Introduction

The first afterschool programs began in the United States in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s due to change in youth demographics, increase in formal schooling and decrease in child labor (Halpern, 2002). At the beginning they were functioning as local clubs before evolving through the time in order to adjust to the need of the families. The creation of universal, compulsory education led to an extended period of discretionary time during the afterschool hours for children in the U.S. (Kleiber & Powell, 2005 as cited in Mahoney et al., 2009). It is only in 1994 that the Congress authorizes the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program to open schools up to broader use by their communities. Then in 1998, public schools in urban and rural areas were asked to open longer to provide a broad range of community services, including academic support and enrichment programs (You For Youth, n.d). Since then, afterschool programs have been around, and several organizations were created to help students’ overall development. These programs are believed to have several outcomes on students, so it is critical to assess them in a proper way to prove if they actually have an effect. The program we are going to assess in this evaluation is an afterschool tutoring program offered by the nonprofit After-School All-Stars to students from low-income neighborhoods.