Research has shown that income-related achievement gaps have been rising at an alarming rate for years. Higher-income families have access to more-enriching schooling environments. Structural inequalities in society, such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, and identity, present an opportunity gap for whites to gain opportunity, while Blacks and Latinos fall behind in achievement. As a result, educational transformations have influenced intellectual thought regarding the influence of extended learning and its impact on student achievement. The concept of extended and expanded is reforming how our nation's schools handle our educational crisis of finding ways to minimize the academic achievement gap among those of a low-socioeconomic background and the peers of higher status. The problem addressed by this study was the voice of low-income and at-risk middle school students is not often included in Expanded Learning Opportunities, thereby contributing to the ineffectiveness of the intervention program and thus causing the achievement gap to remain. The purpose of this qualitative explanatory case study was to explore how voice of low-income and at-risk middle school students in an Expanded Learning Opportunity is perceived by low-income students who attend an underperforming middle school located in Selma, AL. The method of this study was qualitative research with an explanatory case study design. The study sample was a small participant group of 10 students who engage daily in extended learning time before the start of the regular school day. The results of the study imply a need for Expanded Learning Opportunities in the lives of low-income students who attend underachieving schools and rely on federal funding to help combat educational disparities among students with contrasting socio-economic statuses. The study is recommended as transferrable, if completed in an educational institutional of similar dynamics. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]