Designing After School Programs to Support Student Success

By: Kate Sheppard

After-school programs began to emerge in the U.S. around the turn of the 20th century in the form of a few scattered “boys’ clubs.” The implementation of compulsory education and child labor laws made parents increasingly in need of a place for their children to play in the hours between school and the end of a shift. These after-school programs continued to grow in scale and scope, with a surge of interest in the 90s following the Clinton administration’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers legislation, a major source of funding for after-school programs across the country. Debates over whether or not these programs were really serving the students of America led to a series of funding cuts under President Bush. This funding was eventually restored in 2015, but questions of efficacy persisted: do after-school programs actually serve U.S. students? And if not, what needs to change? 

Investigations into the benefits of after-school programs have resulted in a mixed bag. Some authors have found a positive correlation between after-school programs and academics, while others found little or no connection. Though admittedly, many of these researchers were asking different questions or investigating different types of programs. Throughlines do exist, however: one common theme in successful programs is organization around SAFE principles, that is, programs that are Sequenced, Active, Focused, and Explicit (see: Durlak et al. 1997; Granger 2008; Apsler 2009; and Palmer et al. 2009).

1. Explicit

Explicit means that the program must have clearly stated and specific goals. These goals should aim to foster some kind of development, be it academic, social, or personal. Programs without clearly stated goals have little hope of improving academic or social outcomes among students. A general outline or a series of core principles may appear sufficient at the outset, but if these goals are not measurable or attainable, what looks and sounds like progress may just be wishful thinking. Explicit goals provide the program with a sense of direction, and these higher expectations give students something to reach for.

2. Focused

Programs should focus time and attention on meeting their goals. For an explicit goal to succeed, there must be some plan of action to attain it. Those unsure of where to begin for a plan of action can start by expanding program goals into SMART goals, that is, goals which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Once these goals are made into plans of action, a portion of the program time should be devoted to this plan. If a program has goals for academic development, it may be prudent to set aside fifteen or twenty minutes of the hour to quiet work and tutoring time. Developing explicit program goals is a great first step, but without proper time set aside for goal-oriented activities, it is just that: a first step. In reviews of after school program effectiveness, staff of less successful programs could often explain the program’s goals, but were not able to name specific activities or time blocks in which students were moving towards these goals. This demonstrates that these explicit goals must be matched with time for students to focus on achieving them. 

3. Active

Active learning serves as a contrast to passive learning, the latter of which is usually received through lectures, videos, or reading. Active learning requires the student to be a participant in the material, inviting them into the learning process as more than just a viewer. Active learning could involve role playing, classroom games, or some other kind of performance followed up with feedback. Active learning has been shown to be more effective than passive learning for concept comprehension and recall, though a 2016 study by MacDonald and Frank indicates that passive learning followed by active learning leads to better results than active learning alone. Students could, for instance, first see a presentation covering the material, then test their knowledge by role playing or discussing with a fellow student. If a program aims to improve academic achievement, students might see a presentation on test-taking strategies, then debate which is the most effective strategy with a partner. Approaches can be more or less structured than the previous, and program personnel may choose not to adopt passive learning, but active learning is a critical step towards success.

4. Sequenced

Finally, a program should have a series of linking steps that allows children to progress further as a previous skill is mastered. This requires the development of curricula and lesson plans. Sequenced learning will better enable students to digest and master information without getting overwhelmed and will allow them to see how the skills they’re learning are interconnected. 

In Practice

What does a SAFE program look like in practice? At a basic level, developing a SAFE program requires professionals to be involved in setting program goals, then developing and implementing curricula. Having highly trained and invested employees to do this is difficult for most after-school programs, which see a high turnover rate among staff. To promote staff retention, schools can aim to professionalize after-school roles, seek out young adults who may fill other roles as they continue to work with the school, and rely on teachers and teacher-aids for assistance. Programs should, paradoxically, also include time for unstructured play, as the benefits of this for children are well-documented in extant research (see Parrott and Cohen 2020; Thiessen at al. 2013). This may seem at odds with an after-school program’s desire to promote student development, but leaning too heavily on constant learning and progress can lead to student overwhelm, while no emphasis on learning at all means that students have little guidance with academics and social development. It is critical that programs strike the right balance and include opportunities for students to play as well as learn. 

Sticking closely to these SAFE goals also better enables these programs to survive. By having explicit goals and focused time to attain them, these programs make it easier to record the progress and outcomes among students attending the program. When it comes time to ask for funding, having these materials will allow the leaders behind an after-school program to put compelling statistics behind their arguments.

After-school programs remain an important part of caring for low-income and at-risk students across the U.S. After-school programs have been shown to increase connection between students and their community while keeping kids out of trouble in the hours between school and home. However, these benefits are more commonly seen in schools with SAFE programs. These results indicate that is not simply enough for these programs to exist; they must strive for more. Applying the SAFE principles to after-school programs has the potential to increase program efficacy, and in turn, better the academic and social outcomes of the students who attend them.