Afterschool Programs: Socialization and Innovative Education

The state of education in America is still in a period of recovery from the Covid pandemic. Across the globe, schooling is suffering from a multitude of issues from staff shortages, increased violence and misbehavior among students, and the gap between test scores that students used to reach pre-pandemic. An article published on Brookings stated:

“We tracked changes in math and reading test scores across the first two years of the pandemic using data from 5.4 million U.S. students in grades 3-8. We focused on test scores from immediately before the pandemic (fall 2019), following the initial onset (fall 2020), and more than one year into pandemic disruptions (fall 2021).

Average fall 2021 math test scores in grades 3-8 were 0.20-0.27 standard deviations (SDs) lower relative to same-grade peers in fall 2019, while reading test scores were 0.09-0.18 SDs lower. This is a sizable drop. For context, the math drops are significantly larger than estimated impacts from other large-scale school disruptions, such as after Hurricane Katrina—math scores dropped 0.17 SDs in one year for New Orleans evacuees.”

Fortunately for many local students, Boulder Valley School District stands out quite a bit from the national trend of lowered test scores. “Nationally, we’re still seeing some impacts of continuing to strive to rebound or move forward to pre-pandemic levels of learning. In BVSD, we rebounded to pre-pandemic levels last year,” BVSD Deputy Superintendent Lora De La Cruz.

However, social aspects of interacting with others — halted during the pandemic — still show signs of concern. Additionally, as a whole literacy levels are on the decline. Another difficult aspect of education and mental health is the rise in violence among students. According to an article from the Center for Health Journalism:

“[T]he number of children expelled and suspended from schools increased statewide, with Colorado school districts handing out more severe discipline during the 2021-22 academic year than they did in 2019-20.

More than 83,400 Colorado children were suspended during the 2021-22 academic year and just under 800 students were expelled from school, according to the latest data from the Colorado Department of Education.

Schools aren’t just expelling and suspending more kids for severe infractions, such as bringing weapons to campus. They are also doing so for behaviors like destroying property and substance and alcohol use, according to the data.”

The issues that education is facing are highly variable. The solutions for the problems must be multi-faceted. The angles of approach range from high-dosage tutoring, summer programs, wellness centers, extended school days, and reduced class sizes. Afterschool programming, fitting within the idea of an “extended school day” can be a great asset by allowing the space and time to catch up academically while still providing the students more time for socialization — a crucial aspect of post-pandemic recovery.

A brief history of afterschool programs

The concept of the afterschool program has roots that reach back to the industrial revolution.  As factories boomed the amount of staff available couldn’t meet the demand and constant need to expand. This demand for labor helped drive a wave of immigration and, subsequently, child labor. In addition to the obvious moral quagmire of having adolescent children work long hours with dangerous machinery or inside coal mines, child workers also presented a problem with wage management. They would often be paid less than an adult immigrant worker, who was already making less than a white adult natural-born citizen worker.

Once the Progressive Era (1890s – 1930s) came about, ideas of exploiting children for labor combined with concerns about assimilating immigrant cultures within the tapestry of American values changed the landscape. Regimented education, which would evolve into the modern school system we have today, began to be established. Although far from perfect this schooling plus programs like the YMCA and settlement houses were used to give working class families some much needed help with childcare.

With children no longer a part of the workforce, the problem of their education, activities, and guidance became a primary concern. The darkest side of children with too  much free time was mirrored in the cautionary elements of Disney’s “Pinocchio” where all the kids engaging in smoking and drinking are transformed into literal “jackasses.”

Settlement houses and programs like the YMCA took on the responsibility of providing youths with a safe place to exist. The Playground Movement took off which created safe and engaging spaces for children to play in the forms of parks and playgrounds designed specifically for children and families.

How afterschool programs can help students

Today, many afterschool programs aren’t just more school. One of the biggest issues with teaching, even before the pandemic and the rise of technology was the attention span of an average student.

