A project of the Afterschool Alliance.

Hawaii Statewide Evaluation of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program: School Year 2016-17 Evaluation Report

Year Published: 2018

A statewide evaluation of Hawaii’s 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) programs during the 2016-17 school year examined outcomes related to participants’ academic performance, engagement, and behavior. The evaluation found improvements in homework completion, classroom participation, and classroom behavior among students regularly participating in the program based on teacher surveys.  

Program Name: Hawaii 21st Century Community Learning Centers

Program Description:

Hawaii’s 21st Century Community Learning Center program—which receives federal support through the 21st CCLC initiative—serves high-needs communities across the state, providing local afterschool and summer programming through 20 sub-grantees operating 77 centers serving 9,566 students during the 2016-17 school year.

Scope of the Evaluation: Statewide

Program Type: Afterschool

Location: Hawaii

Grade level: Elementary School, Middle School, High School

Program Demographics:

All schools served by Hawaii’s 21st CCLC programs are Title I eligible, meaning more than 40 percent of students qualify for Free and Reduced Price Lunch. The percentage of students served by grantees that qualified for the Federal Free or Reduced Price Lunch program ranged from 25 percent to 95 percent, with an overall average of 46 percent. Sub-grantees reported serving between no English language learners and serving up to 94 percent ELL students, with an average of 8.8 percent. For students with special needs, the range of students served was 1 percent to 12 percent, with an average of 6.7 percent. Regarding race and ethnicity, grantees reported that 40.5 percent of students served were Native Hawaiian, 24.4 percent were Asian, 7.9 percent were White, 1.41 percent were Latino, 1.2 percent were Black, and 0.3 percent were American Indian. All averages are based on Afterschool Alliance calculations of the data provided. 

Program Website: http://www.hawaiipublicschools.org/ParentsAndStudents/SupportForStudents/21stCCLC/Pages/default.aspx

Evaluator: Barker, L.T., Rayyes, N., Magill, K., & McLelland, C. IMPAQ International, LLC.

Evaluation Methods:

Data collected included quantitative data from the Annual Performance Reporting (APR) system, which includes teacher reported data, and a review of the 2016-17 sub-grantee evaluation reports submitted to the Hawaii Department of Education.   

Evaluation Type: Non-experimental

Summary of Outcomes:

During the 2016-2017 school year, students who regularly attended Hawaii's 21st Century Community Learning Centers program (at least 30 days) showed improvement in homework submission and classroom participation, as well as their classroom behavior. Based on teacher reports, the percentage of regularly participating students who improved turning in their homework on time and participation in class ranged from 30 percent to 93 percent. A majority of the sub-grantees that submitted information reported that more than 60 percent of students improved turning in their homework and participating in class. The percentage of students improving their classroom behavior ranged from 21 percent to 91 percent, with a majority of sub-grantees reporting that more than 60 percent of students improved their behavior.

The evaluation reported out on academic indicators. Of the nine sub-grantees reporting academic improvement among students participating in the program, the percent of students improving in reading ranged from 20 percent to 92 percent and the percent of students improving in math ranged from 12 percent to 95 percent. The evaluators indicated discrepancies in data, with some sub-grantees reporting on improvement of all participating students and other reporting only on students who were in need of improvement in the respective area.

A few sub-grantees examined students' growth in their social and emotional skills and competencies. For instance, the Maui Economic Development Board Women in Technology Project reported that 90 percent of their students improved in working cooperatively and 82 percent improved their ability to encourage and support teammates.