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Disadvantaged students who regularly attend top-notch school-age care programs end up, after two years, academically far ahead of their peers who spend more out-of-school time in unsupervised activities according to findings of an eight state school-age study. The Promising Afterschool Programs study, reported in Education Week (November 28, 2007; www.edweek.org), examined 35 programs, selected for their record of success, serving 2,914 students in 14 communities stretching from Bridgeport, Connecticut to Seaside, California. Education Week described how the study worked...

"...Researchers divided students into three groups: a 'program only' group of students who attended their afterschool program two or three times a week and did nothing else outside the school; a 'program plus' group who visited the afterschool programs two or three times a week and also took part in sports, church programs, music lessons, or other extracurricular activities; and a 'low supervision' group who dropped in on a mix of afterschool activities from one to three days a week. The researchers found, over the course of the three-year project, that the more engaged students were in supervised afterschool activities, the better they did on a range of academic, social, and behavioral outcomes. For instance, 3rd and 4th graders in the 'program plus' group tallied gains on standardized mathematics tests that were 20 percentile points higher than those of children who rarely went. The frequent attenders also made more progress in developing sound work habits, task persistence, and better social skills, and in reducing negative behaviors such as skipping school or fighting."

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