Principal investigator: Eduarda Miller de Figueiredo
Article title: AFTER-SCHOOL EFFECTS ON STUDENTS' ACADEMIC OUTCOMES: EVIDENCE FROM CHILE
Article authors: Claudia Martínez A. and Marcela Perticará
Location of the intervention: Chile
Sample size: 2.556 children
Sector: Education
Type of Intervention: After-School Program for Children Aged 6 to 13
Primary variable of interest: Grades and School Attendance
Evaluation method: Experimental Evaluation (RCT)
Policy Problem
Childcare policies have been adopted in different countries with the aim of increasing enrollment rates in pre-primary education worldwide. The literature demonstrates that there is a negative impact on the cognitive outcomes of children placed in informal childcare compared to children who received care from formal centers.
The impact of children having increased hours in school days has been analyzed in developing countries, where a decrease in teenage pregnancy and improvements in reading and math scores were found in Chile (Berthelon and Kruger, 2011; Bellei, 2009). In developed countries, international literature has shown that the impact appeared in increased college enrollment rates and improved performance in mathematics, English, and science.
Studies from developed countries demonstrate that the quality of this type of program is important for the success of this intervention. Given that the perception of program quality can create a sense of confidence in mothers, making them comfortable switching from informal to formal care, where their children will have a safe environment.
Assessment Context
So-called after-school programs (ASPs) are run under adult supervision, ensuring activities such as homework assistance, social interaction, snacks, sports, and others. Evaluations of this type of program suggest that at-risk students benefit more from ASPs in developed countries (Levine and Zimmerman, 2010).
In Chile, the program “4-to-7The program aims to increase the participation in the workforce of mothers or women responsible for caring for children aged 6 to 13. It operates during the week for three hours after school, with varying schedules, but most offer it from 16 PM to 19 PM. In this way, the program fulfills its objective of providing free time for women to look for employment.
Policy/Program Details
The program was implemented in municipalities with a satisfactory number of children aged 6 to 13 and where female participation in the workforce was expected. Therefore, schools apply to host the program and are selected based on three criteria: whether they have adequate infrastructure, whether they have other ASP programs, and, if possible, whether their score on the Education Quality Measurement System (SIMCE) has improved.
Mothers who enroll in the program through schools must be economically active, over 18 years of age, work or live in the municipality where the school is located, and have a low score on the socioeconomic segmentation scale. These mothers should complete a form specifying how many children will participate, demographic data, education level, socioeconomic characteristics, and data on individual and family work.
Thus, the students participating in the program were on average 9,7 years old, in the 4th grade, and 47% were female. The average grade from the previous year was 5,6 and the average attendance was 89%.[1]The mothers were on average 37 years old, had 2,2 children, 53% of them were heads of household, and 61% were using some type of childcare at the beginning of the study. The average years of schooling for these mothers was 9,4 years, and finally, the per capita family income was US$116.
Chilean mothers report that 45% of children stay with one of their parents after school, with 40% staying with their mother and only 4,5% with their father. While 11% of children were left alone at home, 19% stayed with grandparents and 27% with siblings, neighbors, or other family.
Methodology Details
The ASP (Association for the Promotion of Childhood) was implemented in 25 schools in 2012. Places were filled through random selection, using the mother as the randomization unit. When selected, a place was offered to all children listed on the form previously completed by the mother. Stratification was also performed in the randomization process, based on employment status prior to the ASP and whether they had children under 5 years old.
Since program quality also plays an important role in relation to alternative care, an index was created that captures the quality of infrastructure, teachers, materials, and children's attitudes. This allowed the authors to estimate the potential impact of high-quality programs on the school lives of participating children.
Through randomization, a sample of 1.358 children was constructed in the treatment group and 1.208 in the control group. This allowed for the estimation of the intention-to-treat ratio to observe average and heterogeneous effects in the treatment group.
Results
Regarding the average effects, the program had no impact on average attendance rates, but it did show a positive effect, albeit small in magnitude but significant, only for physical education grades. According to the authors, this is consistent with the fact that the ASP primarily offered arts and sports workshops, reserving only 30 minutes for homework.
When observing the heterogeneous effects, the results demonstrate a positive impact of the “4-to-7"In the grades of students who did not stay with their parents after school, there was an increase of one decimal place in the overall GPA."[2]The impact on art is an increase of 1,4 decimal places and on language and literature of 12,8 decimal places, in addition to increasing the probability of the participating student being above the median by 7,1 percentage points.
The program can provide a safe environment for those children who were left alone after school. For these children, greater effects were found, with a 3 percentage point impact on attendance rates. Regarding program quality, the results indicate that it does not affect school attendance, but it positively affects overall GPA scores, art scores, and the likelihood of the participating child being above the median in the grade distribution – a 10 percentage point increase compared to students in low-quality programs.
In another study, Martínez and Perticará (2017) demonstrated that ASP also increases female employment. Therefore, the authors argue that the program may have an effect on the curriculum through grades and an indirect effect on increasing disposable income, through female employment and reduced childcare costs. Regarding female employment, the results show that it is not the type of daycare or the quality of the program that impacts this factor, but rather the provision of formal childcare instead of informal care.
Lessons in Public Policy
The after-school program, on average, does not have an impact on attendance and grades. However, for children who were left alone during this period, the after-school program had a greater and more significant impact. Furthermore, it has been shown that it is not only the existence of the program that matters, but also the quality of the after-school program that is essential for successful outcomes for the children. Therefore, based on the evidence found, the quality of the program is the focus for achieving the expected results in this type of intervention.
Reference: MARTINEZ, Claudia et al. After-School Effects on Students' Academic Outcomes: Evidence from Chile. 2018.
[1] In Chile, grades range from 1 to 7. A minimum grade of 4 and 85% attendance are required to pass.
[2] GPA is the grade point average.
