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Effects of an Out-of-School Program on Urban High School Youth’s Academic Performance
Year Published: 2014
An evaluation that compares high school students participating in the YMCA High School Youth Institute—a year-round afterschool program serving low-income, culturally diverse, urban high school youth—to a randomly-selected, matched comparison group of non-participating high schoolers. The evaluation found that students who participated in the program had higher GPAs, English language art and math standardized test scores, and attendance rates than students who did not participate in the program.
Program Name: YMCA High School Youth Institute
Program Description: The YMCA of Greater Long Beach Youth Institute is a year-round, community-based afterschool program that was established in 2001. The Youth Institute aims to promote college and career readiness, improve academic achievement, stimulate interest in higher education, promote student bonding with prosocial adults, and build community attachment among low-income, culturally diverse, urban high school youth.
Scope of the Evaluation: Local
Program Type: Summer, Afterschool
Location: Long Beach, CA
Community Type: Urban
Grade level: High School
Program Demographics: Half of the high school students in the program were Hispanic, 25 percent were African-American, 19 percent were Asian American/Pacific Islander, and 6 percent were white. Forty-five percent of the high school students in the program were girls.
Program Website: http://www.lbymcayi.org/
Evaluator: O’Donnell, J. & Kirkner, S. L. California State University Long Beach.
Evaluation Methods: GPA, math and English language arts standardized test scores, and school attendance was collected for all students. The impact of programming on student performance was measured by comparing participants in the YMCA High School Youth Initiative to a randomly selected matched comparison group composed of high school students of the same gender, ethnicity and year in school as participants.
Evaluation Type: Quasi-experimental
Summary of Outcomes: The evaluation found that students who participated in the YMCA High School Youth Initiative outperformed their non-participating peers in their English language arts and math standardized tests scores. Participants in the program also had a slightly lower number of absences. Active participants—students who participated in the program for at least 30 days—had an even higher GPA and math standardized test score than students who did not participate in the program. Actively participating students were also more likely to improve their GPA (31 percent vs. 20 percent), English language arts (17 percent vs. 6 percent), and math (4 percent vs. 2 percent) standardized test scores than their peers not participating in the program.
Associated Evaluation: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcop.21603/abstract
Date Added: September 27, 2016
