Expanding Afterschool and Summer Learning to Boost Student Success

By age 18, students have spent on average 85 percent of their waking hours outside of school. Their use of that time—constructive or not—helps direct their futures. In afterschool and summer programs, young people explore new interests, develop new skill sets, and create lasting relationships with peers and caring adults that shape who they are, who they want to be, and how they interact with the world. Such programs also further key goals that schools and state boards of education set for young people: academic growth, engagement, attendance, and well-being.

While all children still do not have access to them, afterschool programs are not a luxury. They keep children and youth safe, inspire them to learn, and give working parents peace of mind.

As afterschool providers adapted to meet community needs during the pandemic, the programs became a pivotal means for ensuring that students could access learning and for maintaining community connections with families and students. They provided food for families in need, distributed education kits with STEM and other activities, checked in on students by phone or with front-porch visits, helped families get computers and access to Wi-Fi, and provided a safe, often daylong place for the children of essential workers when schools were closed.

When Congress provided pandemic relief through the American Rescue Plan, school districts and state education agencies took advantage of the opportunity to invest roughly $10 billion more in afterschool and summer programs. Many apportioned these funds to local organizations with strong ties in the community, acknowledging effective afterschool models are often rooted in these partnerships.[1] By using the funds in this way, they employed an evidence-based model of comprehensive afterschool programs, with school-community partnerships that offer active, engaged learning opportunities and related supports that address the holistic needs of young people and families. Consequently, young people in communities such as St. Louis Park, Minnesota, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, enjoyed a wider range of enrichment opportunities, greater program availability, more social and emotional supports, and fewer barriers to participation, including transportation and fees.[2]

But pandemic relief dollars are sunsetting. Communities are reducing offerings, scaling back the number of young people who can participate, eliminating transportation, and charging families fees, even as academic and social-emotional recovery remains an urgent national priority.

Opportunity Gap

Even before the pandemic, 24.7 million students were missing out on the supports and opportunities that afterschool programs provide. America After 3PM, a national household survey of more than 31,000 parents of school-age children conducted early in 2020, found that the hours after school looked vastly different for students in higher income families than for those in lower income families. Higher income families were spending more on their children’s afterschool activities, and their children were more likely to be involved in an activity after school.[3] Families in the highest income bracket spent more than five times as much on out-of-schooltime activities in a year than families in the lowest income bracket. Correspondingly, nearly 9 in 10 parents in the highest income bracket said that their children participated in at least one out-of-schooltime activity, 29 percentage points higher than families in the lowest income bracket.

Access remained a challenge during the pandemic. In 2022, higher income students made up more than two-thirds of participants in afterschool programs.[4]

Evidence of Impact

Afterschool programs encompass activities before school, after school, and during the summer months. Quality programs offer hands-on learning led by knowledgeable and caring adults and mentors, activities that build teamwork and other life skills, homework help and other academic support, computer programming, robotics, healthy snacks and meals, job and college readiness, sports and fitness activities, art, dance and music, opportunities to think critically and collaborate, and more.[5] These programs intentionally complement students’ school-day lessons as well as sparking new passions and creating spaces where students feel supported, heard, and valued.

The evidence that participation promotes academic achievement, engagement, and well-being underscores the need to address ongoing inequities in access.

Academic Support. Public schools reported to the national School Pulse Panel that 49 percent of their students on average were behind grade level in the 2022–23 school year, an increase from 36 percent before the pandemic.[6] To catch up, students would need approximately four more months of schooling in reading and math, according to NWEA.[7]

Afterschool programs can help. Students taking part in afterschool programs have made significant academic gains in math test scores, math achievement, and reading grades and achieved greater proficiency in reading, math, and science.[8] One study that compared students in an afterschool and summer program to peers not in the program found that students who regularly participated for two consecutive years had statistically significantly higher grades in math, English, and science.[9]

Numerous surveys of school staff, parents, and students reinforce these results.[10] In surveys of school administrators and teachers, both overwhelmingly agree that afterschool programs support students’ academic success and are an integral component of the school. Similarly, parents agree that participation in afterschool programs has improved their child’s academic performance, while afterschool program participants agree that their afterschool program helps them academically.

