Successful Computer-Based After-School Program for At-Risk Children in an Urban Middle School - Dissertation Example

In these days of increased budget constraints any program that is competing for funding will have to be able to prove its efficacy. Having data to support the impact on academics of at-risk students will be beneficial to the program which requires funding, the entity which will supply the funding, and the students themselves as they will be able to do,termine if their time and/or money will be well-spent.

This was a research project using interviews and reviews of academic progress reports/report cards. These methods allowed the researcher to not only establish a baseline as far as the students’ grades are concerned but allowed for a look at the students’ points-of-view of the program. The interviews took place at a middle school. The findings show that participation in the after-school program led to improvements in academic performance in math. However, there were also several additionstudent’sts as a result of the participation in terms of feelings, and attipoints of the viewer. I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my parents, Theodore and Patricia Wilson for their encouragement and support in what has turned out to be one of my greatest journeys.

Without the additional support and understanding of my family and friends, this dissertation would not be in existence. Acknowledgements I would like to express my appreciativeness to my committee chair and mentor, Dr. E. Alana James, for her constant inspiration, feedback, and reinforcement. Thank you to Dr. Camilla Ferebee and Dr. Thea Williams for serving stupendously as my dissertation committee members. Their valued sAcknowledgmentsnowledge have guided me throappreciationul three-year journey.

Considerable attention and resources have been directed to after-school programs, particularly those that serve urban students and even more specifically those that serve at-risk students in urban schools. However, little is known about the origin, mission, or goals of after-school prthree-yearlpern, 2002), and even less is known about the impact on the academics of the students who participate in these programs.