21st Century Community Learning Centers
The 21st Century Community Learning Centers are a compensatory education program run by the American government. They offer elementary and middle school students a variety of after-school activities. This includes, for example, sports, theater, but also homework supervision. You will be looked after by educators and social workers. Often there is a meal together. The centers are open 4–5 days a week for three hours after school.
The aim of the program is to offer children from socially disadvantaged families a safe place after school and to improve the school performance of these children.
Evaluation
James-Burdumy et al. Investigated the effects of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers on behalf of the American government. They found negative rather than positive effects. They examined 2,308 students. Students were randomly divided into an intervention group (who participated in the program) and a control group (who did not participate in the program).
It was found that children from the intervention group had to be excluded from lessons more often because of discipline problems and that their parents had to be approached more often about behavior problems of the students. There was no impact on student performance in math , science, or social science . For the group of elementary school students, who initially performed very poorly, however, a small improvement in the skills in English could be shown (2 points on a 100-point scale), the rest did not improve in this subject either.
Evaluation of the study by James-Burdumy et al.
The study by James-Burdumy et al. has the advantages of having a large sample of 2,308 students from 26 schools and a low drop-out rate; depending on the school, between 76 and 88% of the students were still in the follow-up examination after two years. Before the intervention, the experimental group and control group did not differ in terms of the variables of interest and student performance was determined using standardized tests.
The disadvantages include the impossibility of a blind study and the fact that the children enrolled in the program did not participate voluntarily.
Individual evidence
- ↑ US Department of Education: When Schools Stay Open Late - The National Evaluation Of The 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program - Final Report ( Memento of September 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved on February 13, 2008 (PDF; 484 kB)