21st Century Community Learning Centers

 

OVERVIEW

The 21st Century Community Learning Centers program was created by Congress as a way to increase the availability of after-school programs across the U.S.  The 21st Century program provides funding for community learning centers which offer a variety of after-school programs.  Eligible school districts receive grants from the federal government for each child attending an after-school program at a community learning center within the district.  The community learning center is located within an elementary or middle school building and usually employs some of the school’s teachers to teach the after-school programs.  Grants are given to school districts which offer at least 4 of 13 program types defined by 21st Century at their community learning centers.  These programs include integrated education, health, social service, recreational, cultural, literacy education, children’s day care, telecommunications, and technology education.  (A non-experimental evaluation of 34 middle school programs is not described here).  An experimental evaluation of 7 elementary school programs was conducted, but only the results of the first year evaluation are available. The elementary school evaluation found that the Community Learning Centers had little impact on students’ academic outcomes, incidence of self-care, feelings of safety, and behavior.  The program was effective in increasing parental involvement in the schools and changed where and with whom students spent their out-of-school time.

 

DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM

 

Target population: Middle and elementary school students

The community learning centers funded by the 21st century program vary across localities but generally offer three types of activities: academic assistance to students, recreational activities, and cultural enrichment and interpersonal skill development.  Usually, the first time slot at a community learning center is used to give academic assistance to students; these sessions focus on giving homework help and usually last about 45 to 60 minutes.  After that, students most often engage in recreational activities or cultural enrichment and interpersonal skill development sessions.  Expenditures for the middle school programs were estimated to be around $1,000 per enrolled student for an academic school year. 

 

EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM

Dynarski, M., Moore, M., Mullens, J., Gleason, P., James-Burdumy, S., Rosenberg, L., Pistorino, C., Silva, T., Deke, J., Mansfield, W., Heaviside, S., & Levy, D. (2003). When Schools Stay Open Late: The National Evaluation of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program, First-Year Findings. Report submitted to the U.S. Department of Education. Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., January 2003.

Evaluated population: 7 grantees (school districts) that operated centers serving elementary school students.  In total, researchers selected 1,000 treatment and control group students.  Students in the evaluation were 28.2% Caucasian, 66.8% African-American, 1.8% Hispanic, 1.0% American Indian, 1.9% Asian, and 0.3% Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.  71.4% of schools had at least half of their students eligible for free or reduced-price lunches.

Approach: To evaluate the elementary school programs, researchers selected 7 districts which were considered most able to carry out an experimental design.  The researchers note that this will limit the generalizability of the selected sample.  Within these 7 districts, a total of 1,000 students were randomly assigned to either treatment programs or a control group.  Researchers gathered data for both evaluations using student questionnaires, school records, parent questionnaires, and teacher questionnaires.  These sources of data looked at academic performance, homework completion, behavior, feelings of safety, and personal and social development.

Results: Students in the community learning centers did not receive higher grades in reading or math than students in the control condition; however, social studies grades were significantly higher.  Likewise, reading test scores of treatment students were not higher than those of students in the control condition.  The program also had no impact on student self-report completion of homework and completion of homework to teachers’ satisfaction.  Parents of elementary school students in the program were more likely to help their child with homework and attend school meetings than parents of students in the control condition. 

Non-experimental analyses indicated that students attending the community learning centers more frequently were not found to have better academic outcomes compared to those who attended the centers infrequently.  Students in the community learning center condition were equally likely to care for themselves (self-care) rather than be cared for by adults compared with students in the control condition.  Students in the program did not report feeling safer after school compared with students in the control groups.  The program did not improve students’ ability to plan, set goals, or work with a team.

The researchers note many problems with the implementation of the programs in the various centers.  Low participation was common across centers, averaging less than two days a week, and students were found to have higher attendance rates on days where academic tutoring or cultural learning sessions were not being conducted. 

 

SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION

 

References

Dynarski, M., Moore, M., Mullens, J., Gleason, P., James-Burdumy, S., Rosenberg, L., Pistorino, C., Silva, T., Deke, J., Mansfield, W., Heaviside, S., & Levy, D. (2003). When Schools Stay Open Late: The National Evaluation of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program, First-Year Findings. Report submitted to the U.S. Department of Education. Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., January 2003.

 

Program categorized in this guide according to the following:

Evaluated participant ages: grades K-8 / Program age ranges in the Guide: mid-childhood, adolescence

Program components: mentoring/tutoring; school-based

Measured outcomes: education and cognitive development; physical health; behavioral problems

 

KEYWORDS: Adolescents, American Indian/Alaska Native, Black/African American, Children, Community-based, Elementary, Life Skills, Life Skills Training, Mentoring, Middle Childhood, School-based, cost, Tutoring, White/Caucasian

 

 

Program information last updated 12/11/06

 

© Child Trends 2003