Quality after-school programs have been shown to cut crime, victimization, destructive behavior and even obesity among teens – and now there’s evidence that even beyond academic performance, after-school programs can boost graduation rates. Students in Los Angeles' Better Educated Students for Tomorrow (LA's BEST) free after-school program were less likely to drop out of high school than their peers – leading to at least a 20 percent improvement in the district dropout rate, according to a study by the UCLA National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing.

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