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Afterschool Programs - From Vision to Reality: Explanation

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There is growing evidence from around the country that this approach is paying off. Children and youth who attend afterschool programs do better in school, and are safer and less likely to get into trouble in the hours after the end of the school day.

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The Tale of Two Dropouts

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Speaking of Psychology: The good and bad of peer pressure

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Psychologist Brett Laursen, PhD, discussing peer pressure and the impact it has on children's lives.

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Dictionary.com

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Peer pressure definition, social pressure by members of one's peer group to take a certain action, adopt certain values, or otherwise conform in order to be accepted. See more.

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Journal Issue: When School Is Out

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Afterschool Allience. Fact Sheet.

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The research on afterschool programs is vast and continues to grow, with more than 15 years' worth of evaluations and data on afterschool program participation spanning a decade. This section includes materials that present the highlights of afterschool facts and figures in a short and succinct package.

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After-School Programs Can Pay Off

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May 2011 | Volume 68 | Number 8
Schools, Families, Communities Pages 84-85

Jane L. David

Students spend about three-quarters of their waking hours outside school. For some, these hours include sports, music lessons, or other activities that promote learning; for others, however, much of this time is spent disconnected from constructive activities.

What's the Idea?

After-school programs can provide enrichment activities that develop students' academic and social skills. For students who lack adult supervision or learning opportunities after school, such programs can offer an environment that is safe and nurturing as well as educational.

What's the Reality?

After-school programs have grown exponentially in the last 15 years. They vary enormously in their quality and in their ability to get students to attend regularly. Many are poorly designed, lack clear objectives, and suffer from high staff turnover. Such programs tend to come and go as sources of funding appear or dry up. The strongest programs complement, rather than duplicate, school activities and knit families, schools, and community agencies together around student interests and needs.

What's the Research?

The vast number of after-school programs is matched by a vast array of research studies. Findings from these studies run the gamut from strong positive effects to none at all on a variety of academic and social measures. Evaluations using random assignment find few significant effects overall on student test scores and behaviors (Zief, Lauver, & Maynard, 2006). However, such general evaluations provide little insight about program quality or which programs may work well to achieve particular goals for particular students. Some researchers, taking a different tack, have sought out after-school programs with strong reputations to document their effects on students and to discover what makes them successful.

The federally funded 21st Century Community Learning Centers, intended to link schools and communities to bolster school performance, have been the subject of numerous studies. Recently, Huang, Cho, Mostafavi, and Nam (2010) identified 53 Community Learning Centers that were highly effective in terms of student achievement gains. Looking across these programs, the researchers found they shared features similar to those associated with effective schools: strong leaders, clear goals and structures aligned to meet those goals, low staff turnover, and staff ability to motivate and engage students.

In a study of 35 recommended programs serving either elementary or middle school students, Reisner and colleagues (2007) found positive academic outcomes as well as social and behavioral benefits. Students who attended regularly for two years showed improvements in work habits, task persistence, and social skills (such as the ability to refrain from aggressive behavior). Students also demonstrated significant gains in mathematics achievement, even when math was not the focus of the program. Features that stood out across these successful programs included tightly knit partnerships between the after-school programs and students' schools and communities and a focus on high-quality arts, enrichment, and recreation rather than academic subjects.

Durlak and Weissberg (2007) reviewed studies of 73 programs that targeted personal and social skills, all using control groups. The researchers identified a subset of 39 programs that used what they defined as "sound" training approaches-sequenced activities to achieve skill objectives, active learning, and an explicit focus on personal or social skills. These programs showed significant positive benefits in terms of student self-confidence, positive social behaviors, and achievement test scores. In contrast, programs that did not use these approaches failed to produce success on any of the outcomes.

In their synthesis of several dozen studies of after-school programs, Little, Wimer, and Weiss (2008) identified three key features necessary for successful programs: sustained attendance, quality programming and staffing, and strong partnerships between the program and other places where students learn, including schools, families, and community institutions.

Together these studies suggest two important conclusions. One is that programs without an academic component can nevertheless demonstrate increases in student achievement, whereas many programs focused on achievement fail to do so. The other is the importance of building partnerships among key community institutions, including schools, nonprofit agencies, and families.

What's One to Do?

Research calls into question the assumption of many program funders and designers that student test scores will rise if after-school programs are tied closely to what goes on in the classroom. Students tend to be attracted to programs that provide something different from their school day. Research supports investments in well-constructed programs focused on subjects that are underemphasized in school, such as art, music, and hands-on activities. Research also supports an explicit focus on building social and behavioral skills; increased task persistence and self-control often translate into improved academic performance.

Designing enticing and effective afterschool programs is not easy. Such programs require thoughtful planning based on knowledge of the students, as well as collaboration with community agencies and families. Whether afterschool programs are located in schools, churches, public libraries, recreation centers, or other settings, collaboration between schools and community organizations can help bridge the gap between students' school lives and their home lives. Schools need to be willing partners, providing their expertise and support.

References

Durlak, J. A., & Weissberg, R. P. (2007). The impact of after-school programs that promote personal and social skills. Chicago: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. Retrieved from www.casel.org/downloads/ASP-Full.pdf.

