Community Assessment Applied After School

Community Assessment Applied

After School Supervision

National Data: 75% of middle school children spend at least an hour or two each day after school without any adult supervision. Nearly half of these children (36% of the total population) only spend a maximum of two hours unsupervised, however, while less than a quarter of children that experience no supervision (16% of the total population) spend six or more hours unsupervised each day.

Springfield Middle School Data: A total of 21% of children typically go to entirely unsupervised environments -- either their home or a local hangout -- after school; and additional eleven percent are supervised only by a sibling. 30% of children participate in a (presumably) structured after-school activity program, and another 20% go to local "hang-out" spots where adult supervision is present, meaning half of all middle school students are engaged in adult-supervised activities. The remaining 17% either simply go home with a parent or caregiver (10%) or to a friend's house (where it is assumed a parent or caregiver is present).

Interpretation: This data is difficult to interpret because they do not provide measures of the same observations. The national measures of hours spent alone can be compared somewhat to where children go immediately after school, but it is possible that man of the students that go home alone or with a sibling will only be without a parent or caregiver for an hour or two -- this data is not presented.

Conclusion: Further nvestigation of time spent alone is needed, though it does not appear to be a major issue in this community.

Topic Area 2: Participation in Extracurricular Activities at School

National Data: 70% of students nationally participate in some amount of curricular activity, with almost half of these students (32% of the total population) participating only in an hour or two (per week, it is assumed). A substantial 21% of the total population participates in extracurricular activities six hours or more, with 8% at eleven hours or more of participation. Nearly a third (30%) of all students surveyed, however, do not participate in extracurricular activities at all.

Springfield Middle School Data: At Springfield Middle School, 57% of students participate in extra curricular activities, and of these students half participate in school sports. Band and chorus each involve around 30% each of participating students (29% and 31%, respectively), with 23% of participating students taking part in other clubs.