Issue Briefs

Service-Learning in Afterschool: Helping Students Grow and Communities Prosper (2011)

The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with MetLife Foundation, is proud to present the third of four issue briefs in our fourth series examining critical issues facing middle school youth and the vital role afterschool programs play in addressing these issues. This brief addresses the difference between community service and service-learning, discusses the benefits of service learning and outlines how afterschool programs are already promoting service learning.

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Recruiting and Retaining Older Youth in Afterschool (2009)

The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with MetLife Foundation, is proud to present the second of four issue briefs in this series examining critical issues facing older youth and the vital role afterschool programs play in addressing these issues. This brief highlights the importance of afterschool for older youth, the challenges providers face in recruiting and retaining older youth and the innovative strategies that programs have used to better serve older youth in afterschool.

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Recent Evaluations of 21st Century Community Learning Centers Illustrate Wide Range of Benefits (July 2023)

This brief highlights a cross section of recently conducted statewide evaluations on 21st CCLC programs to illustrate the impacts of this initiative, which is accelerating academic growth, improving students' engagement in school and behavior in class, fostering well-being, and helping students thrive both in school and out.

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Featured

Quality Afterschool: Helping Programs Achieve It and Policies Support It (2011)

For years, policy makers, program directors and parents have attested to the widespread benefits of afterschool, backing their claims with extensive research. Promoting quality in afterschool is one way to ensure researchers continue to find positive outcomes that encourage increased investments in programming. This brief highlights the positive impacts of high-quality afterschool programs and shares program characteristics, available tools, current support systems, and federal policies that can better boost quality in afterschool programs.

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Promoting Civic Engagement Through Afterschool Programs (Nov 2018)

Civic engagement, which has been linked to positive short-term and long-term outcomes including a stronger connection to the community and improved wellbeing, starts with young people. This issue brief, created in partnership with the Center for Global Education at Asia Society, details the way in which afterschool and summer learning programs are promoting students’ civic dispositions, bringing lessons of democracy to life, and empowering youth to enact change. Accompanying this brief are five in-depth afterschool program profiles that highlight the different roles programs play to inspire youth to be knowledgeable, engaged, and civically minded individuals:

• Alternatives, Inc. and Equity Alliance MN’s Youth Executive Board: Helping students know their rights and responsibilities
• After-School All-Stars Hawaii Life Service Action Offering opportunities for students to take action
• YWCA New Britain House of Teens Program and YMCA of Port Angeles’ Youth and Government program: Providing authentic opportunities for students to lead and govern

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Summary

Preventing Dropouts: The Important Role of Afterschool (2013)

Although much progress has been made in decreasing high school dropout rates nationally, over the last decade, significant gaps persist among states, races, income levels, and students with disabilities and limited English proficiency. This issue brief describes the national impacts of the dropout problem, identifies the risk factors, and evaluates how to address the dropout problem and ways afterschool programs can help.

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Preparing for Back to School and Navigating Summer in the Time of COVID-19 – Wave 2 (September 2020)

After six months in a COVID-19 world, with the continued uncertainty of when things will return to normal, this brief, Preparing for Back to School and Navigating Summer in the Time of COVID-19, combines findings from a survey of parents along with the second in a series of surveys of afterschool and summer providers to monitor the state of the afterschool field. The Wave 2 provider survey of 1,047 afterschool and summer program providers, conducted between July 20 and August 31, finds that providers are growing increasingly worried about their program’s long-term sustainability, but despite these struggles, programs continue to provide supports to the children and families in their communities, with strong majorities of parents believing in the value of afterschool and summer programs, as well as supporting public funding for these opportunities.

• Wave 2 Toplines
• Wave 1 and Wave 2 Comparison Toplines
• Parent Summer Survey Toplines
• Afterschool in the Time of COVID-19 survey page

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Parents and Voters Support Afterschool and Summer for All (February 2023)

In a second brief highlighting results from an online poll of registered voters, conducted by Lake Research Partners November 9-14, 2022, this document includes both voter and parent opinions on afterschool and summer programs. It finds strong support for afterschool and summer programs, as well as high levels of agreement that programs are a valuable partner for schools.

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Featured Topline

Older Youth Need Afterschool Programs (2004)

Although much of the funding and programming for afterschool targets younger children, there are myriad of advantages for older youth who participate in afterschool, and 2.3 million more high schoolers would participate in programs if they had the opportunity. This brief explores the unique needs of teens, and the role afterschool can play by providing them a safe environment and preparing them for college and the workforce. Additionally, this brief addresses the challenges afterschool programs face in reaching teens and explores how to overcome them.

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Looking at the Data: Afterschool Programs Using Data to Better Serve Students (August 2014)

The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with MetLife Foundation is proud to present the last of four issue briefs in our sixth series examining critical issues facing middle school youth and the vital role afterschool programs play in addressing these issues. This brief addresses what afterschool programs gain through data collection and evaluation, how to evaluate a program effectively and how to use to data collected for program improvement.

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