Date

March 2008

Chair

Clarence Holland

Primary Subject Area

Education, Curriculum and Instruction

Keywords

after-school programs, supplemental educational programs, student achievement, measuring achievement

Abstract

Schools failing to demonstrate Adequate Yearly Progress on annual state assessments are given federal and state funds to support supplemental educational services. This study was designed to measure the effectiveness of two after-school programs in one middle school in a medium-sized county in Georgia. The school has failed to demonstrate Adequate Yearly Progress for eight years and has been offering supplemental services for six years. The after-school programs are funded and students are offered opportunities to participate based on low performance on the annual assessment, the Georgia Criterion Referenced Competency Test. The effectiveness of the after-school programs was assessed based on the percentage of program participants who moved from Level 1 (not meeting standard) to Level 2 (meeting) or Level 3 (exceeding). Control groups were established for each after-school program. Consideration was also given to the participants’ frequency of attendance in each program to determine if participants who attended frequently improved more than participants who attended infrequently. Program participants failed to demonstrate improved achievement greater than nonparticipants and increased attendance in the programs did not seem to positively impact student achievement.

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