The effects of a free universal after-school program on child academic outcomes

After-school programs provide structured care throughout the academic year. In Norway, after-school programs are an integrated part of school, used to extend the school day to a full working day. Participation is voluntary and is subject to fees paid by parents. In 2016/17, the municipality of Oslo gradually introduced and expanded an offer of free part-time participation in its after-school program, starting with city districts with a high share of children with an immigrant background who were underrepresented in the program at the time. We utilize the staggered rollout of this policy to investigate the effects on enrollment and learning outcomes and conduct an exploratory analysis of student welfare and maternal labor supply. We find that the take-up was substantial, raising enrollment rates from about 70 to 95% in the first wave of affected schools. Despite this, our difference-in-differences estimates show no overall effect of the program on academic performance, neither on average nor across subgroups. There is also little evidence that the program enhanced student well-being or decreased bullying. Heterogeneity analysis does, however, suggest that the program increased earnings for mothers with an immigrant background by about 10 percent.