When Elementary Schools Stay Open Late: Results from The National Evaluation of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program.

This article presents evidence from the elementary school component of Mathematica’s national evaluation of the 21st Century Community Learning Center afterschool programs. The findings indicate that the programs affected the supervision students received after school, with parents less likely to care for their child and other adults more likely, but there was no statistically significant effect on the incidence of self-care. Students in the program reported feeling safer after school, but their academic outcomes were not affected, and they had more incidents of negative behavior. The elementary study was conducted in 12 school districts and 26 afterschool centers.