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##  Academic Effects of After-School Programs. ERIC Digest.                      

The current emphasis on performance standards and testing has led               schools to look to the after-school hours as time that can be spent             developing children's academic skills (National Institute on                    Out-of-School Time, 2001). Previously, principals and teachers                  tended to focus on after-school programs as a means to provide                  supervision for children whose parents were employed during the                 before- and after-school hours. Research has substantiated                      educators' concerns that children who are unsupervised during the               after-school hours can suffer an array of negative developmental                outcomes, especially when those children come from high-risk                    circumstances. 
Few children attend after-school programs. Fourteen            percent of primary grade children attend formal after-school                    programs compared with 27% of children who are cared for by                     relatives or by family child care providers after school (Brimhall,             Reaney, & West, 1999). Most families who need care for their                    elementary school children depend on a patchwork of programs,                   lessons, structured activities, and self-care each week. Although               federal government and private foundation funding has increased                 recently for after-school programs, research indicates that there               are not enough programs available to meet demand (Halpern, 1999;                National Institute on Out-of-school Time, 2001). This Digest                    describes types of after-school programs and discusses recent                   research on who participates and the effects of participation on                children's school performance. TYPES OF AFTER-SCHOOL                          PROGRAMSAfter-school programs are sponsored and operated by                 for-profit businesses, community organizations, public schools,                 private schools, church groups, and by government agencies such as              municipal park and recreation departments. More importantly, with               respect to the impact of school-age programs on children's academic             adjustment, after-school programs vary in terms of their philosophy,            goals, and programming. Many programs continue a tradition of                   providing safe places for children to have fun. Such recreational               programs tend to emphasize sports activities. Other programs focus              on academics by providing tutoring in school subjects and by                    assisting with homework completion. Yet other programs center on                enrichment, providing children with opportunities to develop skills             and interests in activities such as dance, music, science, or arts              and crafts. Some programs pursue multiple goals and offer an array              of activities. RESEARCH ON PARTICIPATION IN AFTER-SCHOOL                      PROGRAMSEarly studies of after-school programs reported                     inconsistent results in comparing children who attended programs                with those who did not. Researchers have determined that where                  children go after school, what they do after school, and how their              activities affect them depend on characteristics of the children,               families, communities, and programs. 
In general, between first and            fifth grades, children's participation in formal after-school                   programs declines while their participation in lessons and in                   self-care increases greatly. Children's maturity and prior                      adjustment also predict their activities after school. For example,             one study of low-income children found that children with better                academic skills in third grade were more likely to select and attend            enrichment activities in fifth grade and less likely to spend time              with peers in unsupervised settings. The same study found that less             well-adjusted children were more likely to remain in formal child               care programs until fifth grade, probably because their parents                 recognized that they needed supervision (Posner & Vandell, 1999).               Gender is another factor in children's after-school activities. Boys            participate in more sports activities than girls; girls are more                involved in academics, art projects, and socializing (Hofferth &                Jankuniene, 2001; Posner & Vandell, 1999). Race may be yet another              factor in children's participation. In one study, program                       participation was similar for White and African American                        third-graders, but by fifth grade, the number of White children                 attending programs decreased dramatically while the number of                   African-American children attending programs increased (Posner &                Vandell, 1999). 
Parents with higher educational levels and more               income tend to influence their children to participate in                       educationally beneficial activities and can pay for more enrichment             lessons than can parents with lower education and less income.                  However, some parents living in inner-city neighborhoods expend                 great amounts of energy to seek out resources for their children.               Importantly, after-school program attendance provides children from             low-income families with access to the types of enrichment                      activities that middle-class children typically                                 experience (Hofferth & Jankuniene, 2001). 
Community                           characteristics also bear on who participates and how this                      participation affects them. Program shortages are most pronounced in            urban and rural areas, and programs for children from low-income                families struggle with limited funding and resources. These                     limitations affect their quality (Halpern, 1999; National Institute             on Out-of-School Time, 2001). There is some evidence that                       after-school programs are more beneficial for children from                     high-risk communities than for middle-class children. RESEARCH ON             ACADEMIC EFFECTS OF AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMSIn evaluating the                  effects of programs on children's school performance, it is                     important for researchers to consider the individual, family, or                community differences in children participating in programs in their            research design so that the effects of those preexisting differences            among participants and nonparticipants are not mistakenly attributed            to programs. The research on program effects cited here does                    consider possible selection effects but is based on small,                      nonrepresentative samples of children. 
Attendance is an important             factor in evaluating the effects of after-school programs on                    children's school adjustment. Some researchers (Pettit et al., 1997)            found that children who participated in some (1-3 hours a day)                  activities after school were rated by their teachers as having                  better social skills and fewer acting-out behavior problems than                children who participated either in no activities or more activities            each week. Pierce and Vandell (1999) demonstrated that academically             at-risk children who attended after-school programs more frequently,            as compared with children who attended less often, developed better             work habits in their school classrooms, attended school more often,             and endorsed less aggressive strategies to resolve conflicts with               peers. Program attendance was related to program quality. That study            and others found that children resist attending programs where staff            is negative and activities are limited, boring, and                             inflexible. 
Some research has established links between                       regulatable program features, staff-child interactions, activities              in programs, and children's school adjustment. Lower adult-child                ratios and higher levels of staff education are associated with more            positive interactions, less negativity, and more flexible and                   age-appropriate activities in after-school programs. Pierce, Hamm,              and Vandell (1999) found that classroom teachers reported that boys             had fewer behavior problems when staff were more positive with the              children in their after-school programs. Exposure to more negative              emotional climates in after-school programs was associated with                 lower reading and mathematics grades for boys. Those boys who                   attended programs that allowed them to make choices about activities            were rated by their first-grade teachers as having better social                skills with peers in the classroom than were boys enrolled in less              flexible programs. 
