It examines the prevalence, structure and features of formal programs that provide enrichment, academic instruction, recreation, and supervised care for children between the ages of five and thirteen both before and after school, as well as during vacations and holidays. The report found that nonprofit organizations operate two-thirds of before and after school programs. The largest single category of providers is private for-profit corporations with 29 percent of the programs. Approximately half of all programs use shared space. Most research studies indicate that at least 3.5 million children under the age of 13 are left to fend for themselves for at least some part of the day.
Some estimates place the number of latchkey children much higher.
Unsupervised children are lonely and passive, and easily become perpetrators or victims of crime. They are without support to do homework, without direction for enrichment activities, and without opportunities to develop social skills as simple as playing games with other children. In addition to providing supervision, after school and extended school-day programs are now being seen as a means of improving academic achievement, providing opportunities for academic enrichment and providing social, cultural, and recreational activities. The body of research is expanding as more interest and support for after school programs has developed. In October of 1998, Olatokunbo S. Fashola of Johns Hopkins University Center for the Social Organization of Schools published the Review of Extended-Day and After School Programs and their Effectiveness.