Temescal Publications

outcomes & evaluation

afterschool workforce

program quality

Essential field Readings

Outcomes & Evaluation

An Evaluation of After School Programs Provided by Beyond The Bell’s Partner Agencies, submitted to Richard Roberts explores the hypothesis that participation in after school programs results in academic, attendance and behavior improvements that only occur when students attend a minimum number of daily sessions. As demonstrated by these figures, it is clear that Beyond The Bell (BTB) and its partner agencies serve a huge, largely at-risk population that would provide daunting challenges for any school district in the nation.

Developing Resiliency in Children, by Richard Roberts presented by Los Angeles Unified School District’s Beyond the Bell. The Role of Afterschool with Schools With Prop 49 starting in California, afterschool services are growing quickly throughout Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and the state. Shared expectations and pressures bring fresh opportunities. Now is the time for afterschool and school staff to improve their work together in promoting children’s success. This success is not specific to academics. It includes positive social, emotional and academic development.

The Impact of After-School Programs Interpreting the Results of Four Recent Evaluations, by Thomas Kane. ‘The purpose of this  review is to summarize the results of four recent evaluations, to draw the lessons we have  learned so far, and to identify the unanswered questions.”

From the conclusion: “Given the time devoted to academic activities and the magnitude of resources  devoted to after-school programs, it seems unrealistic to expect large impacts on academic  achievement (such as .2 standard deviations).  Unless an hour spent in an after-school program is  extraordinarily more productive than an hour spent in regular instruction, such large impacts  seem unlikely.  Future evaluation work needs to be more explicit in identifying the magnitude of  impact that might reasonably be expected—given the projected cost of the program or given  external estimates of the impact of a given amount of time in academic instruction.  Either  approach is likely to suggest impacts much smaller than .2 standard deviations.  Unless the  resources are available for collecting the size of sample required to identify academic  achievement impacts of a small magnitude, future evaluations run the risk of passing over  worthwhile interventions.  As an alternative to collecting large samples, such evaluations should  concentrate resources on measuring intermediate outcomes—such as homework completion or  parental participation—for which impacts may be more readily discernible."

Summary of Findings from the 2003 National Voters Poll, authored by the Afterschool Alliance. Excerpt: “Voters do not want to see afterschool programs become an extension of the  school day and do not believe that improving test scores should be the  primary goal of the afterschool programs.  Focus group respondents also make  it clear that improving test scores cannot be the purpose of programs.  Voters  want to see children in afterschool programs offered hands-on learning  opportunities, recreation, community service, and creative activities that inspire  them to learn and grow.”