A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Learning Beyond the Classroom

Priority: Promoting learning in informal and formal settings, and building the connections that cause out-of-school experiences to contribute to in-school achievement.

At day's end, the school bell rings and classrooms empty. As children pour out of the elementary school, some wait for buses that will take them home or to after-school programs. Some go to music lessons or religious classes. Others wend their way home on foot or bicycle, or stop at the corner store to check out the latest comic book or video game. By some estimates, more than half the children go home to houses or apartments where no adult is around to supervise.⁴⁸

At about the same time, the middle and high schools are ending their school day. Some students hurry to soccer or basketball practice or get on the bus for the swim meet across town; others head for hoops at the park. Some spend the afternoon rehearsing for the school play or going on-line at the computer lab. Some are in detention. A few volunteer in community organizations. Many have after-school jobs. And some are hanging out on whichever corner, schoolyard, or arcade they see as their turf.

Our young people spend an immense number of hours outside the classroom, and what they do with this time has significant bearing on school achievement and social development. In elementary school years, nearly 2 million children spend their afternoons in after-school or extended-day programs.⁴⁹ Extracurricular activities keep many youngsters, particularly middle and high school students, on school grounds after 3 p.m. Students who take part in extracurricular school activities such as intramural sports, student government, publications, and special-interest clubs generally do well academically and learn to manage their time effectively.⁵⁰ Parents sometimes worry about letting their children take part in school activities if their schoolwork slides, but if the activities take no more than a few hours a week, they may actually help students develop a positive connection with the school and with their classmates.⁵¹

The notion of integrating research results into the development of solid, interesting, community-based educational programs, and the idea of generating new knowledge out of those programs, are just now on the cusp. We need to support this fragile trend.

Annie Van Fossen Storr
Assistant Director for Education
American Association of Museums

Participation in extracurricular activities appears to benefit many students. Some of the benefits documented by researchers include increased cross-race contact, fewer at-risk behaviors, and later participation in voluntary organizations.⁵² Recently, however, some studies have raised new questions about the impact of extracurricular activities on achievement.⁵³ Does participation in school activities boost grades? Or are students with higher grades more likely to go out for the wrestling squad, the debate team, the newspaper, or the drama club? Are those with strong academic records more actively courted by faculty coaches and advisers? Are students from low-income homes, those with disabilities, or youngsters with limited English proficiency given the encouragement and assistance they need to take part in a wide range of school activities? These are questions that researchers need to pursue.

Although some children are overburdened with after-school activities,⁵⁴ others have too few opportunities to take part in them. While students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds appear to benefit most from participation in extracurricular activities, they often have less access to them High poverty schools, particularly those in urban settings tend to offer fewer after-school activities, including sports and have lower rates of participation. Students in these schools are also less likely to hold after-school jobs. Much of their out-of-school time appears to be unstructured. These students spend less time doing homework. Many parent worry about drugs, violence, inappropriate sexual activity and long stretches of time spent in front of the television.⁵⁵

Finally, research suggests that after-school programs an~ extracurricular activities are not sufficiently aligned with th curricula that children are experiencing in the classroom. Such programs miss many opportunities to support and reinforce the school's instructional goals. They often fail to take advantage of the full range of resources available in the school and community. We need better ideas about how to foster collaboration so that our young people experience, throughout the school day, after school and throughout the school year a coordinated and coherent learning environment.⁵⁶

Much of learning occurs outside of schools, in the home and in the community. Education research needs to look beyond the classroom.

Edmund W. Gordon
Member
OERI National Educational Research Policy and Priorities Board

Out-of-school hours can present many opportunities for enhancing and reinforcing learning During this time, many people and institutions affect children's development. To be sure, parents and families exert the greatest influence on their children's learning. Parents can strengthen their children's achievement by ensuring they have the love and care they need from the moment they are born; seeing to it that they stay safe and healthy as they grow; providing supervision and control; spending time with them, reading to them and sharing learning experiences with them; setting high expectations for them; and helping them link up with people, programs, and resources in their communities.

In addition, parents have a crucial role to play in supporting the efforts of schools. Research shows overwhelmingly that parent involvement in their children's education improves children's achievement, and that the more that parents are involved the more achievement improves. Parent involvement programs and other interventions have been shown to produce higher grades and test scores for children, better attendance, more completed homework assignments, fewer referrals to special education, more positive attitudes and behavior, higher graduation rates, and greater enrollment in postsecondary education. Programs designed to encourage extensive involvement of low-income parents have been found to raise children's school performance to levels usually achieved by students from middle-income families.⁵⁷

