The U.S. Department of Education's 21st Century Community Learning Centers program has supported after-school programs since 1998. Research on the effects of afterschool programs has been inconclusive, leading to an ongoing debate about their effects on children's outcomes. This paper presents evidence from a national evaluation which examined the impacts of 26 21st Century after-school programs in 12 school districts. A total of 2,308 elementary students who were eligible for and interested in attending a 21st Century Community Learning Center were randomly assigned either to the 21st Century center group (1,258 students) or to a control group (1,050 students). Impact findings are based on school records data, student surveys, parent surveys, teacher surveys, and the Stanford Achievement Test in reading. Key findings include reduced parent care after school, increased care by other adults after school, no impact on self-care, improved feelings of safety after school, no impact on academic achievement as measured by reading test scores or grades, and higher levels of negative behavior among the treatment group relative to the control group on multiple outcomes, including suspensions, teachers calling students' parents about behavior, and students being disciplined by teachers.
"This paper presents evidence on after-school programs' effects on behavior from the national evaluation of the U.S. Department of Education's 21st Century Community Learning Centers after-school program. Findings come from both of the study's components: (1) an elementary school component based on random assignment of 2,308 students in 12 school districts and (2) a middle school component based on a matched comparison design including 4,264 students in 32 districts. Key findings include higher levels of negative behavior for elementary students and some evidence of higher levels of negative behaviors for middle school students". ("JEL "I21) Copyright (c) 2008 Western Economic Association International.
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