Afterschool and Expanded Learning

How students spend time outside of the classroom—before and after school and during breaks and summer vacation—has a tremendous impact on what they achieve in school and in life. Quality expanded learning opportunities extend learning and positive youth development beyond the school bell and engage students who might otherwise be left behind. Our work in the afterschool and expanded learning field supports the creation, evaluation, improvement, and maintenance of high-quality afterschool and expanded learning programs in a variety of ways.

Our Work

AIR’s afterschool and expanded learning group works with education agencies, schools and districts, foundations, and other stakeholders to ensure young people’s educational experience fosters positive growth and development. In particular, the members of our team

  • conduct rigorous research on afterschool program quality, youth engagement, and program impact;
  • deliver professional development, consultation, training, and ongoing support via presentations, trainings and technical assistance, and through the broad dissemination of coaching models to help afterschool program leaders and staff create, improve, and maintain excellent programs;
  • monitor and conduct multi-method evaluations at state and local levels to assess the quality and effectiveness of afterschool and expanded learning programs; and
  • provide state and national leadership in promoting policies that will create broader access to and support for high-quality afterschool and expanded learning programs.
Key Projects

Beyond the Bell - 4th Edition

School’s Out New York City (SONYC) Evaluation 

Texas 21st Century Community Learning Centers: Evaluation Report

Illinois Quality Afterschool

National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning

Latest Work

Project

Building Quality in Afterschool

Research shows that when youth participate and engage in high-quality afterschool programs, they experience a variety of positive impacts: academic improvement, social and emotional growth, improved physical and mental well-being, and more. Through funding from the Mott Foundation, AIR supports afterschool network leads, their staff, and ultimately the programs in their states on topics related to afterschool quality.
18 Jul 2018 to 20 May 2019
| 2:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Event

Beyond the Bell Webinar Series

Join the American Institutes for Research’s Jaime Singer, Beyond the Bell director and senior technical assistance consultant, and our team of AIR experts every other month for a short webinar featuring one of the 96 tools available in the Beyond the Bell Toolkit. Hear from AIR experts on topics related to managing, designing, implementing, and improving quality afterschool and expanded learning programs.
4 Apr 2018
Report

Student Access to Digital Learning Resources Outside of the Classroom

Technology has the ability to create new opportunities for students and designing successful practices for using technology can help to increase educational experiences for students. This report draws upon nationally representative data sources, existing research, and relevant state and local intervention efforts to examine the five research areas designated in ESSA, and to provide a comprehensive picture of student access to digital learning resources outside of the classroom.
25 Jan 2018
Report

Boston Public Schools Expanded Learning Time Research Collaborative: Year 2 Findings Report

Since 2006, Boston Public Schools has been implementing expanded learning time (ELT), a practice that increases the length of the school day for all students, in an effort to improve student outcomes and narrow opportunity and achievement gaps. This report on second-year findings uses data from 2005 to 2016 to understand the impact of ELT on student achievement for BPS students.
1 Feb 2017
Report

The “I” in QRIS Survey: Collecting Data on Quality Improvement Activities for Early Childhood Education Programs

A quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) is a voluntary state assessment system that uses multidimensional data on early childhood education programs to rate program quality, support quality improvement efforts, and provide information to families about the quality of available early childhood education programs. This report describes three versions of a survey that helps states collect data, including how to use it, how it was developed, and how it can be adapted for other states.
17 Jan 2017
ESSA

ESSA │Afterschool and Expanded Learning

Quality expanded learning opportunities extend learning and positive youth development beyond the school bell and engage students who might otherwise be left behind. There are opportunities in ESSA for states to fund innovative programs to create, strengthen, or maintain quality extended learning opportunities. AIR's work in the afterschool and expanded learning field supports the creation, evaluation, improvement, and maintenance of high-quality afterschool and expanded learning programs in a variety of ways.
30 Aug 2016
Report

Boston Public Schools Expanded Learning Time Research Collaborative: Year 1 Findings Report

