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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.

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Program Description

Overview The After-School Corporation (TASC) works in New York City and throughout the New York State region to: (a) enhance the quality of afterschool programs by emphasizing program components associated with student success and program sustainability, and (b) increase the availability of afterschool opportunities by providing resources and strategies for establishing or expanding afterschool projects.
Start Date 1998
Scope state
Type afterschool
Location urban, suburban, rural
Setting public schools
Participants elementary through high school students
Number of Sites/Grantees From 1998 to 2008, TASC directly supported 322 afterschool programs in New York City, and helped establish additional programs in the New York State region.
Number Served From 1998 to 2008, more than 350,000 youth (300,000 in New York City and 50,000 in the New York state region)
Components TASC provides grants to nonprofit organizations that establish partnerships with individual public schools. These grants support school-based projects that aim to improve academic learning, promote healthy development, and reduce anti-social behavior. Under the TASC approach, afterschool services are provided through a partnership between a public school (known as the host school) and a local nonprofit organization with ties to the community served by the host school. All students enrolled in the host school are eligible to participate in the afterschool project, which provides services free of charge from the end of each school day to approximately 6pm in the evening. The afterschool programs are intended to supplement the learning experiences of the regular school day, and programming generally emphasizes academic enrichment, homework assistance, the arts, and recreation. The intent of this program approach is to combine the community connections, youth expertise, cultural resources, and specialized foci of selected nonprofit organizations with the academic focus, facilities, and access to students that public schools can provide.
Funding Level From 1998 to 2008, TASC raised $490 million in private and public funds, after a founding investment of $125 million. Total support and revenue for fiscal year 2009 was $16,489,506.
Funding Sources The Atlantic Philanthropies, Inc., Lois Collier, NYC Council, New York City Department of Education, New York State Education Department, New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, Open Society Institute, other public sources (including local, state, and federal programs and agencies), and other foundations, corporations, and individuals.


Evaluation

Overview To assess TASC’s effectiveness, an evaluation was conducted to answer questions about quality and scale in program implementation, program effects on participating youth, and program practices linked to their successful outcomes.
Evaluator Policy Studies Associates, Inc.
Evaluations Profiled Increasing and Improving After-School Opportunities: Evaluation Results From the TASC After-School Program’s First Year

Building Quality and Supporting Expansion of After-School Projects: Evaluation Results From the TASC After-School Program’s Second Year

Patterns of Student-Level Change Linked to TASC Participation, Based on TASC Projects in Year 2

Supporting Quality and Scale in After-School Services to Urban Youth: Evaluation of Program Implementation and Student Engagement in TASC After-School Program’s Third Year

Promoting Learning and School Attendance Through After-School Programs: Student-Level Changes in Educational Performance Across TASC’s First Three Years

Building Quality, Scale, and Effectiveness in After-School Programs: Summary Report of the TASC Evaluation

After-School Programs and High School Success: Analysis of Post-Program Educational Patterns of Former Middle-Grades TASC Participants
Evaluations Planned None
Report Availability

Fiester, L., White, R. N., Reisner, E. R., & Castle, A. M. (2000). Increasing and improving after-school opportunities: Evaluation results from the TASC after-school program’s first year. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates.

Reisner, E. R., White, R. N., Birmingham, J., & Welsh, M. (2001). Building quality and supporting expansion of after-school projects: Evaluation results from the TASC after-school program’s second year. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates.

White, R. N., Reisner, E. R., Welsh, M., & Russell, C. (2001). Patterns of student-level change linked to TASC participation, based on TASC projects in year 2. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates.

Reisner, E. R., Russell, C. A., Welsh, M. E., Birmingham, J., & White, R. N. (2002). Supporting quality and scale in after-school services to urban youth: Evaluation of program implementation and student engagement in TASC after-school program’s third year. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates. Available at: www.tascorp.org/content/document/detail/1434/

Welsh, M. E., Russell, C. A., Williams, I., Reisner, E. R., & White, R. N. (2002). Promoting learning and school attendance through after-school programs: Student-level changes in educational performance across TASC’s first three years. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates. Available at: www.tascorp.org/content/document/detail/1436

The After-School Corporation. (2003). The After-School Corporation fifth-year report. New York: Author. Available at: www.tascorp.org/content/document/detail/1439

Reisner, E. R., White, R. N., Russell, C. A., & Birmingham, J. (2004). Building quality, scale, and effectiveness in after-school programs: Summary report of the TASC evaluation. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates. Available at: www.tascorp.org/content/document/detail/2466/

Policy Studies Associates. (2004). Building quality, scale, and effectiveness in after-school programs: Supplementary papers to accompany the summary report of the TASC Evaluation. Washington, DC: Author.

Birmingham, J., & White, R. N. (2005). Promoting positive youth development for high school students after school: Services and outcomes for high school youth in TASC programs. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates. Available at: www.tascorp.org/content/document/detail/1447/

Russell, C. A., & Reisner, E. R. (with Johnson, J. C., Rouk, Ü., & White, R. N.). (2005). Supporting social and cognitive growth among disadvantaged middle-grades students in TASC after-school projects. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates. Available at: www.tascorp.org/content/document/detail/1448/

Russell, C. A., Mielke, M. B., & Johnson, J. C. (2007). After-school programs and high school success: Analysis of post-program educational patterns of former middle-grades TASC participants. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates. Available at: www.tascorp.org/content/document/detail/1758


Contacts

Evaluation Elizabeth Reisner
Policy Studies Associates, Inc.
1718 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20009
Tel: 202-939-5323
Fax: 202-939-5732
Email: ereisner@policystudies.com
Program Lucy Friedman
President
The After-School Corporation
925 9th Avenue
New York, NY
Tel: 212-547-6951
Email: lfriedman@tascorp.org
Profile Updated May 9, 2011

