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2016-17 North Carolina 21st CCLC Program State-Level Progress Monitoring Report
Year Published: 2018
A statewide evaluation of North Carolina’s 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) programs examined academic performance and behavior of regularly participating students. State achievement test results in reading and math for program participants (grades 4-8) showed year-to-year improvements in test scores that were on par or slightly above the state average. Additionally, based on classroom teacher surveys, an overwhelming majority of students regularly attending 21st CCLC programs made improvements in student performance (86 percent) and behavior (69 percent).
Program Name: North Carolina 21st Century Community Learning Centers
Program Description:
North Carolina’s 21st Century Community Learning Center program, which is federally-funded through the 21st CCLC Initiative, provides academic enrichment opportunities for children at high-poverty and low-performing schools. During the 2016-17 school year, there were a total of 109 grantees operating 265 centers and serving 17,619 students.
Scope of the Evaluation: Statewide
Program Type: Afterschool
Location: North Carolina
Grade level: Elementary School, Middle School, High School
Program Demographics:
All schools served by North Carolina’s 21st CCLC programs are Title I eligible, meaning more than 40 percent of students qualify for Free and Reduced Price Lunch. An average of 77 percent of students per program center attend schools that qualified for Title I funding. With regard to race and ethnicity, roughly half of the students enrolled identified as African American (53 percent), 22 percent as White, 19 percent as Hispanic, and 6 percent as “other.”
Program Website: http://www.ncpublicschools.org/21cclc/
Evaluator: McColskey, W., Mooney, K., Weir, J.B., & Williams, M. SERVE Center at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Evaluation Methods:
This evaluation gathers state test scores from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) for participating students in grades 4-8 who regularly attended a program and who had two years of state test results on End-of-Grade (EOG) tests in reading or math. This evaluation also uses teacher surveys distributed to classroom teachers of regular attendees at the end of the school year to report improvement in classroom performance and behavior. Regular attendance is defined as attending the program for a minimum of 30 days.
Evaluation Type: Non-experimental
Summary of Outcomes:
The evaluation of North Carolina’s 21st CCLC programs indicates student improvement in academic proficiency and classroom behavior. The evaluation analyzed the average year-to-year change in test scores for regular program participants in grades 4-8 compared with the average 2016-17 change for all students in the state per grade level. In reading, regular program attendees across grade levels improved their scores on the EOG exam from year-to-year at the same rate as students across the state. Broken down by grade level, fifth and sixth grade students improved their scores in reading at a slightly higher rate than students statewide. On the math EOG exam, students regularly attending a program improved their scores from year-to-year at a rate slightly higher than students across the state. Broken down by grade level, fourth and fifth grade students improved their scores in math at a rate greater than students statewide.
Out of the program participants categorized as “non-proficient” on the preceding year’s EOG exam, 10 percent moved from “non-proficient” to “proficient” in reading on the 2017 EOG exam. For math, 11 percent moved from “non-proficient” in 2016 to “proficient” in 2017.
Additionally, in an end of year survey, teachers rated a strong majority of their students to have improved in homework completion and class participation (86 percent) and student behavior (69 percent).
Date Added: November 27, 2018
