The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with MetLife Foundation, is proud to present the first in a series of four issue briefs examining critical issues facing middle school youth and the vital role afterschool programs play in addressing these issues. These issue briefs feature: the multiple benefits of afterschool for middle school youth; STEM; pathways to higher education and careers; and health and wellness for pre-teens and teens. They examine just a few of the ways afterschool programs support middle school youth, families and communities.

Providence's after-school effort, known as the AfterZone, produced educational benefits for participating students including improved school attendance and attitudes, according to a report released today, one of the first rigorous evaluations of a citywide after-school initiative.

Attendance Works, formerly known as Attendance Counts, is a national and state initiative that aims to ensure every district and community in every state not only tracks chronic absence data for individual students but also intervenes to help those children and schools. Chronic absence is a broader measure than truancy, which counts only unexcused absences.

The Study of Promising After-School Programs adds to the research base by demonstrating the protective value of high-quality afterschool experiences in the after-school hours. The paper examines the policy implications of recent findings of the Promising Programs study, which was conducted by researchers at the University of California at Irvine, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and Policy Studies Associates, Inc., with support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

The Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (YEF Institute), a special entity within the National League of Cities (NLC), helps municipal leaders take action on behalf of the children, youth, and families in their communities.  NLC launched the YEF Institute in January 2000 in recognition of the unique and influential roles that mayors, city council members, and other local leaders can play in strengthening families and improving outcomes for children and youth. 

Youth development and youth services, along with after-school programs that keep children and youth safe and engaged in productive activities, can affect student achievement in school and success in life after graduation. The growing popularity of after-school programs has made the evaluation of these programs a major Policy Study Associates focus.

The Case for Extracurriculars

(Education Next Journal)

Do kids who join afterschool activities become good students, or do good students join afterschool activities?  Professionals from around the country discuss the multiple benefits that afterschool activities provide for youth such as time management, leadership, self-discipline, and persistence last far beyond high school graduation. Read More...

This report is an analysis of the cost and benefits of The After School and Education Safety Act of 2002 ("The Act"). The Act expands funding to after school programs in California by $433 million to reach approximately 485,000 additional students when fully implemented. An expenditure of $10,038 over grades one to nine for each of these several hundred thousand additional children in the programs produces benefits from a low of $89,522 to a high of $129,465 per participant. A simple calculation of benefits minus cost shows that the net benefit of each participant is between $79,484 and $119,427. In other words, each dollar invested in an at-risk child brings a return of $8.92 to $12.90.

This workshop on Afterschool Programs -- From Vision to Reality will look at the benefits that a quality afterschool program can provide to students, their families, and their community, and discuss ways to create and sustain such programs.