The Afterschool Picture: What Does the Research Tell Us?

1. The Afterschool Picture: What Does the Research Tell Us? Deborah Lowe Vandell Council of Child State School Officers November 18, 2005

2. Several Factors Have Contributed to an Increased Interest in Afterschool Programs • High rates of maternal employment • 69% of married mothers and 71% of single mothers of 6- to 17-year-olds are employed • Concerns about • negative effects of self-care • youth as victims and perpetrators of crime • poor academic performance • needs of English-learning students • Evidence of the beneficial effects of sustained participation in high quality programs and activities

3. After-School Programs Narrowly Defined and Broadly Defined • Narrow definition – programs that are offered by schools or other organizations on a daily basis throughout the school year • Broad definition – includes extracurricular activities, sports, clubs, and sports that are offered on a regularly scheduled basis by schools, libraries, and youth organizations

4. After-School Programs Can Offer • Organized sports and recreational sports • Music, drama • Arts and crafts • Computer-based activities • Science & math activities • Homework time

5. Income and Education Differences in Rates of Participation in Organized After-School Activities • Extracurricular activities (2000) • 90% - nonpoor families • 65% poor nonwelfare families • 59% welfare families • Organized activities (1999) • 5.8% - mothers w/ less than high school diploma • 18.1% - mothers are college graduates • Lessons (1990) • 20% - incomes of $50,000 + • 6% - incomes of $15,000 - $25,000 • 8% - incomes of < $15,000

6. When Are Programs More Likely to have Beneficial effects?

7. when program quality is high • Study of Variations in Program Quality (Pierce, Hamm, & Vandell, 1999; Vandell & Pierce, 2003) • 30 programs, 150 children, heterogeneous sample • Program observations and child reports measured staff-child relationships, peer relationships, types of activities • Analyses control for family background and child prior functioning • Examined child developmental outcomes from 1st-5th grades • Program quality was related to child academic performance, social skills, and (reduced) behavior problems.

8. when students regularly attend the program • Safe Haven Evaluation (Vandell & Pierce, 2001) • 588 children (3rd- 5th grades) – 152 program participants • Substantial mobility (from the school & the program) • Program attendance varied widely within (1 –163 days) and across programs (mean 60 days to 111 days) • Controlling for family and child background, children who attended for more days, were reported to have better work habits, social skills, and school attendance

9. Study of Promising Afterschool Programs (Vandell, Reisner, et al., 2005) 19 elementary school programs 1820 3rd and 4th grade students 90% free or reduced lunch 90% children of color 18 middle school programs 1119 6th and 7th grade studies 76% free or reduced lunch 70% children of color

10. Characteristics of the Promising Programs Supportive relations w/adults Supportive relations w/peers Student engagement Appropriate structure Autonomy opportunities Cognitive growth opportunities Mastery orientation

11. Contrasts with Unsupervised Youth: Effect Sizes in the Elementary Sample

12. Contrasts with Unsupervised Youth: Effect Sizes in Middle School

13. TASC evaluation (Policy Studies Associates) • 12, 973 very active participants, 17,805 active participants, non-active participants, 39,870 nonparticipants. • greater math gains

14. Program effects also related to children’s activities • Su dissertation • Ecological Study of After-School Care (Posner & Vandell, 1994; Posner & Vandell, 1999) • More time in enrichment activities was related to better work habits, academic grades, work habits, emotional well-being, and peer relations • More time in supervised academic work related to higher math and read grades

15. Beneficial Effects of After-School Programs Also Are More Evident For • Low-income children (Marshall et al., 1997; Pettit et al. 1997; Posner & Vandell, 1994; TASC evaluation) • Children with limited English (TASC evaluation) • Low achieving students (TASC evaluation)

16. Why are after-school programs beneficial?

17. Experiences Study (Vandell, et al. 2005) • 191 8th grade students of color, • 8 middle schools in 3 communities • Students wore watches that beeped them 35 times during 1 wk in the fall and 35 times during 1 wk in the spring • Beeps occurred at random times during the after-school hours, evenings, and weekends

18. Students Filled Out Logbooks • For each signal, students recorded • Who they were with • Where they were • What they were doing • How they were feeling • Levels of effort, concentration, motivation

19. After-School Experiences Study • On average, students responded to 33 of the 35 signals during the week. • 12,143 after-school, evening, and weekend experiences were reported. • 5, 136 of the experiences occurred after school.

20. Student Activities at Programs and Elsewhere (% of time)

21. Differences in Supervision (% of time)

22. Differences in Motivation, Effort, and Feelings (4-pt ratings)

23. Likelihood of Different Choice/Concentration Combinations

24. Conclusions Afterschool programs have been linked to a number of developmental outcomes for children and youth • Social - • Behavioral • Academic Some program elements and processes have been consistently related to child developmental outcomes • positive relations between staff and children • positive peer relations • engagement and interest in the activities Additional research is needed to identify if some program models are more successful for particular students or particular goals • Are “academic” programs needed to support “academic” outcomes?

25. dvandell@wisc.edu for more information