Afterschool Programs: Expanding Learning, Reducing Achievement Gaps

Over a 30-year period, key ingredients of impactful afterschool programs have been identified. In this presentation, Deborah Lowe Vandell will describe robust short-term effects on afterschool programs on children's social and academic development as well as evidence of meaningful long-term effects in these domains. She will discuss findings that low-income children may benefit the most from afterschool programs, along with emerging evidence that early childhood education and afterschool programs play unique and complementary roles. Collectively, these findings underscore the importance of out-of-school time as a developmental context that warrants further attention by researchers, educators, and families.

Deborah Vandell is professor of education at the University of California, Irvine. Her research interests include (1) early child care and education - its effects on children's social, cognitive, and behavioral development and strategies for improving the quality of early care and education, (2) after-school programs and activities - their impact on children and youth and strategies for improving the quality of after-school programs, and (3) children's relationships with peers, parents, siblings, teachers, and mentors as developmental and educational contexts.