Evaluation 7: After-School Programs and High School Success: Analysis of Post-Program Educational Patterns of Former Middle-Grades TASC Participants


Evaluation Description

Evaluation Purpose To examine whether TASC participation in the middle grades (grades 6–8) promotes the development of protective factors that result in higher levels of school engagement and academic progress and in lower levels of delinquent behavior.
Evaluation Design Quasi-Experimental: High school engagement and academic progress of former middle-school TASC participants (program group) were compared with that of two matched comparison groups.  For the first comparison group, evaluators identified youth who attended a TASC host school but never participated in TASC, during the same time period as program youth. The second comparison group was selected using a two-stage matching approach and included youth who attended schools similar to the TASC host schools. High school data were obtained on youth who were enrolled in grades 6¬–8 from Fall 1998 through Spring 2002. Analysis was limited to youth for whom New York City (NYC) Department of Education (DOE) high school data were available, indicating that they remained in NYC public schools through at least grade 9.

For the program group, 2,390 youth in grades 6–8 were identified from 28 TASC programs throughout NYC who attended TASC at least 60 days and 60% of possible days in at least one year from Fall 1998 to Spring 2002. The first comparison group was matched to program youth based on key youth-level demographic variables (gender, race/ethnicity, and English Language Learner [ELL] and free and reduced price lunch [FRPL] program status), yielding 1,933 matched pairs. For the second comparison group, in the first stage, each TASC school was matched to two NYC schools that did not offer TASC based on key school-level demographic variables (ethnicity, recent immigrant levels,  and ELL and FRPL program status) and school-level performance variables (enrollment, attendance, math, and English achievement levels). In the second stage, students at matched non-TASC schools were matched to program youth based on key youth-level demographic variables (gender, race/ethnicity, and ELL and FRPL program status), yielding a sample of 2,208 matched pairs. Because middle-grades TASC participation could be expected to have an effect on measures of middle-grades educational performance, the study did not control for school achievement or attendance in the matching procedure. As a result, on average, participants had a higher eighth-grade school attendance rate than both of the matched groups (93% vs. 90% for nonparticipants at TASC schools and 93% vs. 92% for matched youth from non-TASC schools). This difference could be either a reflection of a self-selection bias, with middle-grades students who were more engaged in school also more likely to participate in an afterschool program, or the reflection of a positive effect of TASC participation on the student attitudes and behaviors that determine school attendance rates. Participants and matched nonparticipants from the same schools did not differ significantly in terms of their eighth-grade reading or math scores.
Data Collection Methods

Secondary Source/Data Review: Data were collected from the TASC evaluation database and DOE databases on all program and comparison youth on key youth-level demographic variables (as outlined above) and high school engagement and academic progress (school attendance, persistence, credit accrual, test scores, suspension rates, on-time grade promotion, and graduation). In addition, school-level demographic and performance data on students (both of which are outlined above) were collected for program schools and matched non-TASC schools. Because of data limitations, analyses of high school credits were limited to cohorts entering grade 9 in 2002 or later.

Tests/Assessments: For the cohorts expected to complete grade 12 by Spring 2005 and still enrolled in NYC schools in grade 12, passing rates on Regents exams (state-level subject-area tests) were examined to determine students’ eligibility for each of three levels of diplomas: Regents, Advanced Regents, and Local. To receive a Regents diploma in 2005, students in New York State needed to pass, with a score of 65 or higher, five Regents Exams: Integrated Algebra (or Math A), Global History and Geography, U.S. History and Government, Comprehensive English, and any one science Regents. To receive an Advanced Regents Diploma, students needed to also pass an additional Regents science exam, (Earth Science, Chemistry, or Physics), an additional math exam (Geometry, Algebra 2/Trigonometry, or Math B), and a foreign language exam. Local school districts could also choose to award a Local Diploma.
Data Collection Timeframe Data were collected from the 1998–1999 to 2004–2005 school years.


Findings:
Summative/Outcome Findings

Academic Program youth had significantly higher school attendance rates in the early high school years than either of the comparison groups (p = .00 for each), with program youth attending almost seven more grade 9 school days and almost six more grade 10 days than matched nonparticipants from TASC middle schools; and about four more grade 9 days than matched youth from non-TASC middle schools.

Significantly more program youth remained enrolled in a NYC high school for at least 2 years after grade 9 than did matched nonparticipants from TASC middle schools, although the size of the effect was relatively small (p < .05, 89% vs. 86%). There were no significant differences in enrollment between program youth and youth from non-TASC matched schools.

Program youth earned significantly more high school credits in grade 9 than did matched nonparticipants from TASC schools (10.2 credits vs. 9.7 credits, p = .02). In addition, program youth earned significantly more high school credits in grade 11 than did matched youth from non-TASC schools (p = . 02), although the grade 11 sample was small.

Although program youth were significantly more likely to be promoted to grade 10 on time than were matched nonparticipants from TASC schools (p < .05), this difference was negligible: 73% of program youth were promoted on time, compared to 69% of nonparticipants. No significant differences were found for the second comparison group of non-TASC school youth.

There were no significant differences at any grade level (9–12) in the number of Regents exams passed by program youth and either of the comparison groups.

No significant differences were found between program youth and comparison youth in terms of the percent who were eligible to receive each type of high school diploma.
Prevention Both program youth and comparison youth had relatively low suspension rates, consistent with NYC district-wide patterns. Although program youth had significantly fewer suspensions in grade 9 than did matched comparison youth (p < .05), the effect sizes were negligible (4% vs. 5% for matched nonparticipants from TASC schools and 4% vs. 6% for matched youth from non-TASC schools).

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