Assessment of Public Schools’ Out-of-School Time Academic Support Programs with Participant-Oriented Evaluation

Journal of Education and Learning, cilt.7, ss.159-175, 2018 (Hakemli Dergi)

Using the participants-oriented approach, this study evaluated public schools’ out-of-school time academic

support programs, corresponding to the corrective/enrichment stage of Bloom’s Mastery Learning Model and

offered outside formal education’s weekday hours and on weekends. Study participants included 50 principals,

110 teachers, 170 students attending programs, 110 students not attending programs, and 61 parents, all selected

through random sampling in a survey-model study in Istanbul, Turkey. Partial findings were the following.

According to principals and teachers, programs were sufficiently introduced to target groups. Satisfaction of

attending students with the teaching—learning process was sufficient, and students believed program

participation increased their success in regular classes. However, program functioning presented some problems.

Administrators and teachers think the no-cost programs resulted in lack of interest among students. In addition,

problems of materials and transportation have not been completely solved. Similarly, offered classes and

lessons’ content organization fall short of expectations. In conclusion, out-of-school time academic support

programs play important roles in reducing differences among learning levels based on individual characteristics

in collective or formal learning. Still, student needs should be fulfilled, and programs should be maintained.

Further studies should be conducted on these programs’ integration into formal education.