A growing practice nationwide, expanded learning time (ELT) is a practice that entails increasing the length of the school day for all students, with the goal of improving student outcomes, especially in low-performing schools. Boston Public Schools is working with AIR to evaluate its ELT efforts; this report reveals the first year's findings.
27 Jun 2016
Report

Texas 21st Century Community Learning Centers: 2014-15 Evaluation

Research indicates that afterschool programs can significantly improve youth outcomes in such areas as academic performance, student attendance rates, and incidence of disciplinary actions. The Texas Education Agency has implemented a number of state and federally funded afterschool initiatives in Texas, including the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program, and has been working with AIR since 2007 to understand their implementation and impact.
27 May 2016
Journal Article

Researcher and Practitioner Dialogue

The expanded learning field continues to bring multiple stakeholders together to advance program quality and research. This article from the Journal of Expanded Learning Opportunities features a dialogue on the topic of program quality in expanded learning programs between Michael Funk, afterschool division director for the California Department of Education, and Carol McElvain, managing technical assistance consultant at AIR.
Courtney Tanenbaum
25 Apr 2016
Blog Post

Summer STEM—Engaging Youth, Building Identity, Narrowing Gaps

What is summer STEM? Hands-on programs that teach science, technology, engineering, and math in ways that engage young people and fight the summer learning loss that especially affects the nation’s most vulnerable children and youth. In this blog post, Elizabeth Devaney and Courtney Tanenbaum share what we’re learning about successful summer STEM programs.
Image of kids in a circle with teacher outside after school
15 Jan 2016
Spotlight

Beyond the Bell: Turning Research into Action in Afterschool and Expanded Learning

How can we better support young people as they learn the skills they need to succeed in school, work, and life? These resources focus on social and emotional development outside the classroom.
13 Dec 2015
Toolkit

The In-School and Afterschool Social and Emotional Learning Connection: A Planning Tool

School-day and afterschool programs must work together to support young people as they develop. Although research shows that both in-school and afterschool staff find social and emotional learning important, the ways in which these different settings support young people vary. This tool is designed for afterschool and in-school staff first to reflect independently on their goals for social and emotional learning discuss how best to work collaboratively toward a common goal.
13 Dec 2015
Brief

Linking Schools and Afterschool Through Social and Emotional Learning

How can we better support young people as they develop the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in school, work, and life? That is the question facing in-school educators, afterschool providers, families, policymakers, and the general public. This brief covers the policy context reflecting a growing interest in social and emotional learning and how afterschool and in-school educators can work together.
4 Dec 2015
Brief

Ready for Work? How Afterschool Programs Can Support Employability Through Social and Emotional Learning

For educators and employers, understanding the knowledge, attitudes, and skills that ultimately contribute to success in school, work, and life is a priority. Over the past decade, afterschool programs have focused on preparing young people for the workforce by developing good work habits and a strong work ethic; this brief addresses the importance of those programs also teaching social and emotional learning competencies.
4 Dec 2015
Toolkit

How Afterschool Programs Can Support Employability Through Social and Emotional Learning: A Planning Tool

Although young people need many skills to be successful in the workplace, one aspect of employability has gained attention in recent years—the need for workers to have strong social and emotional skills. Afterschool programs have a role to play in supporting the development of these skills for all youth. This planning tool is designed to help afterschool workers identify priority areas for employability skills building based on youth and employer input, and plan next steps based on that input.
14 Sep 2015
Toolkit

Social and Emotional Learning Practices: A Self-Reflection Tool for Afterschool Staff

Both the formal and informal education communities are increasingly focused on fostering opportunities for social and emotional learning (SEL) and the link between SEL and youth outcomes. This self-reflection tool is designed to help afterschool program staff reflect upon their own social and emotional competencies and their ability to support young people's SEL through program practices.
Carol McElvain
1 Sep 2015
Blog Post

What and How Do Summer Schoolers Learn?

