (31%), and sport participation (12%) compared with same-aged peers. The local sample was less likely to be unsupervised after-school compared with same-aged peers with only 27% of parents reporting that their child was unsupervised ≥ 2days per week. Children endorsing oppositional defiant disorder (odds ratio = 2.05; P < .05) and conduct disorder (odds ratio = 5.74; P < .05) were more likely to be unsupervised more frequently after-school as compared with those not meeting endorsement. Given demonstrated benefits of youth sport programming and observed inequities in participation, there is a need to develop support models that connect parents, coaches, and social services agencies to facilitate inclusion. Sports medicine professionals are uniquely positioned to contribute to these efforts, as they are often key opinion leaders in both the youth sport and health care contexts.

BLinG-Health: A Peer-Led Physical Activity Program for Black Adolescent Girls—A Pilot Study

Background: Culturally relevant approaches that address low physical activity rates among Black girls are increasing, yet opportunities to engage in physical activity (PA) remain minimal. Coupled with deficit approaches to school-based PA programming, positioning Black adolescent girls as PA leaders is missing from practice. BLinG-Health aims to develop peer leaders to participate in and deliver group fitness sessions in an after-school PA program. Methods: Black adolescent girls engaged in a culturally relevant, 8-week pretest and posttest quasi-experimental pilot study examining the impact of a peer-led school-based PA intervention program in a Baltimore, Maryland, public school. After peer leaders engaged in a 12-hr fitness education, training, and certification program using the Interactive Fitness Trainers of America’s Tabata group fitness instruction and certification series, peer leaders led classmates in group fitness 2–3 days a week for 8 weeks. Peer leaders and participants completed two assessment rounds at baseline and Week 9, including height and weight, to compute body mass index, waist circumference, hip circumference, hip-to-waist ratio, a 12-min run/walk, and push-up test. Results: Participants (n = 7; Mage = 16.43 years) significantly improved in cardiovascular endurance (p = .025) and muscular endurance (p = .013) with modest, nonsignificant changes in anthropometric measures. Discussion: Challenging deficit narratives on Black girls’ PA engagement, participants consistently attended weekly group fitness sessions and improved cardiovascular and muscular fitness. Empowering Black adolescent girls to lead group fitness sessions among peers may enhance PA engagement. Schools should consider culturally relevant programming to increase Black girls’ opportunities to engage in PA.