Student Engagement. Academics are far from the only benefit. An astonishing 28 percent of public school students in 2022 were chronically absent—defined as missing at least 10 percent of school days—up from a still-high 16 percent before the pandemic.[11]

Nationally, nearly three in five students participating in federally funded 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) programs who had been chronically absent during the previous school year improved their school-day attendance during the 2022–23 school year.[12]

Afterschool programs have a track record of improving engagement and attendance. Evaluations of afterschool programs have found that engagement in learning among students in afterschool programs rises, with teachers reporting that these students participate in class more often, are more attentive, and show improved motivation to learn.[13] Surveyed students say that they like school better because they go to their afterschool program, while parents say that their child’s attitude toward school improved because they participated in an afterschool program.[14] Feelings of connection to school also grow stronger for young people in afterschool programs, with students reporting that participation in afterschool programs has helped them feel more connected to their school.[15]

One of the members of the Afterschool Alliance’s Youth Ambassador Program summed up these benefits. “I feel so safe at the program,” the student said. “It’s my second home…. This program has given me the mentorship and community I need to try new things, succeed in my classes, and explore my interests.”

Social and Emotional Well-Being. In a 2021 report, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said that “the challenges today’s generation of young people face are unprecedented and uniquely hard to navigate. And the effect these challenges have had on their mental health is devastating.”[16] One of his recommendations was that young people get involved in group activities, such as recreation and outdoor activities, afterschool programs, and mentorship programs. More recently, he cited safe, affordable before- and afterschool care programs among the ways to help parents cope with stress.[17]

Afterschool programs serve as a safe space that fosters belonging, provides supportive peers and adult mentors, encourages healthy behaviors and discourages risky ones, and helps young people build and cultivate the skills to navigate struggles they may face.

Studies consistently find that regular participation in quality afterschool programs improves students’ self-confidence and self-awareness, ability to make good decisions and handle problems, and work with others.[18] On the other side of the coin, studies have found that participation in afterschool programs can decrease problem behaviors, including reducing the likelihood of getting suspended from school, drinking alcohol, and using marijuana.[19]

There is evidence that the effects are long lasting. In one study, elementary school students who regularly attended afterschool activities had less impulsivity and police contact at age 26. Another found that participating in similar activities in elementary school contributed to better grades and a more rigorous course load in high school, resulting in greater educational and occupational attainment in adulthood.[20]

Inadequate Funding, Struggling Programs

Despite their valuable benefits, unmet demand in the United States for afterschool and summer learning programs is greater than ever. For every child in an afterschool program, four more are waiting to get in. Cost is the top barrier to participation, cited by 57 percent of parents, and 44 percent report that afterschool programs are not available in their community.[21]

Public funding at the federal, state, and local levels is critical to helping increase access to affordable, quality afterschool programs. However, funding lags far behind the need. The chief federal funding stream for afterschool and summer programs, which provides funds to states to run grant competitions, is the 21st CCLC initiative. It has been appropriated at roughly the same level for more than 20 years. Due to intense competition and lack of adequate funds, states deny two out of three funding requests under these grants.

21st CCLC awards support local programs, often run by community organizations in partnership with schools, and are tailored to the needs of students and communities. During the 2022–23 school year, $1.3 billion supported 9,985 21st CCLC programs across the United States, serving more than 1.8 million K-12 students and their families. After adjusting for inflation, the current funding level is approximately $201 million below the 2014 level. As costs for staff, supplies, food, and other items have skyrocketed, federal funding has fallen behind, with troubling consequences for children, families, and communities.

Federal pandemic relief funds provided additional support, but very little reached afterschool and summer programs. The American Rescue Plan (ARP) provided $122 billion in education funding, with $30 billion citing afterschool and summer programs as allowable uses. While eight in ten districts invested in afterschool and summer programs—or more than $5.4 billion in all—it was a small sliver of the relief funds districts received.[22] Similarly, state education agency spending on afterschool and summer programs is estimated at $2.7 billion, less than one-third of the $8.5 billion state agencies could have awarded. While the ARP funds are estimated to have helped five million students participate in afterschool or summer learning, a recent survey found that fewer than one in five afterschool providers reported receiving pandemic relief funding.

Other federal funding sources can support afterschool programs but are underused. Child Care and Development Fund can be used to support care for school-age children; it currently reaches 600,000 students between the ages of 5 and 13 through school-age care programs. Much less is known about the use of other federal funding streams. For example, states can use Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds to support afterschool programs, but only two are known to do so. Other federal funding streams can be used to support elements of afterschool programming, including federal nutrition programs, juvenile justice funds, and Americorps, but those require piecing together a wide array of funding streams in order to fund a comprehensive program.

Most programs must weave together a complex mix of grants with different requirements and challenges. The most commonly cited funding source in a recent survey of afterschool providers was parent fees; two in five programs reported collecting them.[23] The next most common sources were 21st CCLC, private donations, philanthropic support, and local government funding.

Managing this funding landscape creates significant challenges for programs and ultimately impacts their ability to serve young people, especially those most in need of support. Parent fees have obvious equity implications. Private donations and local government funding are predicated on local community resources. And navigating such a complex funding situation requires significant staff time to seek out and apply for funding, meet varied requirements, and submit grant reports—all time better spent on providing quality programming.