Years of research show that students from low-income families are more likely to forget previously learned material over the summer than students from wealthier families. Over time, these losses add up, widening the socioeconomic disparity in academic performances. Carol McElvain explains how high quality summer opportunities for low-income students can help combat this effect, particularly in math.
Project

Boston Public Schools: A Study of Expanded Learning Time

Expanded learning time (ELT) is a school improvement strategy in which time is added to the regular school day for additional instruction or enrichment activities for students, and collaboration and professional development for teachers. Boston Public Schools and AIR are collaborating to conduct research about ELT, specifically to determine how these practices affect student outcomes, and to understand keys to the sustainability of effective practice.
Afterschool brief cover
27 Jul 2015
Brief

Supporting Social and Emotional Development Through Quality Afterschool Programs

During the past 20 years, the afterschool field has been held accountable in varying ways—first, on the ability to provide safe places for young people to spend time while their parents work; then, on success in helping to improve participants’ academic achievement as a supplement to the school day. This brief provides an overview of work done to date both in afterschool and school-based settings to define social and emotional learning, shares recent research on how afterschool programs contribute to the development of these competencies, and offers some next step recommendations to both practitioners and researchers.
Project

School’s Out New York City (SONYC) Evaluation

School’s Out New York City (SONYC)—a pathway to success for youth in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades—offers afterschool programming for New York City (NYC) middle schoolers in a variety of activity areas. SONYC programs provide middle school youth with the support of caring adults and offer engaging, fun activities during the afterschool hours.
1 Sep 2014
Service

Client Services in State and Local Evaluation

AIR’s state and local evaluation projects marshal a broad range of expertise and resources to support state education agencies and district offices as they decide whether to retain, revise, or end a policy or program. The projects address challenges in district and school reform, educator quality, special education, school financing, STEM, literacy, virtual learning, extended learning, English learning, early childhood education, and college and career readiness.
Project

Every Hour Counts Measurement Framework

How can afterschool and expanded learning practitioners measure young people’s personal and social skills? How can they use that data to improve their programs and systems? To answer these questions, AIR worked with Every Hour Counts, a coalition of citywide organizations that increase access to quality learning opportunities by providing learning and enrichment through afterschool, summer, and other initiatives, to develop a framework that identifies priority outcome measures for expanded learning systems to track at the youth, program, and system levels.
Beyond the Bell toolkit cover
11 Jul 2014
Toolkit

Beyond the Bell - 4th Edition: A Toolkit for Creating Effective Afterschool and Expanded Learning Programs

Research shows that afterschool and expanded learning programs work best when they are high quality and evidence-based. Beyond the Bell ® is a suite of professional development services, products, and practical tools designed to help afterschool and expanded learning program leaders and staff members create and sustain high-quality, effective afterschool and expanded learning programs. The newly updated 4th edition was released on May 21, 2014 and has been revised to focus on a cycle of continuous improvement.
Long Story Short Video image: Carol McElvain on Expanded Learning
10 Jul 2014
Video

Long Story Short: Why Are Expanded Learning Programs a Good Investment?

Expanded learning opportunities offer supports and programs for youth outside traditional school hours, including during the summer. In this video interview, Carol McElvain, AIR principal technical assistance consultant, explains how such programs can reinforce learning overall and help prevent summer learning loss.
10 Apr 2014
Brief

Building Supportive Relationships in Afterschool

When afterschool programs have positive relationships with school-day personnel, families, community members, and between and among program staff and students, these programs are more likely to thrive. This brief explores how afterschool practitioners can build strong relationships that benefit all stakeholders and improve program quality.
8 Apr 2014
Report

Understanding Key Elements, Processes, and Outcomes of Expanded Learning Systems: A Review of the Literature

What are promising practices employed by systems that may support program-level quality and what are the best program practices that may ultimately promote positive youth outcomes? Are there certain youth outcomes can programs influence that will ultimately lead to academic and life success? To inform the development of a measurement framework, AIR was commissioned by Every Hour Counts, formerly the Collaborative for Building After-School Systems to write a literature review that defines key elements, processes, and outcomes of expanded learning systems and answers those three key questions.
10 Feb 2013
Report

