IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v88y2018icp211-217.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of an afterschool program on the academic outcomes of children and youth residing in public housing neighborhoods: A quasi-experimental study

Author

Listed:
  • Jenson, Jeffrey M.
  • Veeh, Christopher
  • Anyon, Yolanda
  • St. Mary, Jason
  • Calhoun, Molly
  • Tejada, Jacqueline
  • Lechuga-Peña, Stephanie

Abstract

Afterschool programs (ASPs) designed to increase academic performance and prevent behavior problems among young people are implemented widely. Yet few evaluations that include a comparison group have been conducted to assess the effects of these preventive interventions. This is particularly true for programs located in community settings, where research infrastructure tends to be less developed than schools. This study used a quasi-experimental design with nonequivalent comparison groups to examine the effects of a community-based ASP - located in low-income and racially segregated neighborhoods - on academic performance and school behavior problems among students in grades kindergarten to 12. The ASP's ecological program model is guided by positive youth development and a public health framework that considers risk and protective factors for academic and other behavior problems. Intervention components include academic tutoring, homework help, a manualized reading curriculum, and skill building groups that aim to enhance participants' academic and social-emotional development. Youth who participated in the ASP (n = 418; mean age = 10.8 years; 52% female; 89% youth of color) had significantly higher levels of school attendance, a greater increase in independent reading level over the academic year, and lower odds of incurring a suspension or expulsion from school than youth in a comparison group (n = 226; mean age = 8.99; 49% female; 94% youth of color). Participation in the ASP was also significantly related to classroom teacher ratings of proficiency in the subject areas of math and science. These findings suggest that community-based afterschool interventions have the potential to improve academic performance and school behavior among children and youth living in public housing.

