Most U.S. Public K–12 Schools Offer After–School Programs but Many Cannot Accommodate All Students Who Want to Participate

WASHINGTON (November 14, 2024) — New School Pulse Panel (SPP) data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the statistical center within the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, show that 85 percent of the nation’s public K–12 schools offer after-school programs for students in 2024–25, and 60 percent of public schools have after-school programs with an academic focus.¹

According to school leader estimates, 13 percent of all K-12 students will participate in academically focused after-school programs during the school year. The data also indicate challenges in schools’ ability to accommodate every student who needs or wants to participate, with 42 percent of public schools indicating they would be able to provide academically focused after-school programs² to all students who want to participate in them.

Leaders of public schools that are not offering one or more academically focused after-school programs for the 2024-25 school year chose the following as reasons for not doing so:

• Lack of—or reductions in—funding to support after-school programs (37 percent)
• Cannot find staff to support after-school programs (30 percent)
• Lack of student participation (24 percent)
• Transportation limitations (24 percent)

Eighty-three percent of U.S. public schools offered programs for students during summer 2024, with 13 percent of students participating in academically focused programs.

“Public schools have reported that limited resources and staffing challenges are affecting their ability to provide academically focused after-school programs,” said NCES Commissioner Peggy Carr. “These findings, together with our recent data on teacher and staff hiring difficulties, underscore the key staffing needs that impact schools’ efforts to help students regain the academic ground lost during the pandemic.”

Of the public schools offering academically focused summer programs, 45 percent were able to provide their programs to all students who needed or wanted to participate.

Public school leaders commonly cited the following reasons for not running an academically focused summer school program this past summer:

• Implementing summer programming was not a priority for the school (26 percent)
• Lack of, or reductions in, funding to hire staff to support the programs (25 percent)
• Students attended academically focused summer programs at other schools within the same school district (21 percent)
• There were not enough students at the school who would have participated (17 percent)
• Could not find staff to support academically focused summer programs (13 percent)

NCES also collected, for the first time, data about schools incorporating the 2024 national election cycle into their civics instruction. Read more about these civics instruction data in the latest NCES blog.

The findings released today are part of an experimental data product from the School Pulse Panel, NCES’s innovative approach to delivering timely information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on public K–12 schools in the United States. The SPP data, collected September 10–24, came from 1,505 participating public K–12 schools from every state and the District of Columbia. The data include information about summer school programs, including programs offered and student participation.

Additional data collected from 100 public K–12 schools in the U.S. Outlying Areas—American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands—are also available. Results from this collection include the finding that 91 percent of Outlying Area public schools reported they offer after-school programs for students in 2024–25.

Experimental data products are innovative statistical tools created using new data sources or methodologies. Experimental data may not meet all of NCES’s quality standards but are of sufficient benefit to data users, in the absence of other relevant products, to justify release. NCES clearly identifies experimental data products upon their release.

All data released today can be found on the School Pulse Panel Dashboard.

After-school Programs for the 2024–25 School Year

• Eighty-five percent of U.S. public schools are offering after-school programs during the 2024–25 school year, and 60 percent are offering academically focused after-school programming, a decrease from the 2023-24 school year (64 percent).³
• Forty-two percent of U.S. public elementary schools are offering an extended-day care after-school program during the 2024-25 school year, an increase from the 2023-24 school year (35 percent).
• School leaders estimate that 13 percent of public school students will participate in academically focused after-school programs during the school year.
  • Compared to the national estimate (13 percent of students), public schools with the following characteristics estimate that lower percentages of students will participate in academically focused after-school programs:
    • With a student body made up of less than 25 percent students of color (8 percent of their students)
    • In the Midwest (9 percent of their students)
    • In rural areas (10 percent of their students)
  • Compared to the national estimate (13 percent of students), public schools with a student body made up of greater than 75 percent students of color estimate that a higher percentage of students will participate in academically focused after-school programs (20 percent of their students).
• Forty-two percent of public schools indicated they would be able to provide academically focused after-school programs⁴ to all students who want to participate in them.
• Fifty-nine percent of public schools utilized district or school finances to fund their academically focused after-school programs, 47 percent used federal grants or other federal programs, 29 percent used state grants or other state programs, and 13 percent used partnerships or sponsorships with organizations.
• Public school leaders at schools without one or more academically focused after-school programs were asked the reasons why their school is not running one for the 2024–25 school year. Commonly cited reasons among those offered were:
  • Lack of—or reductions in—funding to support after-school programs (37 percent)
  • Cannot find staff to support after-school programs (30 percent)
  • Lack of student participation (24 percent)
  • Transportation limitations (24 percent)

