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Table of Contents
Abstract
Introduction
Delivery of Activities
General Program
Setting
Student Participation
Description of the Activities
Promising Components
Resources
Student Behavior
Problematic Components
Student Involvement
Other Observations
Computer Use Outside of Summer School
Facilitator Suggestions
Conclusion
References
Appendix A: Tables
Appendix B: ReadProg and MathProg Software
ReadProg
MathProg
Appendix C: Protocols for Site Visits
Session Observation Guide
Facilitator Interview Protocol
Student Focus Group Protocol
Abstract
This report describes implementation of the DC 21st Century Community Learning Center (DC 21st CCLC) program during the summer of 2001, with a particular focus on the use of computer technology to improve academic achievement. The report is based on direct observations of activities, document reviews, interviews with program coordinators and facilitators, and focus groups with student participants. The investigation revealed that the technology appears to have been well implemented, with large numbers of well-functioning machines in almost all observed classrooms and generally positive reactions from staff and students. Student enrollment is somewhat lower than hoped, and observations suggest that the use of the Internet, pretests, and aides could be improved to better support student achievement.
Introduction
A great number of education reforms in recent years have been aimed at improving students' academic skills. The lack of concurrent improvement in standardized test scores, both nationally and in Washington, D.C.,1 suggests that these reforms may not be working as well as hoped. Many educators are turning to out-of-school-time activities as a possible area where additional gains can be achieved. A particularly striking example is the federal government's 21st Century Community Learning Center program, which provides funds to schools nationwide to improve their out-of-school-time programs. The program was started in 1998 with an annual budget of about $40 million. Funding has increased dramatically since then, to around $850 million for fiscal year 2001.
At the same time that interest in out-of-school-time programming is growing, there is also increased interest in using technology, especially computers, to improve academic achievement. The E-Rate program, which helps fund Internet access and related equipment and services for schools and libraries nationwide, is currently funded at around $2 billion per year nationwide and $5-$10 million per year in DC2 and E-Rate is only one of many federal, state, and local initiatives designed to increase the use of technology in our schools (Puma, Chaplin, and Pape 2000).
Youth in the District of Columbia face many challenges in terms of both academic success and later employment outcomes (Chaplin et al. 1999). DC Public School (DCPS) system staff, like many of their counterparts nationwide, are working hard to improve their out-of-school-time programs and bring technology into the educational system. The DC 21st Century Community Learning Center program (DC 21st CCLC) is one example of these efforts as it provides enhanced out-of-school-time activities for youth in 10 middle and junior high schools in Washington, D.C. The program, which ran from the fall of 1999 through the summer of 2002, was supported in part by a three-year, $4.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE).
DC 21st CCLC focuses on nonacademic out-of-school-time activities,3 but the DOE funds are also used to purchase computers and software that can be used during the regular school day to improve academic achievement. In this report, we focus on how technology was used to improve academic achievement in the DC 21st CCLC program during the summer of 2001.4 A companion report (Russell et al, 2002) describes non-academic components of the program and other related issues.
During the summer, DCPS staff operate both a summer school and a nonacademic out-of-school-time program. Programs for all 10 DC 21st CCLC schools were in operation from June 25 to August 3, 2001, at 8 of the 10 schools where DC 21st CCLC operates during the school year. Students from the remaining two schools were allowed to attend at one of the sites that was open.
The summer school was in the morning and the nonacademic program in the afternoon. Many students had to attend the summer school, and all students from the participating schools (and some others) were allowed to attend either the morning or afternoon sessions. DC 21st CCLC funds paid for the school-level coordinator of the out-of-school-time program and for equipment, including many of the computers and much of the software used in the morning. In addition, the DC 21st CCLC director hired the facilitators who administered the computer-driven academic activities during the morning summer school.5 Thus, DC 21st CCLC played a large role in how technology was used to improve academic achievement during the DCPS summer school program.
This report begins with a general description of the technology components of the DC 21st CCLC program, followed by a discussion of its most promising strengths and problematic issues. We then make additional observations and summarize the results.
This report is based on data collected in the following ways:
- A review of school site proposals.
- A review of monitoring reports submitted by the DC 21st CCLC program director.
- Observations of 17 academically focused technology activities (morning).
- Interviews with 16 facilitators/instructors of these activities.
- Focus groups with students participating in these activities at 7 sites.
- Observations of 31 nonacademic activities, including sports, arts, community service, and technology (afternoon).
- Interviews with 10 assistant principals (APs, or program managers) of the nonacademic activities.
This report is available in its entirety in the Portable Document Format (PDF), which many find convenient when printing.
Acknowledgments
This report was prepared for DC Agenda with assistance from David Perry and Dulari Tahbildar. We also gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Evaluation Group for the DC 21st Century Community Learning Center program, including Howard Brown and Saundra Handy of the DC Public Schools; Connie Spinner of the DC State Department of Education; Keith Watson of the DC Youth Investment Trust Corporation; Carrie Thornhill of DC Agenda; Eric Bruns of Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health; Barbara Kamara of the DC Office of Early Childhood Development; Cynthia Belton of the University of the District of Columbia; and Janet Reingold of Reingold Associates. Funding for this work was provided by the U.S. Department of Education through the DC Public Schools and DC Agenda.
Notes
1. College Board (2000) and Washington Post, August 29, 2001, pp. A1 and A20. The lack of improvement in test scores in Washington, D.C. may be related to an increase in poverty during the 1990's (Washington Post, October 2nd, 2002, Page A1).
2. DC schools received almost $5 million in Erate funds in 1998, over $50 per student, and most of this was for the public school system. DC was awarded another 9 million in 1999.
3. The DC 21st CCLC program has four components: (1) after-school activities during the school year, (2) a summer program, (3) an intergenerational program, and (4) an adult activities program. This report focuses on the summer program. Two of our earlier reports covered the first two components of the program (Raphael and Chaplin 2000a, b). Currently, there is no plan to evaluate the other two components.
4. Most of the funding for these nonacademic activities paid for facilitator salaries and came from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant rather than DC 21st CCLC funds. The salary of the school-level director of the morning activities was also from the TANF funds.
5. A number of non-computer academic activities take place during the morning summer school program and are not covered in this report.
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