Age range

Mission/Goals: 21st Century Community Learning Centers strive to provide an opportunity for communities to establish or expand learning centers that:
• provide opportunities for academic enrichment
• offer students a broad array of additional services, programs, and activities
• offer families of students served by the community learning centers opportunities for literacy and related educational development.

Source(s): www.ode.state.or.us; www.ed.gov/programs/21stcclc/

index.html;www.afterschoolalliance.org/

states/states_facts.cfm?state_abbr=OR

Type of Evaluation: Experimental evaluation for elementary study and quasi-experimental evaluation for middle school students.

Objective: This evaluation focused on student outcomes in the 21st Century Community Learning Centers.

Impact/Outcomes: Elementary School Program Impacts: Attendance at programs was moderate. Students in the program were more likely to be with adults who were not their parents after school than controls. Students attending after-school programs scored no better on reading tests than their peers in the control group; nor did their grades in English, mathematics, science, and social studies increase. Roughly 1.5 percent of participants compared with 4.5 percent of nonparticipants, reported feeling "not at all safe" after school. Programs had few impacts on developmental outcomes, and students in
programs were no less likely than students in the control group to be suspended, to receive detention, or to misbehave. Middle School Program Outcomes: The program group was less likely to be with siblings than the comparison group, and there were no differences in self-care. There were few differences between the program and comparison groups on academic outcomes. The program group had higher grades in social studies, however other outcomes did not differ between groups. There were no differences in feelings of safety after school. The program group was more likely than the comparison group to expect to graduate from college. There were mixed findings on measures of behavior.