Interview with Bill Milliken discussing the dropout epidemic in America. Milliken has worked tirelessly as an advocate for youth through Communities in Schools (CIS), a nonprofit organization he founded in 1977 to help kids stay in school and prepare for life. His book The Last Dropout: Stop the Epidemic! details the CIS model and how we as a national community can and must play a role in dropout prevention.

Published: October, 2007

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In rethinking what it will take for our public schools to better serve students who are academically behind, wisdom tell us that a comprehensive approach that encompasses numerous options will provide the best opportunity to support student learning. The expansion of learning time can serve as one effective vehicle to modernize our schools because it allows teachers, principals, community organizations and leaders, and parents to build multiple curriculums to best educate our children to succeed in the 21st century. Expanded learning time turns dissatisfaction with the limitations of the current six-hour, 180-day school year into a proactive strategy that will create a new school structure for children.

Published: August, 2007

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Although afterschool programs for children have been operating for decades in some communities, the afterschool movement—the great national awakening to the opportunity afterschool offers—is just a few years old. As public demand for afterschool has grown, so has the demand for accountability. That is particularly true in afterschool programs that spend public dollars. After all, where tax dollars flow, so must accountability to taxpayers. Fortunately for afterschool advocates, a steady stream of afterschool evaluations are documenting gains for children, especially those who regularly participate in afterschool programs and those at highest risk of academic failure.

Published: July, 2008

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Students who are disengaged from school are at risk for poor academic achievement, skipping classes, sexual activity, substance use, and ultimately dropping out of school. The nation has moved to establish rigorous academic performance standards, such as those required by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). However, some evidence shows that levels of school engagement are declining, and that these engagement levels are particularly low among boys. Just one-half of girls and only 25 percent of boys aged 14-15 were engaged in school in 1999. By 2002, these levels fell further: only 39 percent of girls and 20 percent of boys were reported by their parents to be engaged in school. Out-of-school time programs can play a role in increasing school engagement.

Published: October, 2008

A new study by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, the University of Wisconsin- Madison and Policy Studies Associates, Inc. finds that regular participation in high-quality afterschool programs is linked to significant gains in standardized test scores and work habits as well as reductions in behavior problems among disadvantaged students. These gains help offset the negative impact of a lack of supervision after school. The two-year study followed almost 3,000 low-income, ethnically diverse elementary and middle school students from eight states in six major metropolitan centers and six smaller urban and rural locations. About half of the young people attended high-quality afterschool programs at their schools or in their communities.

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This paper looks at the role of after school and summer learning programs in supporting student success. The paper explores how to bridge the divide between out-of-school time programs and schools by offering research-derived principles for effective expanded learning partnerships. It was commissioned by Learning Point Associates and the Collaborative for Building After-School Systems (CBASS) as part of a report on school reform and expanded learning.

Visit website to download: Harvard Family Research Project Website

A new report issues a fundamental challenge to established education policies that were promoted by the Bush administration and are likely to be continued by the Obama administration. These policies are based on a belief that public schools should shoulder the blame for the "achievement gap" between poor and minority students and the rest of the student population. But the new policy report argues that out-of-school factors are the real culprit--and that if those factors are not addressed, it will be impossible for schools to meet the demands made of them.

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This report describes the first-year implementation of the Beacon Community Centers Middle School Initiative, launched in September 2007 by the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD). The initiative enrolls participants in grades 5-8 in structured programming developed and delivered by New York City’s 80 Beacon Community Centers to meet the needs of these youth. Reflecting recent research on the importance of support for under-served middle-grades youth, the Middle School Initiative offers activities and services to enhance the intellectual, physical, emotional, and social growth of young adolescents.

Published: May, 2009

"Our paper begins by reviewing literature about the civic engagement of urban youth1. We then describe the specific research questions and methodology that organize the study, as well as provide an overview of the after school program where the research took place. The remainder of the paper discusses youth’s perspectives on their local social context and their efforts to respond through research and advocacy to problems they identified."

Published: Volume 2, Issue 1 Spring 2003

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