Three key takeaways from a new brief on 21st Century Community Learning Centers

A new brief, “21st Century Community Learning Centers: Accelerating Learning, Supporting Families, Earning Results,” draws on data from the most recent Department of Education annual report on the federally funded initiative, as well as pulls in survey responses from 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) program providers and 21st CCLC statewide evaluations. While there is much to dig into, below are three overarching takeaways from the brief:

1. 21st CCLC programs are getting back to normal. During the 2021-2022 school year, 21st CCLC programs served nearly 1.4 million students, an increase of more than 400,000 students compared to the 2020-2021 school year. Additionally, it was reported that more than 350,000 family members were served by 21st CCLC programs in the most recent Department of Education report, up from approximately 201,000 family members the previous year. While the number of students served is not quite back up pre-pandemic levels, the current number of family members served is greater than number served during the 2019-2020 school year.
    
2. 21st CCLC programs are having a positive impact on student outcomes, in particular reducing chronic absenteeism. In addition to students in 21st CCLC programs becoming more engaged in learning and seeing improvements in their academic performance, the Department of Education report found that participation in 21st CCLC programs is helping to reduce chronic absenteeism, with nearly 1 in 2 21st CCLC students who had an attendance rate below 90 percent the previous school year improving their school day attendance. The national level findings reinforce statewide evaluations, such as Ohio’s, which reported that students in 21st CCLC programs had a statistically significant lower unexcused absence rate than their non-participating peers, and that students who attended 21st CCLC programs more frequently had even lower rates of unexcused absences.
3. There remains significant unmet demand for 21st CCLC programming. Despite $1.3 billion appropriated to 21st CCLC programs during the 2024 fiscal year, previous research found that only 1 in 3 requests for funding 21st CCLC programs was awarded and that over the span of 10 years, $4 billion in local grant requests were denied because of intense competition and lack of adequate federal funding. In outreach to state education agencies this year, the Afterschool Alliance team has found that in some states, as much as $17 million in grants requests weren’t able to be funded during the most recent competition cycle.

In addition to the brief, if you would like to learn more about how to convey your support for afterschool and summer learning programs, check out this blog about the FY2025 appropriations process.