Extended School Days - Milwaukee after-school program as example

School Administrator, August, 2001 by Priscilla Pardini

After school programming expands widely in school districts but some question the merits

Usually, arts, sports and recreation programs are among the first to go when school officials begin trimming their annual budgets to eliminate deficits. But last spring in Milwaukee, despite a projected shortfall of $14 million, officials agreed to spend $1.2 million in new money to beef up the school district's afterschool programs.

"Our kids need things to do after school," says Willie Jude, Milwaukee's deputy superintendent. "And we need a hook to keep them in school. That hook could be playing in the marching band or being in the chess club."

To be sure, the plan was not universally embraced. One member of the Milwaukee school board said it would put too little emphasis on learning. But Jude argues that giving students, especially those in middle and high school, a chance to participate in activities they love can provide a strong incentive to stay in school. That's critical in Milwaukee, where the dropout rate in 1999-2000 was 10.4 percent and high school attendance rates fell to 77.7 percent last fall.

Jude says that Milwaukee schools once offered a full complement of afterschool activities. "But over the years, with budget restraints, busing and an emphasis on test scores, we just happened to get away from it."

Jude wants Milwaukee schools to offer afterschool programs on par with those in nearby suburban districts, He has called for establishing marching bands at five or six of the city's high schools by this fall (last year there were none), as well as new forensic, chess and drama clubs at schools throughout the city. He is particularly interested in activities that give students an opportunity to apply and practice the math and literacy skills they are learning in school.

More afterschool programs also would give students more opportunities to forge relationships with caring adults. "Often, kids latch onto the chess coach, the forensics coach or the band director," Jude says. "In many cases, those relationships translate into better performance in the classroom."

Conflicting Views

"Milwaukee is right on target," according to Ellen Gannett, associate director of the National Institute on Out-of-School Time at Wellesley College's Center for Research on Women. "After school is a very precious time in the lives of young people and shouldn't be wasted. It can be extra learning time, time for enrichment, time to spend in a safe place with caring adults."

But Darcy Olsen, director of education and child policy at the Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute, says schools already struggling to provide quality services during the school day are illequipped to take on the additional burden of providing afterschool programming. What's more, Olsen is not convinced of the need for extending the length of the school day.

"Kids' lives are so over-structured already," she says. "They have more homework than ever and lots of other activities, and only a couple of hours after school before they have to go to bed."

Gannett and Olsen each cite research to support their positions. Gannett points to studies by the National Institute on Out-of-School Time, which found that approximately 8 million children ages 5 to 14 regularly spent time without adult supervision. In some cases, children are alone as much as 25 hours a week. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, much of the time is likely spent watching television or playing video games. According to the foundation, average daily media exposure among 2 to 4 year olds is well over 4 hours and peaks at about 6 1/2 hours by the age of 12.

Other studies have concluded that children without adult supervision are at greater risk of accidental injury and death, drug and alcohol abuse, being involved in a crime or dropping out of school than their supervised peers.

Olsen, though, citing data from the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Bureau of the Census and the National Child Care Survey, says only 2 percent of children ages 5 to 12 regularly care for themselves after school. She also cites the National Study of Before- and AfterSchool Programs, which found a surplus of afterschool programs nationwide, with enrollments averaging 59 percent.

A Cato Institute report, "12-Hour School Days: Why Government Should Leave After-School Arrangements to Parents," contends that self-care arrangements are highly individual, and therefore, "[defy] broad classification as a 'good' or 'bad' arrangement. ... No studies have examined the long-term impact or the consequences of various self-care arrangements on children."

Gannett and Olsen also disagree on whether afrerschool programs boost achievement. According to Gannett, today's programs offer much more than they did 20 or 30 years ago when the emphasis was strictly on supervision and care. "It's still about the fact that women are working," Gannett says. "But today people also see the afrerschool hours as a real opportunity and a loss for those who don't go."

The best programs, Gannett says, provide a wide range of options, including lots of hands-on, thematic activities that build on children's areas of interest. "The beauty of the afterschool environment is you're not under the strict requirements and restraints of standards or under the gun of high-stakes tests," she says. "You have a lot of freedom to be more creative and take more time developing relationships with kids."