Preparing students for the 21st century first requires learning to let go of the methods and techniques that fit not the 20th century, but the 19th. "Our present school system is based on the agrarian model," says Donna Klein, president of Corporate Voices for Working Families in Washington, D.C. "It was originally intended to give children time off to help work in the fields." Times have changed, she says, and "we need to recognize that nowadays, there are no parents at home between 3 and 5 p.m." or during summer breaks.
Too often, young children are left without any adult supervision when school is out and their parents are still at work, Klein says. Corporate Voices statistics indicate that 2 million to 6 million children under the age of 13 care for themselves each day, and almost half of all families have no regular care for their children during the hours after school.
"Our policies regarding child care are still based on the assumption that someone's at home and that there's a single bread earner," Klein notes. "And that's not consistent with where we've been for a long time." Instead of spending afternoons unsupervised, students can benefit by participating in structured extracurricular activities, researchers say. Supervision after school can help protect children during the most vulnerable time of day.
Afternoons alone can leave students vulnerable to trouble—as either participants or victims, statistics show. According to Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a nonprofit organization of police officers and other officials concerned with preventing crime, most offenses committed by and against students occur between 3 and 6 p.m., the time between the end of the school day and parents' returning from work. "The peak hours for crime are in the after-school hours," says Bill Christeson, research director for Fight Crime. "This is when most bad things happen."
At-risk students—those who qualify for free or reduced-price meals based on low family income—are particularly vulnerable during this time. According to Fight Crime's statistics, at-risk children who lacked quality activity programs with parental backing were 10 times more likely to become delinquent than students who had such support structures.
A Changing Environment
Until recently, the lack of opportunities for at-risk children left them with few positive alternatives for things to do in the hours immediately after school. "In the past, underprivileged or at-risk kids did not have access to these services that are so important," Christeson notes.
Surprisingly, the reasons for this lack of access include not just funding difficulties but also confusion over the purpose of after-school activities in the first place. "We have a problem when it comes to defining the purpose of after-school programs," says Ellen Gannett, codirector of the National Institute on Out-of-School Time in Wellesley, Mass. "We're not all on the same page with respect to what is meant by a quality program." Much of the uncertainty, she says, stems from whether the goal of a particular program is to help students improve academically, increase attendance, establish lifelong interests, or promote social experiences that allow kids to improve their social skills and reduce conflict.
Defining that purpose "is a big challenge," Gannett says. Amid the uncertainty, many programs are focusing on the educational benefits. "Conversation has changed among people in the field," she says, "and [we're] focusing now on how after-school programs can help support academic success and close the achievement gap for those kids at risk of academic failure."
Facing tighter budgets and a greater focus on test scores and achievement levels, after-school programs increasingly are working as partners with school systems to define the goals of their enrichment activities, publicize the benefits, and gain funding. "We've changed the way people are looking at extracurricular activities and highlighted the good work that these programs can do for young people," Gannett says.
Many organizers stress the need to combine federal, state, and local resources to secure funding for extracurricular programs and provide more opportunities for low-income students. "All programs have to partner now," says Suzanne Birdsall, an education consultant with 21st Century Community Learning Center in Concord, N.H.
Such coordination can support dual goals—the school's learning goals and the outreach goals of the partner organization. For instance, Birdsall points out that local museums have worked with school systems to provide kits for after-school activities. The kits are designed to be used after classes end, but they contain activities that are closely tied to lesson plans from students' classroom studies.
"Suppose that you have an after-school cooking club," Birdsall says. "You might have the kids get together to make bread, but they will need to make twice as much bread as the recipe calls for. So, now they have to work with fractions and multiply 3 1/2 cups of flour by two and double the number of tablespoons of baking soda to fit the new recipe." Such efforts can support the curriculum while they provide opportunities for students' enrichment.
In an effort to increase funding for after-school activities, New Hampshire's governor started a program called the 3 to 6 Afterschool Challenge to encourage local businesses to raise $1.5 million for these types of activities. Such initiatives are especially critical to address the needs of at-risk students, Birdsall says. Serving those needs, she stresses, requires offering a menu of activities that will appeal to the students and "keep them engaged in activities that are productive for them."
Mutual Benefits
Organizers point out that not only disadvantaged students, but also local businesses, can benefit from stronger extracurricular programs. "Employee stress stemming from worrying about children after school leads to decreased productivity and increased absenteeism," Klein says. The costs can range from $496 to as much as $1,984 per employee per year, she says. The more worried a parent is about his or her child, Klein argues, the less productive the parent will be at the office. "Parents are more productive at work if they know that their children have quality after-school programs that provide hands-on, experiential learning opportunities, apprenticeships, and other opportunities to explore and deepen individual interests."
Klein emphasizes that wealthy parents are not the only ones concerned about providing opportunities for their children. One family that Klein knew worked in hotels and paid a neighbor to meet their child at the bus stop each day and walk him to a community center half a mile away. The family did not make much money, but their commitment to their child's safety was paramount.
Focusing on the Whole Child
Cooperation between parents, schools, businesses, and other groups is essential for the success of after-school programs, organizers say. "If you think about it, this is a community effort that we're talking about," says Judy Samelson, the executive director of the Afterschool Alliance in Flint, Mich. "That means that faith organizations, community-based organizations, schools, and others all have resources for young people. But only by coming together can they provide the kinds of choices, environments, and opportunities that we want for young people."
Those opportunities offer benefits that not only help students further their learning, Birdsall points out, but also support their overall development as they grow. "Kids aren't just about academics," she says. "They're about a whole lot more—and hopefully what we can offer them is a whole lot more as well."
