The Importance of After-School Programs (continued)

The National Institute on Out of School Time (NIOST) notes that older students don’t participate in afterschool activities as much as younger children. They identify several possible reasons for this: (1) it is more difficult to attract high school students to programs; (2) high school students are less likely to want to stay in the school building; (3) high school students have busier schedules (i.e., family, sibling or home responsibilities); (4) high school students are less likely to attend a program several days a week; (5) high school students often need to work to earn money and contribute to family income; and (6) high school students are more independent and mobile, so they vote with their feet. (Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2003)

Another perspective is more holistic and addresses studies in child development and education that link afterschool attendance to better grades, peer relations, academic equity, emotional adjustment and conflict resolution skills (overall resiliency). Thus, constructive use of out-of-school time is a protective factor for youth has been associated with: (1) academic achievement (higher grades and grade point average), recovery from low academic performance, and an interest in furthering their education; (2) a stronger self-image; (3) positive social development; (4) reductions in risk-taking behavior; and (5) better school behavior and fewer absences.

In short, when youth participate in high quality afterschool programs, they are likely to benefit in a myriad of ways. They receive personal attention from caring adults, explore new interests, receive academic support, develop a sense of belonging to a group, develop new friendships with their peers, take on challenging leadership roles and build a sense of self-esteem independent of their academic talent.

It is not surprising that afterschool programs are an easy sell for parents and the community.

• The parents of more than 15 million youngsters say that their children will participate in an afterschool program if one is available in their community. (Afterschool Alliance Poll, 2004)
• Nearly 90 percent of Americans support funding for quality afterschool programs in lowincome neighborhoods as an important aspect of welfare reform programs. (David and Lucile Packard Foundation Poll, Public Views on Welfare Reform and Children in the Current Economy, February 2002)

School leaders, of course, are equally interested in valid research and evaluations of afterschool models before committing scarce resources to them.

The research and literature is growing, although, as Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) researchers point out in a 2003 report, many of the studies of outcomes done since the 1980s are not rigorous in their methodology and have issues such as the inherent difficulty in finding true control groups of children and the common failure to describe treatments and dosages. Many experts warn that afterschool programs should not be pressured into over-promising results they do not have the resources to deliver. As Robert Halpern, chair of the Research Council of the Erickson Institute for Advanced Study in Child Development, says in his 2002 study of afterschool programs: