For the past three years, Streetside has been working hard on a project called STAR!, or Storytelling, Arts and Technology Resource program. STAR was funded by the U.S. Department of Education's
Arts Education Model Development and Dissemination Program. During STAR!, over 1200 youth took part in our
Tech Tales and
Storytelling Exchange programs. And at the same time, our wonderful evaluators at
WestEd used all kinds of nifty rubrics, surveys, and focus groups to find out what kind of impact Streetside is having on our students.
The final evaluation results are in. Because we touch students' lives every day, we know how effective our work is. But data is really important. It helps us understand how to improve our programs. It helps schools and districts know what partnering with us can do for their students. And it helps funders understand how they can invest their dollars strategically. That's why we were practically jumping up and down when we saw the results. All the charts, graphs and data are going to be gathered in a thick report, but here is a sampling of the fantastic findings:
When compared to a control group, a significantly greater proportion of
Storytelling Exchange students scored proficient or above on the English-Language Arts portion of the California Standards test.
When compared to a control group, Storytelling Exchange students reported a higher level of increase on a measure of
community and peer relationships.
Students participating in Tech Tales had a
significantly greater increase than a control group on a scale that measured attitudes and skills in technology.
Streetside students from both programs scored higher than control group students when it came to:
*following oral directions
*following written directions
*listening without interrupting
*listening actively
*understanding and using nonverbal communication cues
*participating appropriately in class
*particulating thoughts and feelings
*using appropriate words when speaking
A greater proportion of students in Streetside classrooms also:
*asked appropriate questions
*interrupted less when other were talking
*interacted appropriately with peers and adults
*listened actively and took notes
*were on task
*had clear and audible speech
All of this means that
Streetside is succeeding in our goal-- helping young people share their stories while gaining crucial technology and literacy skills. And we create a strong, structured classroom environment where young people can truly focus on learning.
Many thanks to our evaluator,
Juan Carlos Bojorquez, for all his hard work.
