Student perceptions of the Amistad Academy: An urban out -of -school -time program in Flint, Michigan

The purpose of this study was to examine student perceptions of participation in the Amistad Academy, an out-of-school-time program in Flint, MI. The students involved in this study were volunteer participants in eighth through twelfth grades from the surrounding area.;The study incorporated a nonexperimental, descriptive research design and used a pre-survey and post-survey instrument developed by Geiger and Britsch (2000) to evaluate out-of-school-time programs. Slight modifications were made to the pre-survey and post-survey to obtain additional information on satisfaction with the program and communication with staff, friends, parents or guardians regarding school activities and school-related concerns.;Students were asked to participate in the survey during the first week of the program. A parent research information sheet was mailed to parents prior to program participation. A total of 40 students were asked to complete an assent form before participation. There was a 100% survey completion rate of return.;Four research questions were developed for this study to determine student perceptions of participation in an out-of-school-time program.;Seven subscales were used: school related behaviors, parent communication, communication with friends, and communication with staff, safety, satisfaction, and program evaluation.;Significance was found on subscales measuring satisfaction and evaluation which indicated that the majority of the students rated the program favorably. The results of the study indicated that the most students were satisfied with the Amistad Academy and evaluated the program positively.;Recommendations for further research would be to establish longitudinal studies to determine long-term effects of program participation in comparison with students that have not participated in the program.