SUMMARY of Evaluation Findings 2002-05
The evaluation findings for the evaluation conducted 2002-05 at PS-142 The Amalia Castro School indicated that increased student success in learning could be measured across five dimensions of learning as a result of the arts and dance partnership with MDDF. These findings also indicated that these measures of increased student success in learning were attributable to the MDDF-PS 142 partnership, including the MDDF arts- and dance-based pedagogical methodology. PS 142 students were followed for three years as they moved from first to third grades and worked for 28-32 weeks per year through MDDF's arts and dance-based methodology. The evaluation design included mixed quasi-experimental, qualitative, and qualitative-artistic methods of data collection, coding, analysis, and interpretation to arrive at the findings. The findings were as follows:
• Literacy: We hypothesized that student achievement on standardized literacy tests would increase as a result of the MDDF methodology in dance and the dramatic arts. English Language Arts skills increased in quality and quantity of descriptive and analytical writing, as compared with our control group. (The control group included students new to school or not participating over the three full years of our program.)• Math: Unexpectedly, student math scores increased as those of our control group decreased on city-wide standardized tests. (The control group included students similar to ours at a neighborhood school.)
• Kinesthetic Thinking: Our students' dance and kinesthetic thinking skills, such as working in space and time and by modulating use of their energies increased measurably over those of our control group. (The control group included students similar to ours at a neighborhood school.)
• Emotional Expression: Students demonstrated increased emotional maturity, a wider range of positive affective responses, and enhanced conflict resolution skills, than peers without the program.
• Social Interaction: Student self-directed behavioral modification and social learning skills increased as demonstrated in cooperative group and small group learning contexts.
INTERPRETATION of the Evaluation Findings 2002-05
Students' academic skills increased measurably in math and literacy through indicators of standardized testing and dance journal writing. Students developed increased self-reflective and self-regulatory behaviors through on-going self-assessment. A direct causal link cannot be claimed between the MDDF partnership program and increased student achievement on standardized math tests without further scientific study. However, students displayed increased academic success in literacy and math, increased kinethetic skills, greater emotional maturity, and developed more positive ways to act in the world than their peers in the control group without the benefit of the MDDF program, Partnerships in Literacy through Dance & Creativity©.
EVAULATION 2005-07
The results of the evaluation will soon be published. Our inquiry group and evaluation team included PS 142 teachers Susan Cavin, PhD, math coach; Ana Maria Mercado, grade 2; Stuart Pyle, MA, music teacher; Megan Quirk, special educator, grade 2; and Elizabeth Sechler, kindergarten; MDDF staff members Mark DeGarmo, PhD and Nuria Martinez, BA and Maria Mitchell, teaching artists; and Center for Arts Education coach Karen Fitzgerald.