• The NJ After 3 initiative succeeded in expanding the availability of after-school services and in attracting increased numbers of youth to its programs. On average, program attendance rates increased at all grade levels over the evaluation’s three years.
  
  
• Most youth participants attributed important academic, social, and personal outcomes to their engagement in the program.
  
  
• Teachers reported improvements in the language-arts skills of two-year participants, relative to grade-level expectations within their schools. This finding indicates that these participants made greater gains over two years than would be expected based on their performance level in the first year.
  
  
• Parents identified the ways in which their children had benefited from program participation. Parents also reported that the program had allowed them to pursue employment or increase their hours at work because they knew that their child was being well-supervised after school.
  
  
• Staff at some programs indicated that they were challenged to sustain current levels of service. Reduced funding from NJ After 3 (based on program parameters set when NJ After 3 was established) had resulted in increased program fees or reductions in programming at some sites. Although programs knew that funding from NJ After 3 would be gradually reduced over time, some programs reported that they had not developed strategies for securing new revenue.
  
  

                                              Third-Year Report

                                              Second-Year Report

                                              First-Year Report