After-school activity

After-school activities, also known as after-school programs or after-school care, started in the early 1900s mainly just as supervision of students after the final school bell.[1] Today, after-school programs do much more. There is a focus on helping students with school work but can be beneficial to students in other ways. An after-school program, today, will not limit its focus on academics but with a holistic sense of helping the student population.[2] An after-school activity is any organized program that youth or adult learner voluntary can participate in outside of the traditional school day. Some programs are run by a primary or secondary school, while others are run by externally funded non-profit or commercial organizations. After-school youth programs can occur inside a school building or elsewhere in the community, for instance at a community center, church, library, or park. After-school activities are a cornerstone of concerted cultivation, which is a style of parenting that emphasizes children gaining leadership experience and social skills through participating in organized activities.[3] Such children are believed by proponents to be more successful in later life, while others consider too many activities to indicate overparenting.[4] While some research has shown that structured after-school programs can lead to better test scores, improved homework completion, and higher grades,[5] further research has questioned the effectiveness of after-school programs at improving youth outcomes such as externalizing behavior and school attendance.[6] Additionally, certain activities or programs have made strides in closing the achievement gap, or the gap in academic performance between white students and students of color as measured by standardized tests.[7][8] Though the existence of after-school activities is relatively universal, different countries implement after-school activities differently, causing after-school activities to vary on a global scale.

  1. ^ Park, Hyejoon; Zhan, Min (February 2017). "The impact of after-school childcare arrangements on the developmental outcomes of low-income children". Children and Youth Services Review. 73: 230–241. doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.12.023.
  2. ^ Sauer, Victoria (July 2015). "Elaine Clanton Harpine: After-School Prevention Programs for At-Risk Students: Promoting Engagement and Academic Success: Springer, New York, NY, 2013, 134 pp, ISBN: 9781461474159". Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 44 (7): 1468–1473. doi:10.1007/s10964-015-0290-4. S2CID 141597216.
  3. ^ Mahoney, Joseph L.; Larson, Reed; Eccles, Jacquelynne S. (2005). Organized activities as contexts of development: extracurricular activities, after-school and community programs. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. 45. ISBN 978-0-8058-4431-3.
  4. ^ Levine, Madeline (2006). The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids. HarperCollins. pp. 256. ISBN 978-0-06-059584-5.
  5. ^ Hirsch, B. J. (2011). "Learning and Development in After-School Programs". Phi Delta Kappan. 92 (5): 66–69. doi:10.1177/003172171109200516. S2CID 147201171.
  6. ^ Kremer, Kristen P.; Maynard, Brandy R.; Polanin, Joshua R.; Vaughn, Michael G.; Sarteschi, Christine M. (March 2015). "Effects of After-School Programs with At-Risk Youth on Attendance and Externalizing Behaviors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis". Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 44 (3): 616–636. doi:10.1007/s10964-014-0226-4. PMC 4597889. PMID 25416228.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :5 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Haycock, Kati (2001). "Closing the Achievement Gap". Educational Leadership. 58 (6): 6–11.