Out-of-school programs — enrichment programs that occur after school or during the summer — offer structured environments where students engage in meaningful activities, build relationships and develop essential life skills. They often serve as a bridge between school, home and the community, and for kids from low-income families, high-quality out-of-school programs can play an outsized role in their development.

“This idea that society should put all development and learning into this institution called school is problematic. In today’s world it doesn’t make sense,” says Tom Akiva, professor at the University of Pittsburgh whose research focuses on out-of-school learning. “The school setting has many of the standard areas we think of as learning: science, math, reading. But a lot of important learning happens in out-of-school time. Things like social skills, leadership, and a lot of interest development.”

A from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine examines the impact and effectiveness of these programs, offering the major take-away that they’re far more important than policymakers and parents likely realize. Yet gaps in access, funding limitations in the current political climate and workforce challenges hinder their potential impact.

“Eighty percent of waking hours are spent in informal learning, or out-of-school learning,” says Akiva, who helped author the report. “From a developmental psychology perspective, you’re learning in every environment you’re in. So lots of really important life learning happens outside.”

The 347-page report is the first comprehensive examination of out-of-school programs in more than two decades, and comes at a moment when the ecosystem is more diverse in its offerings than ever. These range from play-based experiences for younger students that boost social skills, imagination and creativity — and operate more like child care than anything — to more specialized experiences for older students, like a chess club, karate program or pottery class. Sports and theater programs offer important opportunities for team-building, while academic enrichment programs can help students who are behind catch up.

that well-designed, high-quality programs enhance academic motivation and increase school attendance, effectively promoting long-term educational success. And while it’s no wonder that tens of millions of families are eager to enroll their children, many are locked out.  

In 2020, 24.6 million children wanted to enroll in out-of-school programs but ran headfirst into roadblocks such as high costs and transportation challenges, the latest available data show. A whopping 11 million children from low-income families were unable to participate in out-of-school programs, perhaps unsurprisingly suggesting barriers to access are not evenly distributed.

“For a lot of kids from affluent backgrounds, it’s kind of just an understood opportunity,” says Deborah Moroney, vice president of American Institutes for Research and chair of the National Academies committee that oversaw the research and production of the report. “But there’s a real opportunity gap for young people who come from marginalized communities and identities in terms of inclusion. There is a supply of out-of-school time opportunities that are subsidized or offered at a reduced cost, but it is not meeting the demand for the young people who can’t otherwise pay.”

Much of that is due to a fractured funding system, which has improved and grown significantly compared to two decades ago, but remains poorly coordinated and unreliable and has not kept pace with the growth in demand. The report goes so far as to call the existence of out-of-school programs “precarious,” noting that they exist “at the whim of one foundation board meeting or election.”

“The field has evolved, the funding has increased and things have formalized in terms of quality and experiences that participants have access to, but it’s still not meeting the demand,” Moroney says. “Funding stability still isn’t there, and that’s causing major problems for the organizers.” 

As it stands, the main federal funding stream for out-of-school programs is the $1.3 billion 21st Century Community Learning Centers grants — though it’s unclear whether that funding will exist in the coming years as the Trump administration pursues funding cuts and consolidating existing programs into flexible block grants. Other than California’s long-standing matching grant to fund programs for its residents, only a handful of other states invest significantly, including Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Underscoring just how fragile many of these programs are, the U.S. Education Department’s decision to halt pandemic aid reimbursement extensions is already hitting summer and afterschool programs. The Maryland Out of School Time Network estimates that Baltimore will lose roughly 12,000 seats for summer opportunities this year as a result.

The report recommends that the out-of-school programs be coordinated centrally and woven into the nation’s safety net, instead of its piecemeal state of affairs — a proposal that seems unlikely given the current fiscal environment. 

To be sure, the financing of the system is also tethered to the competency and quality of the workforce, which, much like the child care sector, is beset by a host of challenges: low wages, high turnover, job-related stress and no real cohesion or organization of the profession.

“This is a workforce that historically has come from the communities in which they’re serving,” says Moroney. “They have a great passion for the work, but it’s an unrecognized workforce. They are, traditionally, a low-wage workforce. They want to stay in the field, but there’s not the same kind of career pipelines and trajectories that there might be in some other fields.” 

Given that the workforce plays an outsized role in the effective operation of out-of-school programs, Moroney says that it’s imperative for states and districts to figure out ways to elevate it, including how to recruit and retain workers. The report concludes that professional development, competitive salaries and career pathways can enhance workforce stability and improve program quality — though, again, policy experts say it’s difficult in the current fiscal environment, to imagine a scenario where those are priorities. 

