New Study Shows Afterschool Programs Work

The Promising Afterschool Programs study, released in October by scholars Deborah Lowe Vandell and Kim M. Pierce of the University of California-Irvine, and Elizabeth R. Reisner of Policy Studies Associates, examined 35 afterschool programs serving nearly 3,000 low-income students across the nation. What united the programs was that they were all judged by the researchers to be of “high quality.” Specifically, before and during the period of the study, programs evidenced supportive relationships between staff and children and among children, and offered rich and varied academic support, recreation, arts opportunities, and other enrichment activities.

At the end of the two-year period of the study, researchers concluded that “regular participation in high-quality afterschool programs is linked to significant gains in standardized test scores and work habits as well as reductions in behavior problems
among disadvantaged students.” In short, high-quality afterschool programs produce results.

Text courtesy of the Afterschool Alliance.