Age range

Website: www.congreso.net

Mission/Goals: Congreso's mission is to strengthen Latino communities through social, economic, education, and health services; leadership development; and advocacy.

Source: Ensenanzas de la Comunidad. (Summer, 2003). Evaluation of Congreso's After School Program at Clemente School. Philadelphia: Congreso de Latinos Unidos, Inc.

Notes: Congreso operates three types of after school programs in five North Philadelphia schools for children in grades 5-8: The North Star Program (offered at Clemente, Julia de Borgos, and Potter Thomas middle schools, and Taylor and Fairhill elementary schools), Freedom Schools (Clemente, Julia de Burgos, and Potter Thomas schools, during summers only), and The Beacon Family Center (Julia de Borgos school). Across Philadelphia there are 18 Freedom Schools, which have been qualitatively evaluated through an ethnographic study, and 19 Beacon Centers, which are being evaluated by Public/Private Ventures. Congreso also runs a CASA Start program. This program replicates CASA in New York, which has been evaluated.
 

Type of Evaluation: Quasi-Experimental.
 

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of the program and to guide efforts to improve outcomes for participating youth.

Impact/Outcome Findings:  From pre to post test, program youth maintained the same grades in reading, math, science and English, while the grades of comparison youth decreased significantly in science and English. Final reading grades were found to be significantly higher among program youth than comparison youth, but no other subject areas showed a statistically significant difference between groups in terms of grade distribution. On average, students not enrolled in the after school program were 1.7 times more likely to have unexcused absences compared to program youth. No significant differences between groups were found regarding late arrivals or suspensions. During the school year, the number of unexcused absences increased among both groups, and the number of suspensions significantly increased in the comparison group, but not the program group. With regard to attitudes, both groups on average had improved attitudes toward school and higher expectations for educational attainment on the post test. The program group had higher percentages of students improve attitudes or set higher expectations, but these differences were not statistically significant.