Summer Programs for Summer 2024

• Eighty-three percent of U.S. public schools offered programs for students during summer 2024.
• Thirteen percent of public school students participated in academically focused summer programs⁵ during summer 2024.
  • Compared to the national estimate (13 percent of students), public schools with a student body made up of 25 percent or lower students of color reported that a lower percentage of their students (9 percent) participated in academically focused summer programs. In contrast, public schools with a student body made up of 76 to 100 percent students of color reported that a higher percentage of their students (17 percent) participated in academically focused summer programs.
• Forty-five percent of public schools offering academically focused summer programs⁶ were able to provide their programs to all students who needed or wanted to participate in them.
• Sixty-four percent of public schools utilized district or school finances to fund their academically focused summer programs, 50 percent used federal grants or other federal programs, 36 percent used state grants or other state programs, and 7 percent used partnerships or sponsorships with organizations.
• Public school leaders at schools without one or more academically focused summer programs were asked the reasons why their schools did not operate one during summer 2024. Commonly cited reasons among those offered were:
  • Implementing summer programming was not a priority for the school (26 percent)
  • Lack of, or reductions in, funding to hire staff to support the programs (25 percent)
  • Students attended academically focused summer programs at other schools within the same school district (21 percent)
  • There were not enough students at the school who would have participated (17 percent)
  • Could not find staff to support academically focused summer programs (13 percent)

Civics Education

• According to public school leaders, 77 percent of schools had at least one teacher incorporate the 2024 national election cycle into their lessons this year.
• Fifty-two percent of public schools reported having special programming around the 2024 national election cycle, including voter registration opportunities for students⁷, mock debates, mock voting, assemblies/guest speakers, and/or other special programming. The table below shows the percentages of schools offering each of these programs for all public schools and by school level.

Table 1. Percentage of public schools with selected special programming activities around the national election cycle, by school level, 2024-25 school year

	All public schools	Elementary	Middle/combined	High/secondary
Voter registration opportunities for students1	66	‡	42	72
Mock voting	37	35	40	41
Mock debates	17	9	20	36
Assemblies/guest speakers	12	8	11	24
Other special programming	7	6	6	8

¹ Only asked of schools serving 11th- or 12th-grade students.

‡ Reporting standards not met. The coefficient of variation is greater than 50 percent or there are too few cases for a reliable analysis.

Statistics from sample surveys are subject to sampling and non-sampling error. All comparisons in this statistical press release have been tested and found to be statistically significant unless otherwise noted. NCES statistical tests are generally conducted at a 95 percent level of confidence. Additional details regarding the methodology, including the survey questionnaire, can be found on the School Pulse Panel methodology web page.

Summer school program: classes offered during the summer that students take for remediation or credit recovery purposes. Students are often required to attend summer school because of their academic performance during the school year.

Summer learning and enrichment programs: classes or programs offered during the summer that students may participate in that provide additional learning opportunities, or course credit, in a variety of subject areas. Students’ participation in these programs is voluntary.

Summer bridge programs: programs offered during the summer that support transitions to a new grade or school levels (e.g., the transition from elementary to middle school or from middle to high school).

Academic assistance program: after-school programs or services whose primary purpose is to provide instruction to students who need academic assistance.

Academic enrichment program: after-school programs or services whose primary purpose is to provide instruction to students who seek academic enrichment.