A project of the Afterschool Alliance.

The Impact of Afterschool STEM: The Clubhouse Network

Year Published: 2016

The Clubhouse Network provides a creative and safe out-of-school learning environment in which youth from underserved communities work with adult mentors to explore their own ideas, develop new skills and build self-confidence through the use of technology. In this selection of evaluation data spanning 2013 to 2016, participants demonstrated gains along three major categories of youth outcomes—interest in STEM, capacity to engage in STEM, and finding value in STEM.

Program Name: The Clubhouse Network

Program Description: The Clubhouse Network provides a creative and safe out-of-school learning environment in which youth from underserved communities work with adult mentors to explore their own ideas, develop new skills and build self-confidence through the use of technology. Start Making! is a new initiative by the Clubhouse, designed to serve as an introduction to an arts and engineering design cycle through STEM-rich making.

Scope of the Evaluation: National

Program Type: Afterschool

Community Type: Urban, Suburban

Grade level: Elementary School, Middle School, High School

Program Demographics: All Clubhouses focus on reaching under-served communities and youth. Demographics vary based on the local community.

Program Website: http://www.computerclubhouse.org/

Evaluator: Inverness Research, Inc. and SRI International

Evaluation Methods: A sign-in system collects data about participants and attendance. A biennial survey gathers demographic data; Clubhouse visiting patterns; and attitudes related to technological competence, academic engagement, social-emotional well-being, and aspirations for the future. Outcome data is collected through a variety of methods: facilitator progress reports on program implementation and youth outcomes; participant surveys describing their experiences before and during participation; discussions with Clubhouse facilitators; and archives of participant projects.

Evaluation Type: Non-experimental

Outcomes:
Below is a selection of evaluation data reported by the program around three major categories of youth outcomes—interest in STEM, capacity to productively engage in STEM, and finding value in STEM. These outcomes are an excerpt from a 2016 Afterschool Alliance paper, "The Impact of Afterschool STEM: Examples from the Field."

Interest: I like to do this
  • Participants actively choose to spend at their clubhouses—83 percent visited at least weekly, and 47 percent every day. And many spend considerable time there—37 percent of youth visited their clubhouse for more than three hours at a time, and 91 percent visited for at least one hour.

Capacity: I can do this

  • A majority of Clubhouse members report that they have learned to use more technology (91 percent), are more confident using technology (88 percent), and use technology more often (84 percent) as a result of their Clubhouse experience.
  • Almost 90 percent of youth in the Start Making! program felt they were better at solving hard problems, and had more skills to design, make or create projects.
  • Clubhouse youth who visit more frequently and stay longer show higher levels of collaboration. More than 80 percent of participants felt they were better at organizing a group to work on a project, and were more comfortable working on projects with groups.

Value: This is important to me

  • Among alumni, 97 percent said that the Clubhouse was the most important source of support for setting high goals and expectations for themselves and 80 percent reported that the Clubhouse had been the most important source of support for pursuing a career.
  • 89 percent of Start Making! students were more interested in working on projects that help make the world a better place, and more than 80 percent said they are more interested in contributing to their local community.
  • The Clubhouse has a positive impact on youth’s attitudes about school and about furthering their education—a large majority care more about doing well in school (91 percent), try harder at school (90 percent), and feel like they are more successful in school (85 percent) because of the Clubhouse.