Suggested Citation

  • Jenson, Jeffrey M. & Veeh, Christopher & Anyon, Yolanda & St. Mary, Jason & Calhoun, Molly & Tejada, Jacqueline & Lechuga-Peña, Stephanie, 2018. "Effects of an afterschool program on the academic outcomes of children and youth residing in public housing neighborhoods: A quasi-experimental study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 211-217.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:88:y:2018:i:c:p:211-217
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.03.014
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740917306862
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.03.014?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:mpr:mprres:4230 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. repec:mpr:mprres:4235 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Susanne James-Burdumy & Mark Dynarski & John Deke, 2005. "When Elementary Schools Stay Open Late: Results from The National Evaluation of the 21st-Century Community Learning Centers Program," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 747640229207407f9f0f09abf, Mathematica Policy Research.
    4. Jodie Roth & Lizabeth M. Malone & Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, "undated". "Does the Amount of Participation in Afterschool Programs Relate to Developmental Outcomes? A Review of the Literature," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 64ba5c81f58141d9a160ed77d, Mathematica Policy Research.
    5. repec:mpr:mprres:4871 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. repec:mpr:mprres:4551 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Susanne James-Burdumy & Mark Dynarski & Mary Moore & John Deke & Wendy Mansfield & Carol Pistorino, "undated". "When Schools Stay Open Late: The National Evaluation of the 21st-Century Community Learning Centers Program," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 86c8d763ea6c4acebca8464c5, Mathematica Policy Research.
    8. repec:mpr:mprres:6881 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Anyon, Yolanda & Jenson, Jeffrey M. & Altschul, Inna & Farrar, Jordan & McQueen, Jeanette & Greer, Eldridge & Downing, Barbara & Simmons, John, 2014. "The persistent effect of race and the promise of alternatives to suspension in school discipline outcomes," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 379-386.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ditzel, Loreto & Casas, Ferran & Torres-Vallejos, Javier & Reyes, Fernando & Alfaro, Jaime, 2022. "Children participating in after-school programs in Chile: Subjective well-being, satisfaction with free time use and satisfaction with the program," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    2. Hyejoon Park & Siying Guo & Shinwoo Choi & Keeyoon Noh, 2020. "Interrelations between After-School Settings and the Delinquency and Emotional-Behavioral Problems of Elementary School Children: Findings from Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-20, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Matthew A. Kraft, 2014. "How to Make Additional Time Matter: Integrating Individualized Tutorials into an Extended Day," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 10(1), pages 81-116, November.
    2. Bean, Corliss N. & Kendellen, Kelsey & Halsall, Tanya & Forneris, Tanya, 2015. "Putting program evaluation into practice: Enhancing the Girls Just Wanna Have Fun program," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 31-40.
    3. Cabrera Hernández, Francisco-Javier, 2016. "Essays on the impact evaluation of education policies in Mexico," Economics PhD Theses 0316, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    4. Peter Z. Schochet & Hanley Chiang, "undated". "Technical Methods Report: Estimation and Identification of the Complier Average Causal Effect Parameter in Education RCTs," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 947d1823e3ff42208532a763d, Mathematica Policy Research.
    5. Neil Seftor, "undated". "What Does It Mean When a Study Finds No Effects?," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 9816e95ac76d4ece98f74e014, Mathematica Policy Research.
    6. Bloomer, Rebecka & Brown, Aishia A. & Winters, Andrew M. & Domiray, Anna, 2021. "“Trying to be everything else”: Examining the challenges experienced by youth development workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    7. Lisa Dragoset & Jaime Thomas & Mariesa Herrmann & John Deke & Susanne James-Burdumy & Cheryl Graczewski & Andrea Boyle & Rachel Upton & Courtney Tanenbaum & Jessica Giffin, "undated". "School Improvement Grants: Implementation and Effectiveness (Final Report)," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 76bce3f4bb0944f29a481fae0, Mathematica Policy Research.
    8. John Deke & Hanley Chiang, 2017. "The WWC Attrition Standard," Evaluation Review, , vol. 41(2), pages 130-154, April.
    9. Colvin, Sharon & White, Annie M. & Akiva, Thomas & Wardrip, Peter S., 2020. "What do you think youth workers do? A comparative case study of library and afterschool workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    10. Francisco Cabrera-Hernandez, 2015. "Does lengthening the school day increase students’ academic achievement? Evidence from a natural experiment," Working Paper Series 7415, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    11. Dong, Beidi & Krohn, Marvin D., 2020. "The effects of parental school exclusion on offspring drug use: An intergenerational path analysis," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    12. repec:mpr:mprres:6286 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Susanne James-Burdumy & Mark Dynarski & John Deke, 2005. "When Elementary Schools Stay Open Late: Results from The National Evaluation of the 21st-Century Community Learning Centers Program," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 747640229207407f9f0f09abf, Mathematica Policy Research.
    14. Anna Aizer, 2017. "A Review Essay on Isabel Sawhill's Generation Unbound: Drifting into Sex and Parenting without Marriage and Laurence Steinberg's Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(2), pages 592-608, June.
    15. Huang, Francis L. & Cornell, Dewey G., 2017. "Student attitudes and behaviors as explanations for the Black-White suspension gap," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 298-308.
    16. Wade, Christine E., 2015. "The longitudinal effects of after-school program experiences, quantity, and regulatable features on children's social–emotional development," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 70-79.
    17. Huang, Francis L. & Cornell, Dewey, 2018. "The relationship of school climate with out-of-school suspensions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 378-389.
    18. Welsh, Richard O., 2023. "Up the down escalator? Examining a decade of school discipline reforms," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    19. Fix, Rebecca L. & Nair, Reshmi, 2020. "Racial/ethnic and gender disparities in substantiation of child physical and sexual abuse: Influences of caregiver and child characteristics," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    20. repec:mpr:mprres:4551 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Elizaveta Sivak & Konstantin Glazkov, 2017. "Life Outside the Classroom: Everyday Mobility of School Students," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 2, pages 113-133.
    22. Jenkins, Melissa R. & Ansong, David & Banks, Andrae & Dangleben, Tiffany D., 2022. "Regional trends and the role of school support staff in suspensions of students with disabilities," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:88:y:2018:i:c:p:211-217. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.