Theoretical Model
The Beyond the Bell suite of products aims to provide needed resources and information to help afterschool directors, coordinators, staff, and principals create high-quality, effective afterschool programs that serve children, youth, and adults in their community. The suite consists of several resources, including a start-up guide and a toolkit for afterschool directors and coordinators, a workbook for staff working at the program/activity level, and a principal's guide for principals who wish to support an afterschool program in their school. Each of these components provides helpful information and practical tools that can put to use immediately in creating or improving an afterschool program.

Because the Beyond the Bell suite of products is meant to be immediately useful to afterschool practitioners, the emphasis in each product is on tools that can be used as is or modified to meet a program's particular needs. The Beyond the Bell Toolkit, for program directors and site coordinators, includes a CD-ROM that contains electronic versions of all the tools contained in the Toolkit itself. For example, rools like the Student Preference Survey (Tool M) can be modified to list additional options for students that may be particular to the program. Programs also can add the school or program logo to the electronic versions of the tools to convey a more professional look to parents or community members.

A further expression of the ease of use that characterizes the Beyond the Bell suite of products is the Beyond the Bell website, where program directors and site coordinators can download all of the tools, take part in a discussion forum about afterschool issues, and even upload their own tools for others to use. The website provides afterschool practitioners with a much-needed opportunity to network with other afterschool staff across the country and to learn from and support each other in achieving excellence. All programs that purchase toolkits receive a two-year subscription to the website.