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June 12, 2008The Evaluation of Enhanced Academic Instruction in After-School Programs |
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From MDRC: With the press to improve the achievement of children, educators are increasingly turning to after-school programs as a venue to provide supplemental academic support. The U.S. Department of Education's 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program, established in 1999, provides approximately $1 billion to states each year, with the primary purpose of providing opportunities for academic enrichment to help students meet state and local standards in core content areas. Findings from a previous national evaluation of the 21st CCLC program indicate that, on average, program grants awarded between 1999 and 2002 had a limited impact on elementary school students' academic achievement. A possible factor is the finding that most academic activities at the evaluation sites consisted of only homework sessions in which students received limited additional academic assistance. Therefore, the low levels of formal academic assistance offered in these programs and the programs' limited academic effects highlighted the need for improved academic instruction in after-school settings. In response, the Institute of Education Sciences funded the development and evaluation of instructional resources for reading and math that could be used in after-school programs for elementary school students. This study tests whether such instructional approaches produce better academic outcomes than regular after-school services that consist primarily of help with homework or of locally assembled materials that do not follow a structured curriculum. There are positive and statistically significant impacts for the enhanced math program on student achievement, representing 8.5 percent more growth over the school year for students in the enhanced program group, as measured by SAT 10 total math scores.
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