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A 2024 evaluation of Arkansas’s 21st CCLC programs during the 2022-2023 school year found positive outcomes related to participants’ academic performance, school-day behavior and engagement, life skills development, and satisfaction with program quality. Nearly 7 in 10 students in grades 4–8 demonstrated growth on statewide math and ELA assessments, and more than three-quarters of regularly attending high school students showed GPA improvement, exceeding state objectives. Students who needed to improve attendance or behavior demonstrated gains, with three in four improving school-day attendance and more than 3 in 5 (64%) reducing in-school suspensions. Teachers reported increased engagement among the vast majority of elementary students, while students and caregivers reported high levels of life skills, including self-advocacy and social skills. Students also expressed strong satisfaction with caring staff, fun activities, and opportunities to try new experiences within the programs.
A 2024 evaluation of Vetri Cooking Lab (VCL), an afterschool nutrition program that promotes healthy eating habits among children in the Greater Philadelphia area, found that programs integrating hands-on nutrition education can improve youth confidence and knowledge about healthy food choices and drive overall improvements in youth eating habits. Students who participated in VCL retained significantly more improvements in their cooking confidence and knowledge post program, with nearly half reporting at least some changes in individual consumption behaviors (49.7%). Greater gains in cooking confidence were associated with higher odds of positive consumption changes.
This multi-method study explores the long-term impact of participation in Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS), a national mentoring program pairing young people with volunteer mentors, rooted in 30 years of experimental and observational data. Findings reveal that BBBS has significant effects on the long-term behavioral and economic outcomes of matched participants. For instance, reanalysis of a randomized control trial finds that youth in the program are 10 percentage points more likely to attend college by age 20, and participation is associated with lower rates of teen birth and higher rates of marriage. Additionally, a secondary observational study finds similar effects on college attendance, as well as a positive impact on earnings, both in young adulthood and throughout participants' lifetimes. It is estimated that participants are expected to earn $56,000 more by age 65.
A 2023 evaluation of Montana's 21st CCLC programs during the 2021-22 school year found positive outcomes related to participating students’ academic engagement and behavior, positive relationships, and youth development. Teacher surveys indicated that participating students needing improvement demonstrated increased academic engagement, including participation in class, willingness to try new things, and completion of in-class assignments. Also, results suggest students are building foundational skills through their programs, with most participating students reporting growth in emotional intelligence, problem-solving skills, and the ability to work well with others. Lastly, nearly all school day administrators surveyed reported that they viewed the 21st CCLC program as valuable (100 percent), agreed that their school’s students benefited from participation in the 21st CCLC program (100 percent), and
This evaluation finds that when comparing students who gained admittance through a lottery to StudentU – a comprehensive afterschool and summer program for middle and high school students – to students who were not selected through the lottery, StudentU participants who entered the program with low baseline achievement accumulated more course credits, experienced the greatest gains in GPA, and were significantly less likely to be suspended than their peers who were not accepted through the lottery. The author reports that these outcomes “suggest that comprehensive services provided outside of the regular school may be a particularly effective strategy for improving outcomes of the most disadvantaged students.” Additionally, the author predicts that StudentU participants have an estimated 4 percentage point higher likelihood of graduating from high school than their non-participating peers.
This randomized control trial of the Boston Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) finds that youth selected to participate were 4.4 percentage points more likely to graduate on time and 2.5 percentage points less likely to drop out of high school compared to their non-participating peers. Evaluators also conducted a mediation analysis to understand the factors driving these outcomes. The analysis finds that improved daily attendance, reduced chronic absenteeism, gains in GPA, and the development of important foundational skills, such as punctuality and emotional regulation, are potential factors contributing to improved on-time high school graduation rates among SYEP participants.
This case study examines the outcomes of an out-of-school-time program’s partnership with a citizen science hub to support STEM learning. The partnership facilitated science learning activities and citizen science projects for over 200 Girl Scout troops across various regions of the U.S. All of the program’s possible student learning outcomes were present by the end of the program, including the development of science literacy, science identity, STEM confidence, and taking specific actions to address scientific and environmental challenges. A key feature of the program was its unstructured nature, allowing for youth self-direction and unintended learning outcomes.
This quasi-experimental evaluation of the Please Call Me Mister (PCMM) program—a 4-year afterschool program in Franklin County, Kentucky, for middle and high school African American and Hispanic males focused on violence prevention and positive youth development—found several statistically significant positive outcomes for PCMM participants, including a decrease in carrying weapons and lower levels of alcohol consumption. PCMM participants also saw increases in resiliency and a decrease in levels of depression.
21st Century Community Learning Centers across the state served almost 7,000 students who participated in 396,739 hours of activities during the fall 2021 semester. Almost half (49 percent) of all participants earned a B or better during the first grading period in both math and English/reading. In evaluators’ preliminary findings, they noted that there were, “substantial gains in students’ English/Reading scores” comparing the first two grading periods during the 2021-22 school year.
A 2022 evaluation of South Carolina’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program found that there was a positive impact on academic and behavioral outcomes among students regularly attending the program compared to their non-participating peers and students who attended programming less regularly, with greater gains associated with higher levels of program participation. Regular program participants performed better on state standardized tests in math and saw reductions in unexcused absences and disciplinary incidents. Teacher surveys revealed that regular attendees needing improvement showed growth in their academic performance, class participation, homework completion, motivation to learn, interaction with others, and classroom behavior.
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The Afterschool Impacts Database is a project of the Afterschool Alliance.
The Afterschool Alliance is a nonprofit public awareness and advocacy organization working to ensure that all children and youth have access to quality afterschool programs.
Afterschool Impacts Database