Out Of School Time

Research shows participation in structured activities that offer youth a chance to have positive interactions with adults and peers has great benefits. A meta-analysis of 73 controlled studies on programs designed to promote personal and social skills found youth who participate in after school programs improve on social, emotional, and academic indicators and have reduced negative behaviors such as drug use, aggression, and conduct problems.^[1]

A meta-analysis of 56 studies of the effects of out-of-school time programs on academic achievement found that these programs can have positive effects on the achievement of low-achieving or at-risk students in reading and mathematics. It further found that strategies need not focus solely on academic activities to have positive effects on student achievement.

A National Institute on Out-of-School-Time Fact Sheet states: “Some research even suggests that what students do during their out-of-school time hours has as much bearing on their success as what they do during the school day.”^[2]

For both young children and adolescents, lack of adult supervision after school and lack of participation in structured activities has been linked to increased likelihood of accidents and injuries, higher risk of participation in criminal activity, lower physical activity levels and poor nutrition.^[3]

The national America After 3 PM survey found that many school age children are unsupervised after school and relatively few attend after school programs. This is especially important as relates to middle school youth. The national survey found that only 6% of middle-schoolers are in after school programs and 34% of middle-schoolers are unsupervised.^[4]

Source: America After 3 PM Survey, 2003

The 2004 Communities Count survey of King County residents found

• 17 % of school age children age 6-14 were in regularly scheduled child care of some kind. Of those, 62% were in a child care program or after school program.
• 21% of parents of children 6-14 using care on a regular basis said they had to compromise in their choice of care because of cost or availability of care to meet their needs and preferences.
• 57% of parents of children 6-14 using care on a regular basis expressed some dissatisfaction with at least one aspect of their child care. Quality and cost were the most frequent reasons for dissatisfaction.

The annual median price charged for school-age child care in King County in 2005 varied from $4,212 for family child care homes to $4,276 for child care centers.^[5]

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