We expect a lot from kids, and we want the best for them. We expect them to learn all they need to become productive citizens. That means achieving academic competency, but also learning to think critically and creatively. We want them to be active and healthy, and to graduate from high school and succeed in college.
Schools can't give kids all they need in less than seven hours a day. Publicly-funded, after-school and summer programs provide the time, the safe places and the opportunities for kids to be their best, in and out of school.
Achievement
Just six of every 10 New York City students stay in school and earn enough credits to graduate in four years. This is the first generation of American kids who are less likely to earn high school degrees than their parents.
- Kids who attend high quality after-school programs improve in school and achievement test scores, reduce inappropriate behavior and develop better attitudes toward school (Durlak & Weissberg, 2007).
- Students who regularly attend high quality after-school programs improve in their work habits and persistence at academic tasks (Vandell, Reisner & Pierce, 2007).
- Kids who attended TASC elementary and middle school programs improved their math scores and school attendance, while kids in TASC high school programs passed more Regents exams and earned more credits than non-participants (Policy Studies Associates, 2004).
- Kids who attend programs that focus on the arts improve their academic achievement (Laur, 2003).
- Kids who attend high quality elementary and middle school programs are less likely to drop out of high school than kids who don’t (Huang, 2005).
Fitness
One third of American children are obese or at risk of becoming obese. Kids in this generation are likely to be sicker adults and die younger than their parents.
- Kids who participate in after-school programs increase their level of physical activity (Harvard Family Research Project, 2004).
- Kids who exercise in after-school experience less increase in percentage of body fat than kids who don’t (Mahoney, Lord & Carryl, 2005).
Urgent Needs
- After-school programs provide low and moderate income children with opportunities and resources that families, schools and other institutions do not provide (Halpern, 2004).
- The hours from 3 to 6 on school days are prime time for young people to commit or become victims of a crime, to be in or cause a car accident, and to smoke, drink or use drugs (Fight Crime Invest in Kids 2007).
- Teens who are unsupervised after school are 37 percent more likely to become pregnant (US DOE 2002).
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