Many primary schoolteachers think children’s attention spans are getting shorter and classroom behavior has deteriorated since before the Covid pandemic according to the Guardian. More than two in three teachers surveyed said pupils’ behavior in class had declined. Children were more likely to move around the room, complain about being bored, and annoy or provoke others in the classroom. The survey of 504 primary and early years teachers in schools in England by the online subject resource Kapow Primary found that 84% of teachers agreed that children’s attention spans are “shorter than ever” post-Covid. Nearly two-thirds had noticed an increase in inattention and daydreaming. Further, most regular schooling has fairly large class sizes with 19-22 students on average reported in Colorado.

Many afterschool programs began as a way to help socialize, emphasize the idea of “play,” and utilize smaller class sizes. Afterschool programs are often a more customizable approach when it comes to implementing lesson plans and creating an effective learning space. This gives teachers the space to incorporate lessons that address variable learning styles, such as VARK learning styles — Visual, Auditory, Reading/Writing, and Kinesthetic — leaning into how a student learns best.

Here are some afterschool programs:

Pre-School Learning and Enrichment

Age Group: Pre-K (3 to 4 year olds)

Per BVSD “Because children’s brains and bodies grow at such a rapid pace from birth to age five, the preschool years are a critical time for them to build a strong foundation of knowledge and skills. Our integrated preschool program offers an exceptional opportunity to do just that.” Class size is capped at 18 students.

They offer morning and afternoon classes with some locations offering an additional half-day.  The curriculum is “play-based” meaning they tend to use activities as vehicles for the lesson. As these are younger students, leaning into the want to move, explore, and interact.

Primerose School of Longmont 

Age Group: Pre-K

Per the website, “We’re more than a daycare in Longmont. We know how young children learn best, which is why our Balanced Learning® approach combines plenty of purposeful play with nurturing guidance from teachers.”

This program focuses on helping pre-K students, like those who miss the preschool cutoff deadline, by providing pathway programs that help them keep up with their peers in that age group.

School Age Care (SAC)/Adventure Camp

Age Group: K-8

“BVSD School Age Care offers inclusive, fun, and licensed surroundings for kindergarten through 8th grade students before and after the bell. Seven enriching Learning Zones give time for creative exploration, homework, and outdoor play to complement the school day. On no-school days, Adventure Camps provide full-day excitement at local entertainment centers,” per the BVSD website.

Some of the zones even have STEM — Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics — lessons. The idea of the seven zones addresses the problem raised by the pandemic about attention spans. Having multiple zones allows a student to play and interact with something new once they get bored.

Valhallan Esports Training (Broomfield) 

Age Group: High School

This program is a bit unorthodox as Esports is still a fairly new space for the Western world to enter. On the other side of the globe, however, games like League of Legends — abbreviated LoL — and Defense of the Ancients — much more commonly known as Dota — have taken over in places like Korea and China. Often, in the East in a place like Korea, between the primary lesson period that ends about 4 pm and the study period that goes from about 6 pm to 8pm, students will go to PC cafes and game with each other.

Per the website, “Valhallan originated out of our belief that video games can be a means for enriching lives and creating community for young people. Valhallan provides premier esports programming and teaches life skills in a fun, safe, and inclusive environment.”

What Vallhallan offers appears to be along those lines in a supervised environment with much of the language on the website promoting the ideas of proper online etiquette and a chance to build camaraderie while learning the skills of the game, not too unlike other sports teams activities like baseball or football.

The Animation Group

Age Group: 3rd-12th Grade

Because this program focuses on the field of animation, it allows several options for students to learn and engage in different aspects of the craft. Further, many students may have a passion for learning elements of this craft but may be hard pressed to find a way to learn them in traditional primary schooling. The Animation Group provides them with the outlet they need.

As per the website, “Animation Production Group is an after-school program to give students experience working together as animators, character designers, scriptwriters, and voiceover actors to create their own cartoon animated productions.”

These are just some of the options that are offered in the area. The deficits set in place by the pandemic are a multi-headed beast that needs to be approached from all sides. Considering the ideas of socialization and play form the foundation of after school programs, those aspects of the learning deficit could be best addressed by way of these kinds of programs.