The specific activities that children engage in            after school are associated with where children are after school and            with how well children do in school. Not surprisingly, reading after            school is the activity most predictive of higher student                        achievement. Throughout elementary school, children in a nationally             representative sample did more studying and reading at home than                they did in programs (Hofferth & Jankuniene, 2001). On the other                hand, several researchers have found that children watch far more               television at home after school than they do at after-school                    programs. Time viewing television in numerous studies has been                  associated with lower reading achievement and more frequent behavior            problems among children. 
Posner and Vandell (1999) studied                    low-income and working-class urban children and found that those who            attended after-school programs engaged in more nonsport                         extracurricular activities in third through fifth grade and more                academic activities in third and fourth grades than nonprogram                  children. They then investigated the adjustment of fifth-grade                  children based on how they had spent their after-school time over a             3-year period. For the low-income African-American children in their            sample, time doing nonsport extracurricular activities after school             was associated with better teacher-reported emotional adjustment in             school, time socializing was associated with better academic grades             and work habits, and time in coached sports was associated with                 lower academic grades (Posner & Vandell, 1999). For the White                   children in their sample, time in unstructured activities outside               was associated with lower report card grades, poorer work habits,               and poorer teacher-reported emotional adjustment in                             school. CONCLUSIONThe research indicates that children from               high-risk backgrounds have both the most to gain from after-school              programs in terms of educational opportunity and the least access to            after-school programs. Research findings also indicate that if                  educational benefits are the goal of after-school programs, then                attention needs to be focused on the quality of programs and the                activities that are offered. First, a positive emotional climate                devoid of harsh, punitive, controlling adult supervision should                 increase attendance. Programs cannot benefit children who do not                attend or resist participation. Second, the changing needs and                  interests of older elementary school children need to be considered             in programming. Third, experts caution that the goal of improving               children's school performance will not necessarily be attained by               extending the school day with traditional classroom lessons and                 routines. Some research suggests that giving children activity                  choices, engaging them in enrichment activities, and supporting                 socialization with peers will pay academic dividends. Projects offer            the potential to enhance children's learning (Alexander, 2000) as do            activities such as music, art, theatre, computers, reading for                  pleasure, and writing for an audience (Hynes, O'Connor, & Chung,                2000; Vandell & Shumow, 1999), but the benefits of those approaches             still need to be substantiated by research. FOR MORE                          INFORMATIONAlexander, D. (2000). The learning that lies between             play and academics in after-school programs [Online]. Wellesley, MA:            National Institute on Out-of-School Time. Available:                            http://www.niost.org/activity.html. 
Brimhall, D., Reaney, L., &               West, J. (1999). Participation of kindergartners through                        third-graders in before- and after-school care. Statistics in Brief.            Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational             Research and Improvement. ED 433 147. 
Halpern, R. (1999).                     After-school programs for low-income children: Promises and                     challenges. Future of Children, 9(3), 81-95. EJ 600 564. 
Hofferth,            S. L., & Jankuniene, Z. (2001). Life after school. Educational                  Leadership, 58(7), 19-23. 
Hynes, K., O'Connor, S., & Chung,                   A. (2000). Literacy: Exploring strategies to enhance learning in                after-school programs [Online]. Wellesley, MA: National Institute on            Out-of-School Time. Available:                                                  http://www.niost.org/literacy.html. 
National Institute on                     Out-of-School Time. (2001, March). Fact sheet on school-age                     children's out-of-school time [Online]. Wellesley, MA: National                 Institute on Out-of-School Time. Available:                                     http://www.niost.org/fact_sheet_01.pdf. 
Pettit, G., Laird, R. D.,             Dodge, K. A., & Bates, J. E. (1997). Patterns of after-school care              in middle childhood: Risk factors and developmental outcomes.                   Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 43(3), 515-538. EJ 554 329. 
Pierce, K.              M., Hamm, J. V., & Vandell, D. L. (1999). Experiences in                        after-school programs and children's adjustment in first-grade                  classrooms. Child Development, 70(3), 756-767. EJ 595 706. 
Pierce,            K. M., & Vandell, D. L. (1999, March). Safe Haven program                       evaluation. Madison: University of Wisconsin Center for Educational             Research. Available from Deborah Lowe                                           Vandell ([email protected]). 
Posner, J. K., & Vandell, D.            L. (1999). After-school activities and the development of low-income            urban children: A longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology,                 35(3), 868-879. EJ 586 559. 
Vandell, D. L., & Shumow, L. (1999).              After-school child care programs. Future of Children, 9(3), 64-80.              EJ 600 563. 
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This project has been funded at least in part with                Federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of                  Educational Research and Improvement, under contract number                     ED-99-CO-0020. The content of this publication does not necessarily             reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education,              nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or                        organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.                      **Title:** Academic Effects of After-School Programs. ERIC Digest.                      **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education,                 Children's Research Center, University of Illinois, 51 Gerty Dr.,               Champaign, IL 61820-7469. Tel: 800-583-4135 (Toll Free); Tel:                   217-333-1386; Fax: 217-333-3767; Web site: http://ericeece.org;                 e-mail: [email protected]. For full text:                                       http://ericeece.org/pubs/digests.html.                                       **Descriptors:**  Academic Achievement,  After School Programs, Elementary Education,            Elementary School Students, Enrichment Activities, Enrollment,                  Extracurricular Activities, Outcomes of Education, Program Design,              Program Effectiveness, School Age Day Care                                   **Identifiers:** Access to Services, ERIC Digests,  Program Characteristics                   
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