Multiple Needs, Multiple Strategies: How After-School Programs Contribute to Academic Success

By Jane Quinn, CAS Assistant Executive Director for Community Schools. Published in The Legislative Gazette: The Weekly Newspaper of The New York State Government.

A hot topic in the world of after-school programs is the role of these programs in promoting young people's academic success. Often missing from this important discussion is any sense that there are multiple approaches to integrating academic content into after-school and other out-of-school time programs. These approaches are all valid if applied appropriately. At The Children's Aid Society (CAS) in New York City, we recognize at least three distinct ways that after-school programs can focus on academics:

Academic Remediation
This approach is used when students encounter difficulty mastering academic content and skills during their regular school day. The advent of clear academic standards at the state and districts levels has helped to clarify the importance of academic remediation services for students who need them. Unfortunately, remedial approaches can become a "default drive" rather than a treatment that is differentially applied. Remedial approaches include one-on-one and small group tutoring; review classes; and computer-assisted instruction.

Academic Support
As the term implies, this category of programming is designed to support students' school success through such efforts as homework assistance and "test sophistication" training sessions. All children can benefit from such assistance, and many children receive such help from their parents at home and from telephone hotlines staffed by trained teachers and/or college students. Many after-school programs provide these kinds of services as well. Most homework assignments are directly related to classroom instruction and not to introducing new content. The value of any homework assistance intervention will depend in large measure on the quality and amount of the homework assignments.

Academic Enrichment
Unlike remediation and support, enrichment may or may not be directly linked to what children are learning during the regular school day. What makes this kind of programming academic in its focus (as opposed to social, cultural or recreational enrichment) is that it provides young people with an opportunity to practice their academic skills - such as reading, writing, speaking, mathematical calculation and scientific inquiry.

At CAS, we consider academic enrichment as an approach to after-school programming that incorporates three major elements:

• Exposure - Introducing young people to new ideas, information, places and relationships;
• Experience - Providing opportunities for young people to apply their knowledge and skills through hands-on activities; and
• Engagement - Encouraging young people to fully activate their minds, bodies and spirits (a key factor in genuine learning).

Nearly any kind of youth work program can take an enrichment approach, as long as these three ingredients are present. Here are some examples, with a quick analysis of how each program can contribute to young people's academic success:

• Chess clubs can promote critical thinking and problem solving, persistence, teamwork and self-discipline.
• Cooking programs can allow young people to practice their reading and math skills (i.e., measurement, fractions, estimation) and to learn and apply basic science.
• Sports programs can offer many of these same opportunities if they are "enriched" by encouraging kids to read books about their favorite athletes and apply math skills through calculating batting averages or graphing scores over time.
• Through community service programs young people can read about current issues, testify at hearings, map their neighborhoods, write guides to community resources, chronicle experiences in journals.

After school matters!
These are a few of many examples from the real world of after-school practice. A solid body of research under girds this approach by documenting the important role that after-school programs can play in promoting young people's academic success. For example, noted educational researcher Dr. Reginald Clark found that a critical difference between economically disadvantaged children who succeed in school and those who fail is how children spend their out-of-school time. According to Clark, children who spend between 20-35 hours per week of their non-school time engaged in "constructive learning activities" perform better in school. University of Wisconsin researcher Deborah Vandell found that children's participation in high quality after-school programs resulted in improved academic achievement and better work habits as well as improvements in emotional adjustment and social relations. The keys to gaining these kinds of positive results include ensuring quality in program delivery and targeting the right kind of program services to address children's specific needs.

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