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Illinois State Board of Education Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program: FY25 Statewide Evaluation
Year Published: 2026
A 2026 evaluation of Illinois's 21st CCLCs during FY 2025 found that participating students demonstrated improved classroom behavior and increased academic achievement. Overall, 63% of chronically absent students showed improvements in school day attendance, with rates of improvement increasing with hours of program participation. Likewise, approximately 7 in 10 participants with a prior-year in-school suspension (69%) demonstrated fewer in-school suspensions during the 2024-2025 school year. Teacher surveys found improvements in 1st-5th grade students’ classroom behavior (68%) and homework completion (71%). Additionally, more than half of 7-8th and 10-12
Program Description:
Illinois’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program, administered by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), provides afterschool and summer enrichment opportunities for children from underrepresented groups, high poverty areas, and low-performing schools throughout the state. These programs offer academic resources, youth development services, family literacy opportunities, personal development opportunities, and a wide variety of other programs and services. In fiscal year 2025, Illinois had 118 active grants operating at 369 sites and serving 35,456 students.
Scope of the Evaluation: Statewide
Program Type: Afterschool
Location: Illinois
Grade level: Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Program Demographics:
During fiscal year 2024, 43% of participants qualified for free and reduced-price lunch. Regarding race and ethnicity, 33% of participants identified as Hispanic or Latino and 27% identified as Black or African American. In addition, 9% of participants were multilingual learners, and 6% of participants were students with special needs.
Evaluator: Goodyear, L., Mansori, S, Bekele, A., Howard, S., & Van Wassenaer, N. Education Development Center.
Evaluation Methods:
The evaluation uses a variety of data collected during fiscal year 2025. Data sources included EDC’s Annual Evaluation Survey, which was administered to all active grantees; annual local evaluation reports, which were submitted by grantees for fiscal year 2025; and Illinois Report Card data, which were submitted to the federal APR system and comprised student attendance and achievement information for the 2024-2025 school year. The evaluation also used teacher survey data to assess student engagement in learning, homework completion, classroom participation, and classroom behavior.
Evaluation Type: Non-experimental
Summary of Outcomes:
This 2026 evaluation of Illinois’ 21st CCLC program during fiscal year 2025 found positive outcomes related to students’ academic growth, school-day attendance and behavior, and engagement in school. Additionally, Illinois’ 21st CCLC programs offer a variety of family engagement opportunities.
The evaluation found positive evidence related to academic support and outcomes. State assessment data for participating students in grades 4-8 showed that 10% of participants experienced growth in mathematics performance and 18% demonstrated growth in reading performance, a notable increase in the percentage of students showing growth compared to the previous school year (4% and 12%, respectively). Additional academic achievement data showed that, among participating students in grades 7-8 and 10-12 who had a GPA of less than 3.0 in the prior year, more than half (55%) improved their GPA.
Teacher survey results further suggested noticeable gains in academic engagement and behavior among participating students. Sixty-three percent of students with an attendance rate below 90% during the previous school year improved their school attendance. Further, school-day attendance improved with hours of program attendance: 82% of those attending 270 or more hours during the school year improved their attendance, compared to 55% of those attending fewer than 15 hours. Likewise, a majority of students with a prior-year in-school suspension experienced fewer in-school suspensions (69%). Relatedly, teachers reported improvements in classroom outcomes, with 68% of 1st-5th grade students improving their behavior and 71% of students improving their homework completion.
The evaluation further showed noticeable results in family engagement. Many grantees offered family activity nights (89%), showcases and performances (80%), parent-teacher conference support (64%), and health and wellness activities (62%). In total, grantees reported serving 32,000 family participants during the 2024-2025 school year.
