How do effective programs deliver academic content? Can after-school programs help students master a broader base of content? What strategies can help programs and systems deliver content effectively? What is realistic to expect of programs? Program content is closely linked with our understandings about the purpose of after-school programming. Interviews with Bob Stonehill, director of the State and Local Services Division at the U.S. Department of Education, and Karen Walker, vice president of Public/Private Ventures, help us uncover what’s inside the “black box” of after-school programs.