Study Rekindles Debate on Value of After-School Programs

Researchers who drafted a hotly debated report last year that the Bush administration used to justify proposed cuts in federal aid for after-school programs have released further study results suggesting that such programs have little academic benefit.

Carried out by the Princeton, N.J.-based Mathematica Policy Research Inc., the new report again examines the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program, a $1 billion federal initiative that finances after-school programs in some 7,000 schools nationwide.

Based on additional data, the analysis released last week bolsters Mathematica’s contention last year that students in the programs did not make significantly greater academic gains than their peers...