NEW STUDY: QUALITY AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAMS BRING ACADEMIC GAINS

The new Study of Promising Afterschool Programs is making waves in the education community and getting attention from opinion leaders nationwide. Afterschool.now editors interviewed the lead author, Deborah Lowe Vandell, who chairs the education department at the University of California, Irvine, about the findings.

Afterschool.now: Please describe your study’s key findings in terms of the academic impact of afterschool programs.
Vandell: This study showed that, for disadvantaged elementary and middle school students, regular participation in high quality afterschool programs is linked to significant gains in standardized test scores and work habits. These gains help offset the negative impact of lack of supervision after school.

Did you find behavioral improvements among students in afterschool programs as well?
Definitely. We found that regular participation in high quality afterschool programs significantly improved behavior, and reduced behavior problems for the students we studied… Middle school students who regularly participated in high quality afterschool programs also reported less use of drugs and alcohol. These results are four to six times larger than those reported in a recent meta-analysis of school-based substance abuse prevention programs aimed at middle school students.

How extensive was the study and what was your methodology?
Our study followed almost 3,000 low-income, ethnically diverse elementary and middle school students from eight states in six major metropolitan centers and six smaller urban and rural locations over two years. About half the students attended high quality afterschool programs at their schools or in their communities. The programs we looked at did not specifically aim to improve students' academic skills.

What should afterschool advocates be telling lawmakers about the study’s results?
I see two important points. One is that the programs obtaining academic gains were not simple extensions of the school day. They were not just doing homework, not programs where there was a lot of drilling. They were doing learning in a different way. The reason we get these gains, I think, is that they were offering children a chance to learn in a different way. That’s consistent with other research, too. So a lesson for lawmakers may be that a way to achieve gains afterschool is to use these alternative ways of learning.

The second point is that the programs where we had these positive effects were mature programs. They had been in operation for a minimum of three years when we started, and the study went for three years, so these programs were sustained for a minimum of six years.

The Study of Promising Afterschool Programs is co-authored by Elizabeth R. Reisner of Policy Studies Associates, Inc. and Kim M. Pierce of the University of California, Irvine. It was produced by the University of California, Irvine; University of Wisconsin - Madison, and Policy Studies Associates, Inc., and funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. It is available online at http://www.policystudies.com/studies/youth/Promising%20Programs%20FINAL.pdf.

TASC STUDY: MIDDLE SCHOOL AFTERSCHOOL STUDENTS SHOW HIGH SCHOOL GAINS

New York City students who attended middle school afterschool programs had better ninth-grade attendance and earned more credits than students who did not, according to an independent analysis of students in afterschool programs supported by The After-School Corporation (TASC). In ninth grade, students who regularly participated in TASC afterschool in grades six, seven and/or eight missed an average of almost seven fewer days than similar non-participants, researchers for Policy Studies Associates found. In tenth grade, they attended school for approximately six days more. They also earned more credits toward graduation in ninth grade.

The findings in "After-School Programs and High School Success: Analysis of Post-Program Educational Patterns of Former Middle-Grades TASC Participants" are consistent with other recent studies, including a major, long-term study of children enrolled in LA’s BEST, a citywide afterschool program in Los Angeles. It too found long-term gains for afterschool students. The full text of the TASC study is available at http://www.tascorp.org/content/document/detail/1758.

MANY MA STUDENTS NOT IN AFTERSCHOOL PROGRAMS

Concluding months of research, the Massachusetts Special Commission on Afterschool and Out of School Time released a report in November that finds that quality programs play a key role in making sure that young people realize their full potential to become well-rounded adults and responsible citizens. However, an estimated 80 percent of the state’s children and youth are not participating in these programs because of cost, transportation and other barriers - and there is a significant gap in afterschool programs for older youth in the state.

Afterschool programs have proven to help students do better in school, live healthier, and gain and practice the critical skills that allow them to compete in the new economy, the new report says. They also contribute to positive relationships among young people, which are critical to child and youth development, including healthy brain development.

Our Common Wealth: Building a Future for Our Children and Youth finds that afterschool programs provide a unique opportunity where all the key domains of child and youth development are linked. The report is available at www.massafterschoolcomm.org.