As Generation Citizen continues to grow, we continue to assess our impact- both through determining which parts of our our program are working and which we need to improve. To do this, we are employing a number of different evaluation tools, including a pre- and post-test survey, and more rigorous process evaluation tools, which involve numerous interviews with students, teachers, and Democracy Coaches.
In the 2012-2013 school year, Rebecca Casciano, through her outfit Glass Frog, spent time researching the impact that Generation Citizen had on two specific measures: efficacy, or the sense of a young person that they can be effective individuals and citizens, and civic skills, which we define as the skills necessary to be an effective citizen, like critical thinking, group work, and critical thinking.
Because of the nature of the studies, the Glass Frog team focused on depth more than breadth, interviewing a select number of students. Given this, the results are promising. Generation Citizen was proven to have a positive impact both on students’ individual sense of efficacy and their skills.
Click here for the skills report, and here for the efficacy report. We’d love to hear your thoughts. We’ll be continuing this in the upcoming year, aided heavily by the grant from the Knight Foundation.