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A Profile of the Evaluation of LA's BEST (Better Educated Students for Tomorrow) Program

Program Description

Overview	The LA’s BEST (Better Educated Students for Tomorrow) Program is an afterschool program that serves elementary-school-aged youth in Los Angeles, California. The program provides youth with a safe environment, enhanced opportunities through integrated educational supports, educational enrichment activities to supplement and deepen the regular program, recreational activities, and interpersonal skills and self-esteem development.
Start Date	1988
Scope	local
Type	afterschool
Location	urban
Setting	public schools
Participants	elementary school students

Number of Sites/Grantees	186 elementary schools
Number Served	28,000 per year
Components	The program is available from the end of the school day until 6 pm, Monday through Friday, at no cost to parents. In addition, numerous citywide events and field trips are scheduled on weekends. To attend, youth must enroll in the program and are expected to participate on a regular basis.
Funding Level	$36 million (2009–2010)
Funding Sources	City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Unified School District, private sector, private foundations, 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program, California Department of Education, other federal grants, and private individuals

Evaluation

Overview	Beginning in the 1989–90 school year, a series of evaluation studies has been conducted that examine the program’s implementation and impact.
Evaluator(s)	Center for the Study of Evaluation, University of California, Los Angeles
Evaluations Profiled	Evaluation Report, March 1, 1990 Evaluation Report, July 31, 1991 Final Evaluation Report, December 17, 1993 Final Evaluation Report: Longitudinal Study, 1992–94 The impact of the LA’s BEST after school enrichment initiative on subsequent student achievement and performance Examining the Relationship between Afterschool Staff-Based Social Capital and Student Engagement in LA’s BEST Exploring the Relationships between LA’s BEST Program Attendance and Cognitive Gains of LA’s BEST Students Exploring the Effect of Afterschool Participation on Students’ Collaboration Skills, Oral Communication Skills, and Self-Efficacy
Evaluations Planned	The Center for the Study of Evaluation team continues to evaluate the role of LA’s BEST in supporting youth’s academic and social development. The Center is currently conducting an exploratory study on the first year of LA’s BEST summer schools’ impact on language development—due June 30, 2012.
Report Availability	Brooks, P. E., Valdes, R. M., Herman, J. L., & Baker, E. L. (1990). Evaluation report, March 1, 1990: LA’s BEST after school education and enrichment program. Los Angeles: UCLA Center for the Study of Evaluation, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, University of California–Los Angeles. Brooks, P. E., & Herman, J. L. (1991). Evaluation report, July 31, 1991: LA’s BEST an after school education and enrichment program. Los Angeles: UCLA Center for the Study of Evaluation, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, University of California–Los Angeles. Brooks, P. E., & Forman, R. (1993). Final evaluation report, December 17, 1993: LA’s BEST an after school education and enrichment program. Los Angeles: UCLA Center for the Study of Evaluation, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, University of California–Los Angeles. Brooks, P. E., Mojica, C. M., & Land, R. E. (1995). Final evaluation report: Longitudinal study of LA’s BEST after school education and enrichment program, 1992–94. Los Angeles: UCLA Center for the Study of Evaluation, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, University of California–Los Angeles. Huang, D., Gribbons, B., Kim, K. S., Lee, C., & Baker, E. L. (2000). A decade of results: The impact of the LA’s BEST after school enrichment initiative on subsequent student achievement and performance. Los Angeles: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST), University of California–Los Angeles. Available at: www.pasesetter.com/reframe/documents/uclaeval.pdf Huang, D., Choi, K., Davis, D., Henderson, T., Kim, K. Lin, S., et al. (2003). Evaluating the impact of LA’s BEST on students’ social and academic development: Study of 74 LA’s BEST Sites 2001–2002 final report. Los Angeles: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST), University of California–Los Angeles. Huang, D., Choi, K., Henderson, T., Howe, J., Kim, K., Vogel, M., et al. (2004). Evaluating the impact of LA’s BEST on students’ social and academic development: Study of 100 LA’s BEST Sites 2002–2003. Los Angeles: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST), University of California–Los Angeles. Huang, D. (2004). Exploring the long-term impact of LA’s BEST on students’ social and academic development. Los Angeles: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST), University of California–Los Angeles. Huang, D., Kim, K. S., Marshall, A., & Perez, P. (2005). Keeping kids in school: An LA’s BEST example—A study examining the long-term impact of LA’s BEST on students’ dropout rates. Los Angeles: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST), University of California–Los Angeles. Huang, D. (2005). Evaluating the effects of academic skills and academic enablers taught at LA’s BEST on the achievement of student participants. Los Angeles: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST), University of California–Los Angeles. Peppler, K. A., & Catterall, J. S. (2006). Year two evaluation of the LA’s BEST After School Arts Program: Evaluating student learning in the arts. Los Angeles: Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. University of California–Los Angeles. Goldsmidt, P., Huang, D., & Chinen, M. (2007). The long-term effects of after-school programming on educational adjustment and juvenile crime: A study of the LA’s BEST after-school program. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice. Huang, D., Coordt, A., La Torre, D., Leon, S., Miyoshi, J., Pérez, P., & Peterson, C. (2007). The afterschool hours: Examining the relationship between afterschool staff-based social capital and student engagement in LA’s BEST (CSE Technical Report 712). Los Angeles: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST), University of California–Los Angeles. Available at: www.cse.ucla.edu/products/reports/R712.pdf Huang, D., Miyoshi, J., La Torre, D., Marshall, A., Perez, P., & Peterson, C. (2007). Exploring the intellectual, social and organizational capitals at LA’s BEST (CSE Technical Report 714). Los Angeles: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST), University of California–Los Angeles. Available at: www.cse.ucla.edu/products/reports/R714.pdf Huang, D., Leon, S., La Torre, D., & Mostafavi, S. (2008). Examining the relationship between LA’s BEST program attendance and academic achievement of LA’s BEST students (CRESST Report 749). Los Angeles: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST), University of California–Los Angeles. Available at: www.cse.ucla.edu/products/reports/R749.pdf Huang, D., La Torre, D., Duong, N., Huber, L. P., Leon, S., & Oh, C. (2009). A circle of learning: Children and adults growing together in LA’s BEST (CRESST Report 758). Los Angeles: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST), University of California–Los Angeles. Available at: www.cse.ucla.edu/products/reports/R758.pdf Huang, D., Leon, S., Harven, A. M., La Torre, D., & Mostafavi, S. (2009). Exploring the relationships between LA’s BEST Program attendance and cognitive gains of LA’s BEST students (CRESST Report 757). Los Angeles: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST), University of California–Los Angeles. Available at: www.cse.ucla.edu/products/reports/R757.pdf Huang, D., Leon, S., Hodson, C., La Torre, D., Obregon, N., & Rivera, G. (2010). Preparing students for the 21st Century: Exploring the effect of afterschool participation on students’ collaboration skills, oral communication skills, and self-efficacy. Los Angeles: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST), University of California–Los Angeles. Available at: www.cse.ucla.edu/products/reports/R777.pdf