Texas 21st Century Community Learning Centers: Year 2 Evaluation Report

Research indicates that afterschool programs can significantly improve youth outcomes in such areas as academic performance, student attendance rates, and incidence of disciplinary actions. The Texas Education Agency has implemented a number of state and federally funded afterschool initiatives in Texas, including the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program and is working with AIR to understand their implementation and impact.
5 Feb 2013
Report

Building on What We Have Learned About Quality in Expanded Learning and Afterschool Programs: Working Toward the Development of a Quality Indicator System

Over the last two decades, the expanded learning community has grown and developed, both in its day-to-day practice as well as in its knowledge of what works well. This article, written by Carol McElvain, a managing director at AIR, focuses on what the development of a robust program quality indicator system might be able to measure and demonstrate to those who might support the expansion of high quality expanded learning programs afterschool and summers.
Project

Texas Statewide 21st Century Community Learning Centers

For approximately 15 years, the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program has supported activities and services that offer students in high-poverty communities across the nation the opportunity to participate in programs designed to improve their academic enrichment and promote positive youth development. In Texas, there are close to 1,000 21st CCLC programs that serve approximately 130,000 students statewide. The evaluation of the Texas Statewide 21st CCLC focuses on analyzing the impact of program participation on student achievement and behavior, and on identifying innovative strategies and approaches implemented by successful 21st CCLC programs in the state.
10 Jun 2011
Guide

Global Competence in Expanded Learning Time: A Guide for School Leaders

To become successful adults in a global 21st century, children and adolescents need a broad range of experiences to build their knowledge of the world and understand their place in it. AIR and the Asia Society offer a set of strategies and tools to help school leaders use the framework of global competence to create an expanded learning program that intentionally aligns school curriculum, instruction, and assessment with out-of-school time.
1 Jan 2010
Report

Integrating Expanded Learning and School Reform Initiatives: Challenges and Strategies

Research suggests that students strongly benefit when they are provided substantially more time to engage in academic enrichment and youth development opportunities, both within and outside the school building. This report offers practitioners support in their efforts to integrate high-quality, expanded learning opportunities in state, district, and school reform initiatives.
15 Dec 2009
Guide

A Practitioner's Guide: Building and Managing Quality Afterschool Programs

Afterschool leaders know all too well the many challenges involved in managing, organizing, and operating a high-quality program. A Practitioner's Guide: Building and Managing Quality Afterschool Programs shares the insights of the National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning (the National Partnership) as well as information about both the academic and the organizational and management practices that successful afterschool programs use.
Project

California Afterschool Demonstration Program

With more than 400,000 students served by afterschool programs in California, the State of California has good reason to focus on the quality of its afterschool programs. SEDL, now an affiliate of AIR, worked with the California Department of Education to identify high-quality afterschool programs in the state and to establish technical assistance based on the promising practices of the programs identified. SEDL then worked with the identified programs to develop training and resources used to support other afterschool programs in the state.
30 Jun 2008
Toolkit

Afterschool Training Toolkit

The best afterschool programs do two things: they engage students in fun activities that create a desire to learn, and they build on what students are learning during the school day to extend the knowledge they already have. This online toolkit provides resources for developing fun, innovative, and academically enriching activities for afterschool and expanded-learning programs. The toolkit includes videos of promising practices and sample lessons in the arts, literacy, math, science, technology, and homework help.
10 Jun 2008
Report

What Works? Common Practices in High Functioning Afterschool Programs

Since the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act, a greater emphasis has been placed on academic development during the afterschool hours. Research has found that students’ participation in afterschool program is beneficial to academic achievement and social adjustment. This report shares the findings of the five-year study conducted by the National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning. The study identified and documented practices among high-functioning 21st Century Community Learning Center programs in six content areas: the arts, literacy, math, science, technology, and homework help.