Scientific Evidence for Non-academic learning outside school
In February 2008, the Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) published After School Programs in the 21st Century: Their Potential and What It Takes to Achieve It, a brief that summarizes 10 years of research on afterschool programs and discusses implications for the future. A decade of research and evaluation studies, as well as large-scale, rigorously conducted syntheses looking across many research and evaluation studies, confirms that children and youth who participate in after school programs can reap a host of positive benefits in a number of interrelated outcome areas—academic, social/emotional, prevention, and health and wellness
The results of another study in 2014 provide evidence regarding the importance of student engagement in after-school program activities. The study corroborates previous research, which suggests that student engagement in after-school activities is related to increased academic and social skills among elementary school students.
These findings speak of the value of conceptualizing participation in after-school programs in ways that go beyond program enrollment to encompass the interplay of program attendance and engagement in program activities.
More importantly, the current study provides evidence that the students who benefit the most academically from after-school programs both attend regularly and are highly engaged in specific types of activities (academic, youth development, and art).
After-school activities are critical for supporting students’ engagement because they tend to be both structured and enjoyable. While engaged in high-quality after-school activities, students may experience higher degrees of intrinsic motivation, place more effort into their activities, and feel less bored. Students are thus able to reinforce skills such as self-regulation, sustained attention, collaboration, and goal-directed behavior, skills that may translate into the classroom as well as life.
It is also possible that engagement in school-based after-school programs may translate more directly to improved performance and behavior in the classroom during the school day, because even though the activities are different during after-school, the general setting is the same as during the school day.
Overall impact of these programs may be summarized as per below:
Academic Achievement
Afterschool programs can have an impact on academic achievement. The after school programs not only offer academic support to improve academic performance, but also combined it with other enrichment activities to achieve positive academic outcomes. Extra time for academics by itself may be necessary but may not be sufficient to improve academic outcomes. Balancing academic support with a variety of engaging, fun, and structured extracurricular or co-curricular activities that promote child development in a variety of real-world contexts appears to support and improve academic performance.
Social and Emotional Development
Programs with a strong intentional focus on improving social and personal skills have been found to improve students’ self-esteem and self-confidence.
Health and Wellness
Afterschool programs can contribute to healthy lifestyles and increased knowledge about exercise and nutrition.
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