The good news is that states are beginning to step up with funding for comprehensive afterschool programs that can help minimize the fundraising and administrative burdens for programs and help close the opportunity gap that leaves so many young people behind.

Role for States

The growth in state funding is encouraging. Since 2000, state funding for afterschool has grown more than twentyfold, from 15 states investing less than $300 million to $5 billion across 26 states.[24] Yet about half of states still do not provide funding for afterschool, and the total amount of state support—even when combined with the federal funds—does not come close to meeting the need.

Helping afterschool programs survive and support students will require that all states fund afterschool at levels that help to close the opportunity gaps they face. A good first step would be to match the ARP state-level set-asides for afterschool and summer that are winding down with dedicated state funding.[25] Maintaining at least that level of support in each state would help sustain and grow the partnerships and programs that federal pandemic relief made possible.

States can do more than invest funds:

• Adopt policies and guidance that facilitate braiding of funds.[26] States can remove barriers such as conflicting requirements for different types of grants that support afterschool.
• Ensure state childcare agencies institute licensing requirements that are appropriate for school-age programs, thereby reducing barriers to accessing federal childcare subsidy dollars for afterschool and summer programs.
• Diversify the afterschool providers that can access public funds by helping build capacity of local programs to successfully apply for public and private funding and by streamlining reporting requirements and grant renewals.
• Enhance the quality of programs by supporting technical assistance and professional development, encouraging data sharing, and funding evaluations.
• Use policy vehicles like task forces, commissions, and children’s cabinets to facilitate a cross-sector vision for afterschool and summer learning. Consider tasking multiple state agencies (education, health and human services, workforce development, service commissions) to collaborate on funding and reporting requirements for local out-of-schooltime programs.
• Engage coalitions and leverage the capacity and expertise of key partners to develop and support afterschool and summer programs. Collaborate with statewide afterschool networks and intermediaries that can help manage funding competitions and provide technical assistance and support to local programs.
• Support local communities working to streamline the process for shared-use agreements between schools, cities and towns, and nonprofit community-based organizations to allow for greater use of facilities, fields, busing, and other infrastructure to support quality summer and afterschool programs.

Implementing state-level mechanisms to support afterschool and summer programs can go a long way toward helping schools and communities close the opportunity gap for young people. The public strongly supports that approach. More than eight in ten voters say these programs are “an absolute necessity” for their communities, and the same number want newly elected leaders at the local, state, and federal levels to provide more funding for them.[27] Research in diverse states has found that these programs pay dividends—every $1 invested saves at least $3 by increasing kids’ earning potential, improving their performance at school, and reducing crime and juvenile delinquency.[28]

Among the research community, voters, educators, parents, and students themselves, there is broad consensus that afterschool and summer programs help children and youth succeed in school and in life. Investing in programs that bring together schools and community partners to help young people make the most of their time out of school will provide vast, lasting benefits.

Notes

[1] Help Kids Recover, “Federal Pandemic Relief Funds: City, State, and School District Investments in Afterschool and Summer Learning,” map and data (Afterschool Alliance and National League of Cities, N.d.); Afterschool Alliance, “Investments in Student Recovery: Using American Rescue Plan Funds for Afterschool and Summer,” fact sheet (February, 2024).

[2] Afterschool Alliance, “Pandemic Relief Funds Expand Supports for Underserved Students,” spotlight (N.d.); Afterschool Alliance, “Braiding Pandemic Relief Funds to Increase Afterschool and Summer Opportunities,” spotlight (N.d.).

[3] Afterschool Alliance, “America after 3PM: Demand Grows, Opportunity Shrinks, ” report (October 2020).

[4] Afterschool Alliance, “Access to Afterschool Programs Remains a Challenge for Many Families,” brief (August 2022).

[5] For some examples of the range of afterschool programs across the country, see Matt Alderton, “Extra Fun: Programs That Are Good for Kids and Communities,” USA Today Back to School magazine (2024).

[6] Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, “School Pulse Panel,” 2021–22 and 2022–23.

[7] Karyn Lewis and Megan Kuhfeld, “Education’s Long COVID: 2022–23 Achievement Data Reveal Stalled Progress toward Pandemic Recovery,” brief (NWEA, July 2023).

[8] Jeffrey M. Jenson et al., “Effects of an Afterschool Program on the Academic Outcomes of Children and Youth Residing in Public Housing Neighborhoods: A Quasi Experimental Study,” Children and Youth Services Review 88 (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.03.01; Deborah Lowe Vandell, Elizabeth R. Reisner, and Kim M. Pierce, “Outcomes Linked to High-Quality Afterschool Programs: Longitudinal Findings from the Study of Promising Afterschool Programs” (Policy Studies Associates, October 2007); Samantha Sniegowski et al., “South Carolina Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers Statewide Evaluation: 2019-21 Program Year and Effectiveness Report” (American Institutes for Research, June 2022).

