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Students' Use of Time Outside of School: A Case for After School Programs for Urban Middle School Youth

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Abstract

Students in 4 inner-city middle schools serving mostly (90.9%) economically disadvantaged, minority youth were asked how they spend their time after school and on weekends. Analysis of responses from 1583 students revealed that the vast majority did not participate in after-school programs (77.2%) or lessons of any kind (86.5%). Students reported extensive time spent watching television or hanging out with friends. Weekends presented a similar pattern of unstructured social activity with even more television viewing and considerably less homework. Four-way ANOVAs of 13 composite time measures for a week revealed no significant school differences, only 2 significant grade differences, but several interesting and highly significant differences by sex and by race. Implications for designing after school programs are discussed in light of the students' highly unproductive use of time outside of school.

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Shann, M.H. Students' Use of Time Outside of School: A Case for After School Programs for Urban Middle School Youth. The Urban Review 33, 339–356 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012248414119

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