Effectiveness of Out-of-School-Time Strategies in Assisting Low-Achieving Students in Reading and Mathematics: A Research Synthesis

Author: Lauer, P.A., Akiba, M., Wilkerson, S.B., Apthorp, H.S., Snow, D., Martin-Glenn, M.
Publisher: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL)
Publication Date: 2004
Publication City: Aurora
Publication State: CO
Full text available online at: http://www.mcrel.org/topics/productDetail.asp?topicsID=12&productID=151

Abstract (written by WestEd)

McREL conducted a synthesis of research on out-of-school time (OST) strategies for improving academic achievement of low-achieving or at-risk students. The research indicates that OST strategies can have a small to moderate impact on academic achievement of low-achieving or at-risk students in reading and mathematics; some studies yielded strong effects for certain programs or grade levels. One-to-one tutoring in reading had the largest effect. There does not appear to be a difference between after-school and summer school programs. Students in early elementary grades are more likely to benefit from reading programs compared to older students, while the reverse is true for mathematics.

Studies included met strict requirements such as having an experimental or quasi-experimental design (treatment versus control groups); out of 1,808 literature citations, 53 studies met the inclusion criteria.