[9] Ivonne Garcia et al., “Aiming Higher: Assessing Higher Achievement’s Out-of-School Expansion Efforts” report (MRDC, June 2020).

[10] Miriam Resendez, “Oregon State Evaluation Report 2021–22” (JEM & R, LLC, N.d.); Miriam Resendez and Danielle DuBose, “Oregon 21st Century Community Learning Centers State Evaluation Report: 2020–21” (JEM & R, LLC, 2022); The David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality, “Evaluating Oklahoma 21st Century Community Learning Centers: 2021–2022 Statewide Evaluation Report” (The Forum for Youth Investment, 2023).

[11] Hedy Chang, Robert Balfanz, and Vaughn Byrnes, “The Rising Tide of Chronic Absence Challenges in Schools,” Attendance Works blog, October 12, 2023.

[12] The Tactile Group and Juniper Education Consulting, “21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) Analytic Support for Evaluation and Program Monitoring: An Overview of the 21st CCLC Performance Data: 2022–2023” (US Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, 2024).

[13] Center for Evaluation, Policy, and Research, “Evaluation of the Kentucky 21st Century Community Learning Centers Initiative: 2021–2022 Statewide Results” (Indiana University, 2023).

[14] Joel M. Hektner, “Evaluation of 21st Century Community Learning Centers in North Dakota 2021–2022” (North Dakota State University, Department of Human Development and Family Science, 2023).

[15] Debra Spearing, “21st CCLC Subgrantee Evaluation: Delaware Department of Education” (Via Evaluation, 2022).

[16] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Protecting Youth Mental Health: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory” (Washington, DC, 2021).

[17] Vivek H. Murthy, “Surgeon General: Parents Are at Their Wits’ End. We Can Do Better,” guest essay, New York Times, August 28, 2024.

[18] Parissa J. Ballard et al., “Youth Experiences in Authoring Action: The Impact of an Arts-Based Program on Youth Development,” Journal of Adolescent Research 38, no. 1 (April 2021); Mengyi Wei et al., “Influence of a Summer Wellness Program on Bullying Reduction Among School-Age Children,” Journal of Teaching in Physical Education 42, no. 4 (2023): 710–20, https://doi.org/10.1123/jtpe.2022-0111.

[19] Ta-Yang Hsieh, Sandra D. Simpkins, and Deborah Lowe Vandell, “Longitudinal Associations between Adolescent Out-of-School Time and Adult Substance Abuse Use,” Journal of Adolescence 95, no. 1 (2023): 131–46, https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12104.

[20] Deborah Lowe Vandell, Sandra Simpkins, and Yangyang Liu, “From Early Care and Education to Adult Problem Behaviors: A Prevention Pathway through After-School Organized Activities,” Development and Psychopathology 33, no. 2 (2020): 1–12, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579420001376; Sandra Simpkins et al., “Children’s Developing Work Habits from Middle Childhood to Early Adolescence: Cascading Effects for Academic Outcomes in Adolescence and Adulthood,” Developmental Psychology 56, no. 12 (2020): 2281–91, https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001113.

[21] Afterschool Alliance, “Access to Afterschool Programs Remains a Challenge.”

[22] These funds included those that the districts spent directly on afterschool and summer learning as well as those they spent to contract out to third-party providers.

[23] Afterschool Alliance, survey of 1,116 afterschool program providers conducted October 31–December 5, 2023.

[24] Erik Peterson, “Increased State-Level Funding for Afterschool and Summer Programs Helps Students Succeed,” blog (Afterschool Alliance, August 20, 2024).

[25] Afterschool Alliance, FY2021 American Rescue Plan (ARP) ESSER Fund State Allocation Table.

[26] Braiding denotes a means of combining funds from public and private sources that each require their funds to be spent on specific children, families, or actions. See National Center of Afterschool and Summer Enrichment, “Combining Resources to Support Quality Out-of-Schooltime Programs,” practice brief (June 2024).

[27] Afterschool Alliance, “Afterschool Programs Are a Priority,” survey brief (January 2023).

[28] At least half a dozen studies at the state level have analyzed the cost of afterschool programs in relation to their return on investment, with numbers ranging from about $3 to $12 in savings to taxpayers. The most recent study found that, for every dollar invested in an afterschool program, there is a return of $6.69, associated with reductions in high school dropouts, teen pregnancy, substance abuse disorder, and crime. Joint State Government Commission, “Return on Investment of Afterschool Programs in Pennsylvania: A Report of the Advisory Committee” (General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 2021).