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School’s Out New York City (SONYC) Year One Evaluation Findings
Year Published: 2016
School’s Out New York City (SONYC) is New York City’s city-wide afterschool program for middle school students, developed as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign commitment to expand afterschool opportunities in 2014. According to surveys, program and school staff report improvements in youth social and emotional development and leadership skills. Families reported high levels of satisfaction with their program, with 97 percent saying they would recommend it to other families.
Program Name: School’s Out New York City
Program Description: School’s Out New York City (SONYC) is New York City’s city-wide afterschool program for middle school students, developed as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign commitment to expand afterschool opportunities. This model—which expanded afterschool programming in New York City from 18,702 students in 143 programs during the 2013-2014 school year to 58,745 students in 459 programs during the 2014-2015 school year—has clubs across the city where youth choice allows students to explore their interests by participating in sports and arts, and building youth leadership through community service.
Scope of the Evaluation: Local
Program Type: Afterschool
Location: New York, NY
Community Type: Urban
Grade level: Middle School
Program Demographics: School’s Out New York City (SONYC) serves a diverse group of youth including those with disabilities, English language learners, and others, to participate in the program.
Program Website: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dycd/services/after-school/schools-out-new-york-city-sonyc.page
Evaluator: American Institutes for Research
Evaluation Methods: Data were collected through “7,000 hours of interviews, more than 2,000 youth surveys, and nearly 1,000 family surveys from a cohort of 37 School’s Out New York City programs that participated in site visits during the first year of the two-year evaluation.”
Evaluation Type: Non-experimental
Summary of Outcomes: Students participated an average of 236 hours throughout the year in School’s Out New York City during the 2014-2015 school year. Program and school staff reported improvements in participants’ social and emotional development and leadership skills. Families reported high levels of satisfaction with their program. For instance, 98 percent reported their children like going to their SONYC program, 97 percent would recommend it to other families, and 92 percent feel welcome at the program. Additionally, school and program staff surveyed report that SONYC “…programs are strong, offer benefits to youth, and have been a positive addition to schools across the city.”
Associated Evaluation: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dycd/downloads/pdf/SONYC_evaluation_year_final.pdf
Date Added: December 19, 2016
