After-school programs for adolescents: a review of evaluation research.

During the last ten years, an infusion of private foundation and government funding markedly increased the number of after-school programs targeting adolescents. This review focuses on the quality of after-school program evaluation research. Numerous evaluations of after-school programs exist, but serious methodological flaws limit the conclusions that can be drawn with confidence from most of the studies. Major obstacles to conducting sound evaluations include difficulties in obtaining appropriate comparison groups and dealing with sporadic attendance and attrition. The review summarizes promising results, discusses the extent to which after-school programs have achieved their goals, describes characteristics associated with successful after-school programs, and reports on efforts to assess the cost effectiveness of after-school programs.