Evaluation Demonstrates Academic Benefits of Afterschool Programs
New Jersey After 3 Evaluation - Year Three Report Released
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – (May 11th, 2009) – New Jersey After 3, a statewide network of afterschool programs supporting nearly 14,000 children throughout New Jersey, announced the final results from a three-year external program evaluation. The results from the study show significant increases in program attendance, enrollment, and key academic and behavioral measures, including significant gains in language arts skills for those students who participated in New Jersey After 3 programs for two years or more.
The three-year longitudinal study, conducted by Policy Studies Associates (PSA) of Washington, D.C., one of the nation’s leading research and evaluation firms in the area of educational policy, was designed to assess the implementation of New Jersey After 3 and the impact this statewide program network has on students, parents and other stakeholders. The study helps New Jersey After 3 and its investors to quantify successes and challenges; and informs strategic decision making so that limited resources can be targeted to achieve greatest impact across the state.
The study revealed the following:
Attendance Rates: According to the report, “The high levels of youth attendance in NJ after 3 programs put them in the forefront of afterschool programs nationally...” On average, New Jersey After 3 students attended programs 4 out of the 5 days (81%) available to them. This represents an increase of eight percentage points over the first year of the study. Attendance rates are one of the most critical measures of afterschool programs because research suggests that ‘dosage’ is strongly correlated to positive youth outcomes.
- Over the course of the study, student daily attendance in New Jersey After 3 programs increased from 73% to 81%.
Enrollment: Despite slight reductions in funding, New Jersey After 3 was successful in achieving its stated goal of expanding afterschool opportunities – as enrollment increased from approximately 4,000 students in the 2004-2005 school year to 15,000 during the 2007-2008 school year.
Minority Enrollment: Minority enrollment remained high (87%) in New Jersey After 3 afterschool programs demonstrating that New Jersey After 3 is successfully engaging minority communities and making high quality afterschool programs accessible to ALL of New Jersey’s youth.
- Of the students who participate in New Jersey After 3 programs 37% are Hispanic and 50% are African American.
Academic Benefits: The outcomes of this evaluation demonstrate important academic benefits for New Jersey After 3 participants. These benefits include measurable gains in student performance in language arts, math, technology, and improved study skills. The study also revealed that New Jersey After 3 students scored high on key indicators of future academic success such as academic engagement and academic motivation.
- Language Arts – Students who participated in the program for two years or more demonstrated statistically significant gains in Language Arts skills.
- Study Skills – Students who were highly active in the New Jersey After 3 program demonstrated significantly higher scores in study skills that those that were less active.
- Technology Skills – New Jersey After 3 students compared well against other students in the school with over 75% scoring ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ at using word processing programs and the internet. Over 65% scored ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ at using spreadsheet programs.
- Arts & Culture – The report revealed a correlation between academic benefits due to program participation with the availability of art activities.
Positive Youth Development: The evaluation documents that participants reported benefiting socially and civically because of their involvement in New Jersey After 3 programs. The study revealed a correlation between academic benefits and student involvement in community service and service-learning projects.
What Students Reported About New Jersey After 3: Most students surveyed attributed important academic, social, and personal gains to their participation in the New Jersey After 3 afterschool program. They cited that their afterschool program has helped them to finish their homework more often, get better grades in school, read and understand better, solve math problems better, write better, and use computers to do schoolwork better. Older students in particular reported that they had benefited from access to technology in the afterschool program.
What Parents Reported About New Jersey After 3: Parents reported that the program had allowed them to pursue employment and to work full-time rather than part-time. Parents commented positively on: staff support and encouragement; the program’s defined structure; the benefits of additional homework help; students’ improved academic skills; various special content offerings (arts, literature, language arts, cooking, technology, etc.); and also boasted about children’s enhanced social skills.
Summary
This report fuels a growing body of evidence which supports the value of afterschool programs in the areas of student achievement, drop-out prevention and reduction in other student risk factors. More specifically, the recent broad-based study of high-quality afterschool programs, ‘Study of Promising Afterschool Programs,’ by Vandell, Reisner & Peirce demonstrated significant academic and behavioral gains among students who participated in high-quality afterschool programs for two years. Findings from the New Jersey After 3 study indicate that New Jersey After 3 is offering high-quality afterschool programming similar to the programs described in the study by Vandell and colleagues.
As stated in the report numerous times – quality afterschool programs depend on adequate resources. In order to offer safe places for more students to grow and develop in the after school hours, it is imperative for New Jersey After 3 to sustain and grow their financial resources. Despite offering such effective service at a cost to the State that is approximately one-third the national per-child cost, New Jersey After 3’s afterschool programs are facing a very difficult challenge in the months leading up to the final State budget adoption in late June.
“These exciting findings come at a time when the State is looking to reduce New Jersey After 3’s budget by 27%. So we hope that the data presented here will serve as valuable evidence to key NJ policy makers that New Jersey After 3’s network of afterschool programs are proving to keep kids safe, support New Jersey’s working families, helping kids do better in school, and are preparing them for college and the 21st Century workforce. Now, more than ever, it is important to support programs that deliver real results for children & families,” explained Mark Valli, New Jersey After 3 President & CEO.
New Jersey After 3 will offer a public information session for those interested in learning more about these results and what they mean to the fields of expanded learning time and education. The session will occur during New Jersey After 3’s upcoming Promising Practices Institute on June 6th at the NJ Principals and Supervisors Association in Monroe, NJ.
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