Evaluations of After-School Programs: A Meta-Evaluation of Methodologies and Narrative Synthesis of Findings

Funding for after-school programs has increased dramatically, and there has been a corresponding increase in the need for sound evaluations to document the quality and impact of the programs. A comprehensive search for after-school evaluations was completed in order to conduct a meta-evaluation of evaluation methodologies used and to synthesize the findings of the evaluations. Results of the meta-evaluation indicate that the after-school evaluation reports located for the study demonstrated moderate compliance with The Program Evaluation Standards established by the Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation but limited use of research designs that support causal conclusions and insufficient information to allow for meta-analysis of program effects. However, some tentative conclusions can be reached about the effectiveness of after-school programs. Overall, it appears that after-school programs may have positive impacts on participants, but more rigorous research designs are necessary to provide data that clearly document program effects.