Reports

Investments in Student Recovery: A Review of School Districts' Use of American Rescue Plan Funding to Support Afterschool and Summer Opportunities (October 2023)

Federal funds distributed to school districts across the nation to aid in pandemic-related recovery represent a unique opportunity to support students through afterschool and summer programs. This brief illustrates how school districts allocated their American Rescue Plan Act Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) funds toward afterschool and summer learning opportunities and the strategies districts used to support students’ learning recovery. It also provides recommendations to maximize future investments in afterschool and summer programs to help young people learn, be healthy, and thrive.

• St. Louis Park Public Schools: Expanding support and opportunities for underserved students in afterschool and summer programs using ARP ESSER funds

Download
Featured

Impossible Choices: How States are Addressing the Federal Failure to Fully Fund Afterschool Programs (2005)

Despite authorization to increase federal funding for 21st CCLC by a total of $1.5 billion from 2002 to 2007, appropriations remained stagnant at roughly $1 billion through 2005. With most funding promised to existing programs, this has reduced many states’ ability to create new afterschool programs and stunted the growth of afterschool. This report evaluates the impacts of budgetary restrictions on 21st CCLC in each state and calls for increased federal funding moving forward.

Download

Full STEM Ahead: Afterschool Programs Step Up as Key Partners in STEM Education (Sept 2015)

This report provides the first national look at access to afterschool STEM programs and parental attitudes towards such programs by outlining survey findings, identifying current challenges, and providing recommendations to improve afterschool STEM programming in the future. Full STEM Ahead is presented as part of the third edition of America After 3PM, which spans a decade of household survey data chronicling how children spend the hours between 3 and 6 p.m.

Download
Executive Summary

Evaluations Backgrounder: A Summary of Formal Evaluations of Afterschool Programs’ Impact on Academics, Behavior, Safety and Family Life (2015)

The most recent evaluations available today continue to support the important role afterschool plays in student development and success. This updated evaluations backgrounder includes new research outlining the positive impacts of afterschool programs on academic performances, behavior, safety, attendance, avoidance of risky behaviors and parental involvement, and the importance of frequency and duration of participation in seeing these benefits.

Download

Evaluations Backgrounder: A Summary of Formal Evaluations of Afterschool Programs' Impact on Academics, Behavior, Safety and Family Life (2013)

Afterschool programs have been operating across the country for decades, and federal investment in afterschool has increased dramatically since the mid-1990s. Still, more investment is needed to meet growing demand.  As public demand and need for afterschool have grown, so too has the demand for accountability. This backgrounder contains research demonstrating the impact of afterschool programs on participant's academic achievement, behavior, safety, and overall wellness.

Download

Evaluations Backgrounder: A Summary of Formal Evaluations of Afterschool Programs' Impact on Academics, Behavior, Safety and Family Life (2011)

The most recent evaluations available today continue to support the important role afterschool plays in student development and success. This updated evaluations backgrounder includes new research, from the local to national scale, demonstrating the impact of afterschool programs on participants’ academic achievement, behavior, safety, and wellness, as well as the support they provide working families.

Download

Evaluations Backgrounder 

A compilation of evaluations of afterschool programs looking at academic outcomes, student behavior and parental concerns about children’s safety.

Download

Community STEM Collaborations that Support Children and Families

Youth are natural scientists at birth, discovering and exploring their world and trying to make sense of it. A child’s education is not limited to just the time they spend in the classroom. Children learn at home with their families, in public libraries, or through out-of-school-time experiences provided at community centers and in afterschool and summer learning programs, and even on vacations. In this paper, we endeavor to make the case that Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) is an ideal subject area that can engage children with fun, active learning activities. It is also an important societal area around which parents, librarians, and OST providers can collaborate and complement the work of schools.

Download

America After 3PM: Special Report on Summer: Missed Opportunities, Unmet Demand (May 2010)

The Afterschool Alliance is proud to present this report as part of the second edition of America After 3PM, which spans five years of household survey data chronicling how children spend the hours between 3 and 6 p.m. This special report addresses key finding related to the need for summer programming, the unmet demand within each state, and a persisting opportunity gap.

Download

America After 3PM: From Big Cities to Small Towns (Oct 2010)

The Afterschool Alliance is proud to present this report as part of the second edition of America After 3PM, which spans five years of household survey data chronicling how children spend the hours between 3 and 6 p.m. This report compares findings for rural, suburban, and urban communities to each other and the nation as a whole.

Download