“I think if we were to invest in the workforce, we would see changes throughout the education ecosystem,” agrees Akiva. “If we figure out how to support this workforce better — because they’re really doing important, invisible work in society — then I think we would see positive change radiating out.”

Conducted by Tyton Partners, an investment banking and consulting firm that examines pandemic-related shifts in education, and funded in part by the Walton Family Foundation and Stand Together Trust, the was released Oct. 26.

It comes after parents had courtside seats to various aspects of their children’s learning during the pandemic, prompting many — from myriad backgrounds and political affiliations — to push for change.

“What we’re hearing from parents loud and clear is they feel a greater sense of ownership over their child’s education,” said Christian Lehr, a senior principal in Tyton’s strategy consulting practice. “The last two years have been incredibly difficult. Now, parents are actively searching for new experiences that will deliver on academic promises, yes, but also bring joy and delight.” 

Fifty-nine percent of participants said their educational preferences changed post-pandemic: 51% said personal interest and needs should drive a child’s education rather than grade-level requirements. 

Nearly 80% said learning can and should happen anywhere. 

Some parent groups, frustrated by underperforming schools, have advocated for the types of change they feel will propel children of color and other marginalized groups. Many don’t have a political agenda while others are openly partisan: Conservative parents are driving change from within the public school system, pushing for certain texts — often those that concern issues of race and gender — to be pulled from the classroom. Left-leaning suburban families against this trend. 

Others still, unhappy with districts’ remote learning options during the pandemic, entirely. And while some have returned to campus, virtual school enrollment figures remain high. 

Survey results also reveal that children from underserved backgrounds — a family who identified in the survey with at least two of the following: low-income, Black, Latino, Indigenous and with first-generation college-goers — are less likely than their peers to attend private schools or engage in learning beyond their typical school day. Thirty-eight percent of the 739 respondents in this category indicated they did not participate in any “out-of-school” learning experiences compared to 24% of their peers. 

Just 20% of underserved children attended camp compared to 32% of other students: Likewise, only 9% had private tutors compared to 14% of the remainder.

“Unfortunately, not all families can live out their K-12 aspirations,” Lehr said. “Too many parents are stuck. We must work hard to connect families with a broader set of learning opportunities and provide them the resources and tools necessary to take action.”

The survey included roughly 80 questions but respondents, each of whom had at least one child in grades K-12, didn’t answer all of them: The questions were dependent on previous answers and each took participants down a different path. 

Lakisha Young, executive director of The Oakland REACH, a parent-run group that empowers families from underserved communities to demand high-quality schools, said her organization was born out of frustration. 

On the 2022 California , 65% of Oakland Unified School District students failed to meet grade-level standards in English and 74% missed the mark in math. The roughly 35,500-student district has been failing children for generations, said Young, who reasons students wouldn’t fare so poorly if administrators were capable of improving outcomes without assistance. 

“We exist out of a problem,” said Young, who has three children, her eldest a sophomore at Sarah Lawrence College. “And we have to do everything we can to address it.”

The Oakland REACH, which got its start in 2016, launched an online family literacy hub during the pandemic that provides students with research-based reading instruction. 

The group is also working to recruit dozens of parents and other community members to serve as tutors for reading and math, helping them land paid jobs within the school district that not only support students but lift up families. 

“They resemble our kids, and come from similar neighborhoods,” Young said of the tutors. “Our model builds the assets already in the community.”

The Oakland REACH, which has plans to replicate its programs across the state and nation, has caught the attention of major education philanthropists, including MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who recently donated $3 million and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which earlier gave . It’s among 31 education nonprofits that will split $10 million in funding from Accelerate, a new venture launched this year by America Achieves to ensure that all students have access to free, effective tutoring.

Tyton also gathered information from more than 150 K-12 suppliers who serve children in and out of school. It advises the K-12 community to be parent centric and consider the availability, affordability and accessibility of the programs they offer — and communicate these offerings to parents. 

To that end, policymakers and those working in education can develop online platforms and provide guidance for families to navigate their local K-12 ecosystem, it said. Suppliers of student programs, the report found, can increase capacity to serve more children — and funders can help them grow. 

Disclosure: Walton Family Foundation, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and Stand Together Trust provide financial support to ����Ӱ��.