Starting in May 1998, Public/Private Ventures (P/PV) and the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation (MDRC) began the evaluation of this large-scale initiative. They used a multi-method approach designed to provide both an understanding of the breadth of programming experiences and the ability to more deeply delve into particular issues. 

To learn about the activities of all the programs in the Extended-Service Schools (ESS) effort, they asked all the school site coordinators and city-level program directors to complete annual organizational surveys summarizing what their programs were doing. 

To gain deeper insight into individual sites and learn about promising practices, they conducted multiple in-depth site visits to 10 cities during 1999- 2000, interviewing staff, partners, students, parents, and key city officials. They also intensively focused on programs in a total of 10 schools in six of these cities. During 2000-2001, they collected computerized attendance records from those programs and gathered cost data. They administered a baseline questionnaire to fourth- to eighth grade students between fall 1999 and the end of 2000 as they enrolled in the program or the research. In Spring 2001, they administered a follow-up survey to fourth- to eighth-grade students who had ever enrolled in ESS and were still in the school (although not necessarily currently participating in ESS). A telephone survey of a sample of those students’ parents was also conducted to learn about the program from their perspective. And, finally, in 3 of the 10 schools, they conducted multiple observations of the afterschool activities.