The rate of staff retention in before and after school programs can widely be considered a benchmark of quality. Programs that keep and develop their staff often enjoy the added benefits a devoted team can bring to a program. It takes a great deal of time to develop a shared vision among the team members and provide enough experiential training and feedback to make a tangible difference. In my experience running a large non-profit before and after school program, parents often choose a program for the staff and the perceived quality based on their own research. Through the initial engagement process, I find that this research usually consists of talking with other parents - and in that case, the conversation usually revolves around the staffing and program location. I have observed that, over the course of the past 15 years operating in the non-profit before and after school environment, the programs I have supported that grow the most are the ones wi...