What About Sports? As children grow, it sometimes seems that the three Rs get replaced by the three Ss--schoolwork, socializing, and sports--and not necessarily in that order. Parents and teachers are eager to help young people find the right balance among these activities. But what is the right mix? Do students who take part in organized athletics fare better in the classroom? Or do sports distract students' attention and divert the school's educational mission? These questions have been debated for years, but the jury is still out. Today, sports programs welcome children of all ages. Many toddlers now take part with their parents in gym programs designed for very young children. Millions of American children take part in the programs of Little League Baseball, Pop Warner Football, the U.S. Ice Hockey Association, and the American Youth Soccer Association. Many voluntary organizations such as the YMCA and YWCA sponsor programs in a wide variety of sports, including-basketball and swimming. In the elementary school years, there tends to be less concern about the impact of sports on schoolwork than on equitable access to athletic programs. The role of sports in the lives of older students is more controversial. Proponents of school sports cite studies that show that athletes' grades are higher than those of nonathletes. For example, a large study conducted in 1986 found that on average, athletes' grades were consistently higher; moreover athletes were less likely to receive a failing grade while they were competing. But other studies paint a more complex picture. They suggest at participating in sports does not make young people better students; rather, those who are faring better in school are more likely to go out for sports. Research also shows that participation in sports has different impacts on different groups of students, depending on their gender, socioeconomic status, and geographic setting. A study of 13,000 student athletes issued by the Women's Sports Foundation concluded that taking part in sports boosted achievement for only 3 of 18 groups studied: rural Hispanic females, suburban black males, and rural white males. Debate about high school sports has focused, in particular, on participation by young black men. Some have argued that unrealistic athletic aspirations may keep them from focusing on schoolwork or gaining other marketable skills. Some researchers have documented efforts by teachers and coaches to encourage achievement and character building through participation in sports. They have studied programs require all student athletes who do not maintain a C average to take part in mandatory study halls, where they receive tutorial assistance. Such programs deliver the message that athletics and academics are inseparable, and appear to be effective. Finally, some observers of high schools express concern not only about the impact of sports on individual students, but also on the culture of the school itself. Competitive sports programs can help schools hold some students who might otherwise drop out. And "school spirit" driven by competitive sports can be meaningful if it is directed to the school's educational mission. But as one observer has written, "the sports tail often wags the academic dog." The key is to create settings--homes, schools, and communities--where sports are used to further the educational goals of schools.

Communities need to surround children with a strong, well-coordinated set of supports. They need to ensure that key learning institutions work more closely together, engaging a wide range of concerned people in the process of setting and realizing learning goals for healthy child development. This web of relationships is not simply a backdrop for development It is the medium of learning.

This web of relationships can involve a wide range of community based organizations: human services, religious groups, voluntary organizations, sports and recreational associations, arts programs, and local businesses. It can include cultural institutions such as museums, libraries, theaters or movie houses, and historical societies. This web can link early care and education providers and schools with institutions of higher education, adult education programs, and corporate job training programs.

When school buildings are kept open after school and during weekends, they can become hubs of community activities and services such as day care, after-school programs, second language classes for adults, and meetings of various community organizations.⁵⁸ We need to know more about how such arrangements can reinforce, rather than derail, the school's educational mission.

To build on what we know, the nation needs research that will address such questions as:

What can families do to support children's learning?

What are the obstacles to family involvement and how can they be overcome? What can we learn about how to strengthen family, school, and community partnerships in learning? How can parents from immigrant communities be encouraged and supported to take part in school activities? What kinds of programs can help parents and children learn together? How can parents who have had few educational opportunities themselves help their children learn to read?

What effects do extracurricular and cocurricular activities have on student achievement?

What types of activities have the most positive effects, and what is the best way to organize them? What connections should exist between a school's curricular activities and its extra- and cocurricular programs? What can these findings tell us about the criteria school boards, district administrators, principals, and school-based decision-making teams use when they decide which programs to support, and which to discourage?

How can we link schools with community organizations that provide learning opportunities for children and youth?

What lessons can be learned from efforts to form schools, such as charter schools and other innovative schools, that involve ongoing collaboration with community organizations? How do the curricula, instructional strategies, and assessment practices that emerge from these collaborations align with state standards now being developed in various content areas? How can such programs ensure the flexibility they need while remaining accountable for results?

How can parents and after-school programs get the most benefit for children and youth from community resources such as universities, museums, and libraries?

What constitutes quality in out-of-school cultural activities? How can families with limited means get equitable access to a community's cultural resources for their children? What factors contribute to the success of high-quality learning opportunities for children during out-of-school hours when parents are not available? How do specific activities or strategies within programs affect participant outcomes? How can families and out-of-school programs coordinate their activities more closely with the curricula that their children are experiencing during the school day?

How can we foster the social networks within communities that strengthen families and enable children to do better in school?

What can we learn about the effects of tutoring, mentoring, enrichment activities, and youth organizations on long-term development and learning? What kinds of within-school and out-of-school relationships with caring adults have the most long lasting, positive results? What are the effects of peer relationships, including gang activities, on learning and development? How can these influences be turned into positive factors in a young person's development?

What does it take for schools to build productive, lasting partnerships with other educational institutions, businesses, private institutions, and other public agencies?

What is needed to keep such partnerships focused on student learning and development? What constitutes quality partnerships?
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[Student Diversity]

[Adult Competence]