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BY REQUEST...
JANUARY 1999
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The Growing Need
In addition to the changing demographics in the United States, there are several new reasons for developing quality after-school programs. First, the after-school hours are becoming an increasingly dangerous time for many of our students. Parents are faced with rising fears about the health and safety risks of unsupervised children. Unsupervised after-school hours have become "prime-time" for juvenile crime. Violent juvenile crime peaks between the hours of 3:00 p.m. and 8 p.m. (Fox & Newman, 1997).
Children are also at greater risk of being victims of a crime during the hours after school. Besides documenting the number of children left unsupervised and unchallenged after school, researchers have demonstrated that this group is at risk in a wide variety of areas. Specifically, school-age children and teens who are unsupervised during after-school hours are far more likely to use alcohol, drugs, and tobacco, engage in criminal and other high-risk behaviors, receive poor grades, and drop out of school than children who have the opportunity to benefit from constructive activities supervised by responsible adults (U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Justice, 1998). After-school programs appeal to both "liberal" and "conservative" groups as an effective strategy to both raise student achievement and reduce juvenile crime in the afternoon hours (Reinhard, 1998).
Beyond issues of safety are the rewards that students and their communities can reap as a result of quality after-school programs. With rapid changes in technology there is a growing interest in supplementing the traditional school day with a variety of social and educational activities that enhance children's development. Indeed, quality after-school programs should be viewed as an opportunity to add to the knowledge and skills students are already cultivating, rather than just an obligation to occupy their time. Today's children will need more and better preparation in order to succeed in tomorrow's rapidly changing world; through after-school efforts, children can become better equipped for the future.
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© 2001
Date of Last Update: 09/19/2001
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