After School Programs Relevance / Impact

This article by Robert Granger of the W.T. Grant Foundation examines program evaluation literature, observational studies, and commentaries to summarize after school programs impacts on academics, components of successful programming, and identifies approaches to program improvement.  To view this article, click here.

This report synthesizes the last 10 years of findings from Public/Private Ventures and other researchers' work to address one of the most demanding challenges facing today's after-school programs-how to create and manage programs that stand the best chance of producing specific, policy-relevant outcomes. It examines recruitment strategies that attract young people to activities, the qualities that make activities engaging and motivate participants to attend regularly, and the infrastructure-staffing, management and monitoring-needed to support such activities.

A new report from America's Promise Alliance has stunning data about the high school graduation rate in our nation's 50 largest cities: only about half (52 percent) of students in the main school systems actually finish high school with a diploma -- the number is as low as 35 percent in Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit and Indianapolis. To view this study and find out more about the America’s Promise Dropout prevention campaign, go to http://www.connectforkids.org/node/6506

Author: Deborah Vandell Ph.D. (UCI)

This study outlines the longitudinal findings of eight high quality after school programs throughout the nation. The study found positive outcomes among youth who regularly attended high-quality afterschool programs, either alone or in combination with varied sets of additional enrichment experiences available in their neighborhoods.

To view this study, visit: http://www.gse.uci.edu/docs/PASP%20Final%20Report.pdf

UCLA study, commissioned by the US Department of Justice outlines long-term academic achievement growth and juvenile crime rates within the LA's BEST (Better Educated Students of Tomorrow) program. The study concludes that high dosage is tied to positive results for youth. Students who attended the program regularly show modest achievement gains and a substantively significant reduction in juvenile crime. A cost benefit analysis illustrates that this reduction in juvenile crime may save municipalities revenue in the long term by investing in after school programs.

WestEd’ recently released a final report on the initial progress of the first cohort of grantees participating in the After School Safety and Enrichment for Teens (ASSETs) program.

The After-School Corporation (TASC) provides a description and lessons learned from one of the nation’s largest, longest-running efforts to offer teens high quality, structured after-school programs, filling more than 40,000 seats over nine years in New York City public high school after-school programs. Older students who participate in after-school programs significantly improve their chances for success, yet serving them effectively is one of the greatest challenges for the after-school field.

Afterschool Alliance (brief), January 2006
www.afterschoolalliance.org/21stcclc.pdf

Policy Studies Associates Inc. recently released a new study entitled CHARTING THE BENEFITS OF HIGH-QUALITY AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAM EXPERIENCES: Evidence from New Research on Improving After-School Opportunities for Disadvantaged Youth summarizing recent findings pertaining to after-school program quality from researchers at UC Irvine, University of Wisconsin, and Policy Studies Associates Inc. The brief examines the benefits of high quality after-school programs and describes program quality features.

Funded by C.S. Mott Foundation
www.wcer.wisc.edu/childcare/pdf/pp/year_3_report_final.pdf