Presents background information and reviews empirical research concerning the phenomenon of latchkey children. (Author/BB)

Over the past decade, "out-of-school time" and "after-school programs" have been identified as objects of research, funding, and policy initiatives across federal and state agencies as well as public, private, and nonprofit foundations. The increasing attention to and funding of programs that engage youth outside of the formal…

Scholars, practitioners, and laypeople at one time or another have questioned what learning is and how it can be measured once it is defined. Many use the term interchangeably with growth, change, development, knowledge, education, cognition, or acquisition as it is commonly considered in educational practice. However, most generally assume a…