You are seeing this message because your web browser does not support basic web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing and what you can do to make your experience on this site better.

www.HFRP.org

The Harvard Family Research Project separated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to become the Global Family Research Project as of January 1, 2017. It is no longer affiliated with Harvard University.

Terms of Use ▼

Program Description

Overview The North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service (NC CES), a state member of the Federal Extension System/U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides training and technical assistance to school-age care (SAC) programs in North Carolina with the goal of increasing the availability and quality of the care for school-age youth.
Start Date 1987
Scope state
Type after school
Location urban, rural, and suburban
Setting public school, private school, community-based organization, religious institution, private facility, recreation center
Participants elementary through high school students
Number of Sites/Grantees 25–60 grantees (varies year to year)
Number Served 29,604 in 2001
Components CES provides training and technical assistance to school-age child care providers whose programs are supported by CES. CES personnel conduct site visits to the participating programs, holding monthly meetings and formal trainings as well as providing curriculum kits, supplies, and equipment.
Funding Level not available
Funding Sources federal and North Carolina state and county funding, public and private grants, and user fees


Evaluation

Overview Included in this profile are two evaluations of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension-supported school-age child care programs. The first is the North Carolina portion of a 1994 national evaluation of 76 Extension-supported programs in 16 states, conducted as part of the federal Youth-at-Risk Initiative. The North Carolina evaluation focuses on the SAC programs supported by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service and their impact on participating children. The second evaluation profiled here was done in 1998 and also looks at the benefits to North Carolina children participating in North Carolina Extension-supported SAC programs.
Evaluators 1994 Evaluation
Eddie L. Locklear, North Carolina State University

Dave Riley and Jill Steinberg, University of Wisconsin

Chris Todd, University of Illinois

Sharon Junge, University of California

Ina McClain, University of Missouri

1998 Evaluation
Eddie L. Locklear and R. David Mustian, North Carolina State University
Evaluations Profiled Preventing Problem Behaviors and Raising Academic Performance in North Carolina Children: The Impacts of School Age Child Care Supported by the University Extension Service (1994)

Extension-Supported School-Age Care Programs Benefit Youth (1998)
Evaluations Planned not available
Report Availability Locklear, E. L., Riley, D., Steinberg, J., Todd, C., Junge, S., & McClain, I. (1994). Preventing problem behaviors and raising academic performance in North Carolina children: The impacts of school age child care supported by the University extension service. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.

Locklear, E. L., & Mustian, R.D. (1998). Extension-supported school-age care programs benefit youth. Journal of Extension 36(3). Available at www.joe.org/joe/1998june/rb4.html.


Contacts

Evaluation Eddie L. Locklear, Ed.D.
Department Extension Leader
North Carolina State University
Box 7606
Raleigh, NC 27695
Tel: 919-515-8488
Fax: 919-515-7812
Email: eddie_locklear@ncsu.edu

R. David Mustian, Ph.D.
Extension Program Evaluation Leader
North Carolina State University
Box 7607
Raleigh, NC 27695
Tel: 919-515-2380
Email: david_mustian@ncsu.edu
Program Eddie L. Locklear, Ed.D.
Department Extension Leader
North Carolina State University
Box 7606
Raleigh, NC 27695
Tel: 919-515-8488
Fax: 919-515-7812
Email: eddie_locklear@ncsu.edu
Profile Updated June 4, 2002

Evaluation 2: Extension-Supported School-Age Care Programs Benefit Youth


Evaluation Description

Evaluation Purpose To determine if NC CES-supported SAC programs provided benefits to school-age children.
Evaluation Design Quasi-Experimental: Students in the 4-H school-age care program (SAC) at a K–8 public school comprised the treatment group. These students were matched with students from the same school who did not participate in the SAC program (comparison group). The comparison group had similar demographic and performance features to treatment group. Originally treatment and comparison groups were recruited from two other schools, a K–2 and a middle school, but as data were incomplete, these two schools were not included in the final analysis.
Data Collection Methods Secondary Source/Data Review: Data on academic performance, attendance, and tardiness about students in both the treatment and comparison groups were provided by the school principal from the students' records. These data were only available for the first and third periods of the year (nine weeks per period, four periods per school year), and the principal provided data about more students in the treatment group than in the comparison group.

Surveys/Questionnaires: Structured pre- and post-questionnaires, which made use of a 10-point scale, were administered to SAC providers, teachers, parents, and the principal regarding the experimental and comparison group students. The questionnaires covered the topics of student attitudes toward school, learning behaviors, and character education, where character education is defined as decision-making skills, leadership skills, citizenship, responsibility, community service, and other behaviors which reflect the character of children.
Data Collection Timeframe Data were collected between November 1996 and May 1997.


Findings:
Summative/Outcome Findings

Academic Generally, the program participants had higher academic scores, more regular school attendance, and lower rates of tardiness than the students in the comparison group.
Youth Development Parents of participants in the SAC program perceived mainly positive, but nonstatistically significant changes in their children from the beginning of the school year when the pre-surveys were administered to the end of the school year when the post-surveys were administered. This included increases in “talks about what the student is learning in school,” “cooperates with parents,” “asks to participate,” “participates on teams and in the neighborhood,” “does homework on own,” “takes responsibility,” and “shows good judgment,” while there were decreases in such items as “expresses anger by hitting,” “gets into trouble,” and “associates with people with negative behavior.” Parents in the comparison group tended to give higher ratings at the beginning of the school year than at the end, possibly reflecting an overstatement of behaviors at the point of first data collection.

Teachers of participants reported similar results to parents of participants. Those changes that were significant include “handling anger by talking” and “doing homework on their own”—the same significant changes reported by principals of program participants from the beginning to the end of the school year.

SAC providers reported the highest number of significant changes in participating youth. Significant improvements were observed by SAC providers in the areas of: “talk about what child is learning in school,” “cooperates with you,” “shows high level of interest in learning,” “handles anger by talking,” “participates on team/neighborhood,” “associates with friends with negative behavior,” “develops interests in new topics,” “joins in group activities,” “shows responsibility,” and “shares with students.”

© 2016 Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College
Published by Harvard Family Research Project