Expanded Learning Programs 2023 - Legislative Report
The 2023 Report to the Legislature, Legislative Analyst's Office and the Governor regarding the characteristics of schools and students participating in Expanded Learning Programs.Executive Summary
The California Department of Education (CDE) oversees the most extensive system of high-quality expanded learning programs (ELPs) in the nation through three initiatives: (1) the state-funded After School Education and Safety (ASES) program for students in grades kindergarten through nine; (2) the federally funded 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program for grades kindergarten through nine and the After School Safety and Enrichment for Teens (ASSETs) program for grades nine through twelve; and (3) the state-funded Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) Program established in July of 2021 for students in grades kindergarten through six. In the 2020–21 school year, prior to the establishment of the ELO Program, California’s ASES and 21st CCLC programs alone operated at 4,316 sites and served 447,149 students in grades kindergarten through twelve.
Senate Bill 1221, Chapter 370, Statutes of 2014, signed by the governor on September 16, 2014, added Section 8428 to the California Education Code (EC), requiring the CDE to submit a biennial report to the California State Legislature regarding the type, distribution, and quality of California’s ASES and 21st CCLC ELPs and the characteristics of the students participating in them, including participation numbers and demographics, program attendance, academic performance, behavior, and skill development. As it is currently, this statute does not include the collection or evaluation of ELO Program data. EC Section 8483(c)(1)(A) identifies the programs target populations as socioeconomically disadvantaged students and homeless and foster youths; however, as this report will show, California ELPs also serve students of color.
The 2017 Biennial Report, the first report submitted in compliance with this statute, summarized analyses of the 2015–16 school year data, which had become available through the CDE’s improved data collection efforts. The analyses compared schools that received CDE grant funding for California ELPs (grantees) to schools that did not receive ELP funding (nongrantee schools). The analyses also compared students participating in California ELPs to nonparticipating students. The evidence documented in that report indicated that California ELPs served two of the programs’ target populations—socioeconomically disadvantaged students and homeless students, as well as students of color—and had a positive impact on an important outcome indicator: school attendance. Data on foster youths was not included in the 2015–16 school year data file and thus was not reported on.
The 2021 Biennial Report summarized analyses of the 2018–19 school-year data (Wendt, Austin, and Lewis 2021). Improvements to data collection efforts resulted in enhancements to data quality, enabling more detailed data analyses. Specifically, in addition to showing that the CDE continued to provide funding to ELPs that served the target student populations—socioeconomically disadvantaged students, homeless students, and foster youths, as well as students of color—it showed the statistical impact on school attendance: participants attended an average of up to 1.5 percent more school days compared to their nonparticipating peers, findings that aligned with results from the previous report.
The 2023 Biennial Report includes a comprehensive historical overview of ELPs in California. Following this historical overview, the report presents findings from the 2020–21 school year, including a comparison of results across the 2017, 2021, and 2023 Biennial Reports. The 2023 Biennial Report also includes information regarding the impacts of the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic as they relate to ELPs in California and the obstacles, efforts, and personal experiences of ELP staff, students, and families. Among the countless impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic was the disruption in collection of student education data, specifically for the 2019–20 and 2020–21 school years. Consequently, student outcome measures were not included in the 2023 Biennial Report analysis. To help compensate for the absence of quantitative data, qualitative interviews and a focus group were conducted with a sample of California ELP directors (administrative personnel who generally oversee the entire grant), site coordinators (direct services providers to program staff and students), and youth participants to provide insight on the importance of California ELPs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Based on data from the 2020–21 school year, the results from the 2023 Biennial Report revealed the following key findings:
- As intended, schools that received ELP funding served socioeconomically disadvantaged students, homeless students, foster youths, and students of color. Almost one-third of students (30.9 percent) in grantee schools were also English learners.
- Within grantee schools, an average of 18.5 percent of students participated in California ELPs. Program participants were representative of the larger student body.
- California ELPs played a critical role in supporting students most in need by providing innovative, high-quality virtual and in-person programming that met the ever-changing needs of students and families throughout the 2020–21 school year.