After-school programs in the United States provide academic enrichment to students in low-performing schools to help them acquire the skills necessary to meet state core curriculum content standards. This quantitative case study uses secondary data to determine the impact of after-school programs on student scores on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) in English Language Arts/Literacy and Mathematics. PARCC results were assessed against gender and ethnicity. Participants were sixth-graders drawn from two schools: one comprising grades six through eight that offers an after-school program, and another serving kindergarten through grade eight that does not. Both are located in high-poverty, high-risk, urban areas categorized as “Priority” by the New Jersey Department of Education. These schools have the 5% lowest academically performing students in the state based on standardized test scores. Results showed no statistically significant differences between the PARCC scores of students who participated in the afterschool program and those who did not. However, PARCC scores for students who received the intervention showed an overall increase in both Language Arts and Mathematics PARCC scores compared to an overall decrease for those who did not.

Last modified

• 03/05/2024

Creator

• Luce, Francine C.

Subject

• Education

Publisher

• Saint Peter's University

Keyword

• Educational Tests & Measurements
• Middle School
• After-School Program
• Sixth-Grade
• Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career PARCC
• High-Poverty
• Urban Location
• New Jersey
• quantitative case study
• secondary data
• scores

Date created

• May-2018

Resource type

• Dissertation

Rights statement

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted