Making Afterschool Programs Successful to Ensure Student Success During and After K-12 Education

After the 1960s, the need for supervision for school aged students after school was sought after at a higher rate due to the increase of the working population. From there, afterschool programs flourished into a way to provide academic support and social development opportunities. Through a qualitative study, this research synthesis looks at what elements make successful afterschool programs and in what ways ways afterschool programs are effective and ineffective in meeting the needs of students. Key phrases such as “afterschool programing”, “success after school”, and “afterschool academic support” produced peer reviewed articles with statistics of long lasting benefits as well as studies on the success of afterschool programs. Add sentences about how to get the 25 articles. Previous research has shown that regular participation in afterschool programs has led to better attitudes towards school, higher graduation rates (Afterschool Alliance, 2024), and higher standardized test scores (Vandell et al., 2007) . Utilizing the social cognitive theory (acquiring new skills largely through observation and modeling (Bandura,2001)), analysis of how afterschool programs have supported student achievement are discussed. Afterschool programs could utilize their resources to better support K-12 students needs.