Huang, D., Cho, J., Mostafavi, S., & Nam, H. H. (2010). What works? Common practices in high functioning afterschool programs across the nation in math, reading, science, arts, technology, and homework-A study by the National Partnership (CRESST Report 768). Los Angeles: University of California, Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing.

Little, P. M. D., Wimer, C., & Weiss, H. B. (2008). After school programs in the 21st century: Their potential and what it takes to achieve it. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project. Retrieved from www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/afterschool/resources/issuebrief10.html

Reisner, E. R., Vandell, D. L., Pechman, E. M., Pierce, K. M., Brown, D. D., & Bolt, D. (2007). Charting the benefits of high-quality after-school program experiences: Evidence from new research on improving after-school opportunities for disadvantaged youth. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates. Retrieved from www.policystudies.com/_policystudies.com/files/Promising_Programs_policy_paper.pdf

Zief, S. G., Lauver, S., Maynard, R. A. (2006). Impacts of after-school programs on student outcomes: A systematic review for the Campbell Collaboration. Oslo, Norway: Campbell Collaboration Policy Review. Retrieved from www.campbellcollaboration.org/library.php

Jane L. David is director of the Bay Area Research Group, Palo Alto, California; jld@bayarearesearch.org. She is the author, with Larry Cuban, of Cutting Through the Hype: The Essential Guide to School Reform (Harvard Education Press, 2010).

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After-School Programs Can Pay Off - Educational Leadership

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May 2011 | Volume 68 | Number 8 Schools, Families, Communities Pages 84-85 Jane L. David Students spend about three-quarters of their waking hours outside school. For some, these hours include sports, music lessons, or other activities that promote learning; for others, however, much of this time is spent disconnected from constructive activities.

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NEED FOR AFTER-SCHOOL

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The after-school hours provide a uniquely creative and entrepreneurial time in the field of public education. High quality after school programs like After-School All-Stars leverage community resources; provide engaging learning opportunities for kids, address the major issues kids face today, and provide practical solutions for working families in under resourced communities.

The After-School Hours in America are a Critical Time

More than 15 million school-age children (26 percent) are on their own after school. Among them, more than 1 million are in grades K-5. (Afterschool Alliance, 2009)

More than 28 million parents of school-age children are employed, including 23 million who work full time. (U.S. Department of Labor, 2010)

Only 8.4 million K-12 children (15 percent) participate in afterschool programs. An additional 18.5 million would participate if a quality program were available in their community. (Afterschool Alliance, 2009)

The hours between 3 and 6 p.m. are the peak hours for juvenile crime and experimentation with drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and sex. (Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2003)

After-School Programs Offer a Range of Benefits to Youth and their Families

An analysis of 68 afterschool studies concluded that high quality afterschool programs can lead to improved attendance, behavior and coursework. Students participating in a high quality afterschool program went to school more, behaved better, received better grades and did better on tests compared to non-participating students. (Durlak,Weissberg & Pachan, 2010)

Teens who do not participate in afterschool programs are nearly three times more likely to skip classes than teens who do participate. They are also three times more likely to use marijuana or other drugs, and are more likely to drink,smoke and engage in sexual activity. (YMCA of the USA, 2001)

Parents miss an average of five days of work per year due to a lack of afterschool care. Decreased worker productivity related to parental concerns about afterschool care costs businesses up to $300 billion per year. (Catalyst & Brandeis University, 2006)

Afterschool programs are serving a high need population. The Afterschool Alliance's 2009 America After 3PM study revealed that an average of 67 percent of kids participating in afterschool programs qualify for free/reduced price lunch, 14 percent are Limited English Proficient and 11 percent have special needs/disabilities.

After-School Programs Support Student Success

The Promising Afterschool Programs Study found that regular participation in high-quality afterschool programs is linked to significant gains in standardized test scores and work habits as well as reductions in behavior problems among disadvantaged students. (University of California at Irvine, 2007)

Annual teacher-reported performance data from 21st CCLC grantees across the country demonstrate that students attending 21st CCLC programs raise their Math grades (37 percent) and English grades (38 percent), while also improving their homework completion and class participation (72 percent) and their behavior in class (67 percent).(Learning Point Associates, 2010)Researchers at Johns Hopkins University concluded that two-thirds of the achievement gap between lower- and higher-income youth results from unequal access to summer learning opportunities. (American Sociological Review,2007)

After-School Programs Are Seen as Critical and In Demand

A 2008 Afterschool Alliance election eve poll revealed that 3 in 4 voters (76 percent) say afterschool programs are "an absolute necessity" for their community.

According to a 2004 Public Agenda survey, low-income and minority parents are much more likely than higher-income and white parents to say they have trouble finding high-quality, convenient and affordable activities for their children.

According to a 2003 Fight Crime: Invest in Kids poll of working moms, despite public focus on school shootings and other violence during the school day, nearly 9 in 10 working mothers said they are most concerned about their children's safety during the afterschool hours.

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The after-school hours provide a uniquely creative and entrepreneurial time in the field of public education. High quality after school programs like After-School All-Stars leverage community resources; provide engaging learning opportunities for kids, address the major issues kids face today, and provide practical solutions for working families in under resourced communities.

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2/23/15