Contacts

Evaluation	Regino Chávez Director of Evaluation LA’s BEST 711 E. 14th Place Los Angeles, CA 90021 Tel: 213-745-1900 x52995 Email: reginoc@lasbest.lausd.net	Denise Huang, Ph.D. National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) UCLA Center for the Study of Evaluation 301 GSE & IS Bldg Los Angeles, CA 90095 Tel: 310-206-9642 Email: dhuang@cse.ucla.edu
Program	Carla Sanger President and CEO LA’s BEST Office of the Mayor 200 N. Main Street, Suite 700 Los Angeles, CA 90012 Tel: 213-847-3681 Fax: 485-6606 Email: csanger@mayor.lacity.org
Profile Updated	April 4, 2012

Evaluation 8: Exploring the Effect of Afterschool Participation on Students’ Collaboration Skills, Oral Communication Skills, and Self-Efficacy

Evaluation Description

Evaluation Purpose	To address the following questions: Are LA’s BEST participants’ feelings of self-efficacy associated with their collaboration and communication skills? Is there an association between participation in LA’s BEST and youth’s feelings of self-efficacy, collaboration skills, and communication skills? How accurate are LA’s BEST participants at evaluating their own 21st century skills as compared to external outcome measures of standardized test results and teacher ratings? Are there differences in how youth are evaluating themselves across different attendance levels?
Evaluation Design	Quasi-Experimental: A sample of 35 school sites was randomly selected for the study from the 174 LA’s BEST school sites that served the upper elementary grade levels (fourth and fifth grade) during the 2008–09 school year. Surveys were collected from 911 youth across the 35 sites. Of these youth, 214 were excluded from the sample due to missing data. The remaining sample of 697 youth was categorized into three levels of program attendance: 0–100 days (low), 101–170 days (medium), and 171–239 days (high). These groups were then compared to one another on ratings of their collaboration, oral communication, and self-efficacy skills, after statistically balancing the groups on student background and other factors (e.g., site-level average levels of youth skills and program size).
Data Collection Methods	Secondary Source/Data Review: LA’s BEST provided program attendance data. In addition, the local school district provided data on student background characteristics, achievement, and report cards. The student report card data included teacher ratings on students’ work and study skills as well as teacher ratings of student citizenship. Surveys/Questionnaires: The youth survey examined 21st century skills, defined as self-efficacy, oral communication skills, and collaboration skills. Test/Assessments: Items for each of the scales in the survey were selected or adapted from previously established scales including Form A of the Communication Attitude Test (Bruten, 1985), the Student Attitudes toward Group Environment questionnaire (Kouros & Abrami, 2006), and Bandura’s Children’s Self-Efficacy Scale (2006). In addition, the local school district provided test score date for the California Standards Test in math and English language arts. References: Bandura, A. (2006). Guide for constructing self-efficacy scales. In F. Pajares and T. C. Urdan (Eds.), Adolescence and education: Vol. 5. Self-efficacy beliefs of adolescents (pp. 307–337). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing. Bruten, G. J. (1985). Communication attitude test: Form A. Retrieved from www.unl.edu/fluency/pdfs/test.pdf Kouros, C., & Abrami, P. C. (2006, April). How do students really feel about working in small groups? The role of student attitudes and behaviors in cooperative classroom settings. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, California.
Data Collection Timeframe	Data were collected between 2008 and 2010.

Findings:
Formative/Process Findings

Recruitment/ Participation

A positive significant relationship was found between youth’s ratings of their self-efficacy and their ratings of both their communication and collaboration skills (p < .01).

Summative/Outcome Findings

Youth Development

Program attendance levels were not significantly associated with youth's self-efficacy, oral communication skills, or collaboration skills.

Youth with higher program attendance consistently rated themselves more in accordance with the external measures of academic performance on the California Standards Test and teacher report card ratings than the lower attendees did. This was particularly true for self-efficacy and communication skills (p < .05).

A Profile of the Evaluation of LA's BEST (Better Educated Students for Tomorrow) Program

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