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Over the years, reams of research have amply demonstrated the impact afterschool programs can have on boosting student academic performance. Different studies have focused on different components - some examining the various "building blocks" of academic achievement, others looking at students' or teachers' assessments of academic progress, and some focusing directly on afterschool's impact on student grades and test scores.
One major study, conducted by Chicago-based Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and released in 2007, examined data from 73 existing studies of afterschool - a meta-analysis designed to survey existing research and draw conclusions despite differences in methodology. CASEL's analysis concluded, "Youth who participate in afterschool programs improve significantly in three major areas: feelings and attitudes, indicators of behavioral adjustment, and school performance. More specifically, afterschool programs succeeded in improving youths' school grades and achievement test scores."
A separate meta-analysis by Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL), released in 2006, looked at 35 afterschool studies and reached similar conclusions about the academic benefits of afterschool. For summaries of these and more than 20 other studies, read the Afterschool Alliance's latest "Summary of Formal Evaluations of the Academic Impact of Afterschool Programs."
Referencing these and other studies in a 2008 overview of afterschool research, Priscilla Little, Christopher Wimer, and Heather B. Weiss of the Harvard Family Research Project, write, "A decade of research and evaluation studies, as well as large-scale, rigorously conducted syntheses looking across many research and evaluation studies, confirms that children and youth who participate in afterschool programs can reap a host of positive benefits in a number of interrelated outcome areas - academic, social/emotional, prevention, and health and wellness."
Aligning Afterschool and Regular-Day Curricula Such successes do not come by accident. On the ground, many 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC)-funded afterschool programs are boosting students' academic achievement by working closely with teachers and school administrators to align their curriculum with what students are learning during the regular school day.
In Lincoln, Nebraska, a 21st CCLC grant supports the Arnold Community Learning Center's afterschool program as it works to align its curriculum with regular school day instruction. Site Supervisor Dayna Krannawitter, an Afterschool Alliance Afterschool Ambassador, says she "works with school staff to extend the school day plans for students into the afterschool hours, and our homework club teachers are school para-educators who work closely with teachers and students during the school day, and then carry that expertise into the afterschool homework club, focusing in on the school's improvement goals for math and vocabulary."
The Lincoln CLC initiative also has a curriculum coach as a school district employee who works with district curriculum specialists to train afterschool staff in aligning afterschool curriculum with district standards. Says Krannawitter, "It is because of the intentional and meaningful involvement of CLC and school staff that we have seen an increase in academic performance for 94 percent of CLC students who participated in our afterschool programs at Arnold 30 days or more during the school year."
In Rexburg, Idaho's 21st CCLC site, afterschool staff members work closely with classroom teachers to provide extra assistance in areas where students need help. Program staff focus in on students' weakest academic areas, as reflected in the state's standardized achievement tests. The program relies on strong working relationships between afterschool staff and Title I and special education personnel.
In Davenport, Iowa, the Stepping Stones afterschool program, a partnership between the Davenport Community Schools and the City of Davenport, works closely with regular school day teachers and administrators. In fact, many of the school day teachers work in the program, providing homework help, small group tutoring, and intensive academic interventions tailored to students' individual needs. Daily instruction in the elementary-level afterschool program parallels the district's K-5 curriculum, and curriculum specialists from the district assist with planning, as well as with selection and alignment of materials and activities. Afterschool activities match up with core day instructions in other ways, as well. For example, themes and subjects explored in core day reading classes might be reinforced in afterschool activities - art projects, for example.
"The school district has embraced us as an increasingly viable strategy for impacting student achievement," says John Border, Community Education Project Manager for Davenport Community Schools and an Afterschool Ambassador. "This summer, the district is planning to place a certified school day teacher in each of our 10 summer sites, bringing new resources to our programs. So we'll have top-notch instructors, and it'll help us offer the program at a lower cost, which is a big boost for us and for our families. The primary reason that happened is that we have done so much work over the past few years with our instructional specialists aligning our curriculum in afterschool with what's happening in the regular day."
In Cincinnati, Ohio, CincyAfterSchool operates more than two dozen 21st CCLC sites, providing instruction and activities tailored to support each school's curriculum. Programs embed a full-time coordinator in the school building specifically to build relationships that support the recruitment and retention of students who need the program most.
Meanwhile, CincyAfterSchool leaders and school district personnel collaborate on common quality standards and data-sharing tools, and personnel at a number of sites ensure alignment and integration by creating communication packets that connect the student's core day work with afterschool instruction. The packets also help parents stay informed about how their children are doing. The approach is working, and student test scores are up. A recent evaluation found that 51.6 percent of CincyAfterSchool students had increased their reading scores from 2007 to 2008, while 50.8 percent had increased their math scores during that period.
This past September, in West Valley City, Utah, on the outskirts of Salt Lake City, a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant to the Community Education Partnership, together with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the President's stimulus bill), allowed Rolling Meadows Elementary School to launch "Project Swing." The initiative takes tightly focused aim on individual students' academic weak spots.
Program Director Mandi Bristow says the grant funds allowed the program to hire tutors, including several Rolling Meadows teachers, and then identify children whose scores on state assessment tests indicated specific weaknesses. "We're particularly interested in students who pass one year's test, but fail the next," she explains. "Most of those kids have strong enough grades or scores that they don't qualify for special education or other resources. They're just missing key concepts somewhere."
In consultation with the children's teachers, Project Swing's tutors work to fill the gaps in the students' learning, grouping students with similar problems into sessions with four- or five-to-one student-teacher ratios. The school also employs a separate testing package to track students' progress at regular intervals throughout the school year, and the afterschool program puts those results to work, as well, using the current data to identify additional areas where students need help, and tailoring tutoring to those needs.
Bristow says that while the initiative is barely off the ground, it's showing results. "It's helped a lot of kids, we know," she says. "For example, we have three children from one family, refugees from Central Africa with very limited English. The kids really wanted to learn, and our tutors were able to help them, getting them on the right path."
"Both the data and the everyday experiences are clear," said Afterschool Alliance Executive Director Jodi Grant. "All across this country, quality afterschool programs are working hand-in-hand with teachers to help students engage and achieve in school. They are making a tremendous difference."
This story originally appeared in the Afterschool Advocate (Vol. 11, Issue 1).
Click here to read the rest of this issue.
