The Impact of Out-of-School Learning on Academic Achievement in Elementary and Secondary Education: A Meta-Analysis

Students’ learning experiences are typically confined to structured classroom environments, although out-of-school learning offers opportunities to extend and enrich academic development. Despite growing interest in this field, no prior meta-analysis has systematically examined how different out-of-school settings influence student achievement across disciplines and educational levels. This study addresses that gap through a meta-analysis of 42 peer-reviewed studies comprising 54 effect sizes following PRISMA guidelines. Overall, out-of-school learning had a statistically significant, medium-to-large effect ( g ¯ = 0.529). Moderator analyses indicated that the effectiveness of out-of-school learning varied by educational level, disciplinary focus, geographical context, and study design, with stronger effects generally observed in elementary education, and science and social sciences. These findings highlight the context-dependent nature of out-of-school learning and underscore the importance of instructional alignment and implementation quality. The results also confirmed the lack of consistency in planning and assessing the outcomes of out-of-school learning. Investigating variations across disciplines and the decline among school levels would be beneficial for future studies.