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After-School Program in Korea: What It Looks Like and How Effective It Is

Mon, April 16, 2:15 to 3:45pm, Vancouver Convention Centre, Floor: First Level, West Room 111&112

Abstract

After-school program, which is consumer-oriented extracurricular activity, includes various programs such as compensatory education, specialty/aptitude development, and after-school caring. Current government, in particular, makes a great effort to reduce the needs of private tutoring among K-12 students by improving public education services. After-school programs can be viewed as one of the most representative policies of this kind. As a result, all elementary, middle, and high schools in Korea are running after-school programs and a total of 63.3% of K-12 students are participating in various types of after-school programs in 2010. To insure substantiality of after-school policy, various types of after-school programs and supporting system has been made, including rural area specific compensatory programs, lecture vouchers, aftercare services for elementary students, mentoring from college students, and after-school support center (Kim, H. et al, 2010).
This study is to review the current implementation status of after-school policy in Korea and to evaluate the effectiveness on school achievement and private tutoring expenditure.

Methods

This analysis using 2-level HLM and HGLM is used to investigate whether after-school program is effective and whether this program has differential effects depending on student achievement levels after controlling for student factors and family backgrounds. Also, Baron & Kenny's mediation framework (Baron & Kenny, 1986) is expended to 2-stage HLM to estimate the direct effects of after school program on school achievement and its indirect effects through private tutoring. The data is from 2007 National Assessment of Educational Achievement on the subject areas of Korean, Social Study, Mathematics, Science, and English with students in the 6th, 9th, and 10th grades. Next, its effects on after-school program participation and expenditure are evaluated by employing HGLM and 2-level HLM, respectively, using the data from 'The Survey of Private Education Expenditures' collected by Korea National Statistical Office from 2007 to 2010. Finally, 3-level growth model is used to investigate whether participation in after-school programs affects change in school achievement, using the combined data of College Scholastic Ability Test and the Korean Education Longitudinal Study from 2006(8th grade) to 2010(12th grade).

Preliminary results and Implications

After controlling for hours of private tutoring and student and school backgrounds, participation in (or attendance of) after-school program had a positive effect on school achievement (effect size ranged from 0.17 to 0.4 - highest in elementary schools and lowest in high schools), and its effect was higher among students with high ability levels.
Next, participation in after-school program was effective in reducing the rate of private tutoring and its expenditure of those who take private tutoring (odds ratio for private tutoring participation are 0.88, 0.72, and 0.90 in elementary, middle and general high school, respectively; private tutoring expenditure were 16%, 13% and 11% less among after-school participants in elementary, middle and general high schools, respectively).
These preliminary findings suggest that we need to review the contents of after-school programs of middle, general high, and vocational high schools. In particular, appropriate curriculum should be developed depending on school level and student ability.

Authors