Most U.S. Public K–12 Schools Offer After-School Programs BUT

 

Many Cannot Accommodate All Students Who Want To Participate

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) releases today the latest round of findings from the School Pulse Panel (SPP). These SPP data examine after-school programs, summer programs, and civics education around the 2024 national election cycle, during the 2024-25 school year, as reported by school leaders in U.S. public schools. All data can be found on the SPP interactive dashboard. Below is a summary of some key findings from this release. Key Findings After-school Programs for the 2024–25 School Year Eighty-five percent of U.S. public schools are offering after-school programs during the 2024–25 school year, and 60 percent are offering academically focused after-school programming, a decrease from the 2023-24 school year (64 percent).      Forty-two percent of U.S. public elementary schools are offering an extended-day care after-school program during the 2024-25 school year, an increase from the 2023-24 school year (35 percent). School leaders estimate that 13 percent of public school students will participate in academically focused after-school programs during the school year. Compared to the national estimate (13 percent of students), public schools with the following characteristics estimate that lower percentages of students will participate in academically focused after-school programs: With a student body made up of less than 25 percent students of color (8 percent of their students) In the Midwest (9 percent of their students)   In rural areas (10 percent of their students) Compared to the national estimate (13 percent of students), public schools with a student body made up of greater than 75 percent students of color estimate that a higher percentage of students will participate in academically focused after-school programs (20 percent of their students) Forty-two percent of public schools indicated they would be able to provide academically focused after-school programs to all students who want to participate in them. Fifty-nine percent of public schools utilized district or school finances to fund their academically focused after-school programs, 47 percent used federal grants or other federal programs, 29 percent used state grants or other state programs, and 13 percent used partnerships or sponsorships with organizations. Public school leaders at schools without one or more academically focused after-school programs were asked the reasons why their school is not running one for the 2024–25 school year. Commonly cited reasons among those offered were: Lack of—or reductions in—funding to support after-school programs (37 percent) Cannot find staff to support after-school programs (30 percent) Lack of participation (24 percent) Transportation limitations (24 percent) Summer Programs for Summer 2024 Eighty-three percent of U.S. public schools offered programs for students during summer 2024. Thirteen percent of public school students participated in academically focused summer programs during summer 2024. Compared to the national estimate (13 percent of students), public schools with a student body made up of 25 percent or lower students of color reported that a lower percentage of their students (9 percent) participated in academically focused summer programs. In contrast, public schools with a student body made up of 76 to 100 percent students of color (9 percent of students) reported that a higher percentage of their students (17 percent) participated in academically focused summer programs. Forty-five percent of public schools offering academically focused summer programs were able to provide their programs to all students who needed or wanted to participate in them. Sixty-four percent of public schools utilized district or school finances to fund their academically focused summer programs, 50 percent used federal grants or other federal programs, 36 percent used state grants or other state programs, and 7 percent used partnerships or sponsorships with organizations. Public school leaders at schools without one or more academically focused summer programs were asked the reasons why their schools didn’t operate one during summer 2024. Commonly cited reasons among those offered were: Implementing summer programming was not a priority for the school (26 percent) Lack of, or reductions in, funding to hire staff to support the programs (25 percent) Students attended academically focused summer programs at other schools within the same school district (21 percent) There were not enough students at the school who would have participated (17 percent) Could not find staff to support academically focused summer programs (13 percent) Civics Education According to public school leaders, 77 percent of schools had at least one teacher incorporate the upcoming 2024 national election cycle into their lessons this year. Fifty-two percent of public schools reported having special programming around the upcoming 2024 national election cycle, including voter registration opportunities for students, mock debates, mock voting, assemblies/guest speakers, and/or other special programming. A blog post diving deeper into these special programs, specifically voter registration opportunities, can be found here.