How we measure results:
In
order to measure the impact of the Critical-
Thinking / Integral Education Program (CT-IED), we collect data at three different
levels; student, classroom and staff. In
order to set context it is good to know that
most of our students live in resource-poor
environments. Many lack access to adequate
food, electricity, and running water and
their ramshackle homes, commonly of dirt
floors, tin walls and roofs, are located in
dangerous slums which are adversely affected
by earthquakes, mudslides and gang activity.
Physical, emotional and psychological abuse
is common.
Students: We track the extent to which students are connected
with and actively engaging in the CT-IED
Program and our other programs and the
extent to which those services result in
improved functioning for the students
served. Accordingly, we use various measures
of;
1.
The
grades the students receive from their
public school and college education.
2.
The grades the students receive from our own
CT-IED exams (3-4 annually).
3.
Their attendance and attentiveness.
4.
The student’s depth of response to weekly
homework assignments.
5.
The
student’s depth of response to impromptu
in-class assignments.
6.
Their interactions with other students and
willingness to refer their friends/siblings.
7. The increase/decrease of personal
problems issues at home, school, or with
peers.
8.
The
depth of questions during our Wisdom Speaker
events.
9.
The
student’s willingness to share their
dreams/lucid dream and other state
experiences.
10.
The
emergence of nation-centric and
world-centric perspectives.
Explanation
for 1, 2 and 3: Our pre 9th grade
students begin attending this program at age
13. Many of our students are also in our
sponsorship program. This means that we have
found a sponsor for them who funds their
education pre and post 9th grade. If a teen
has a sponsor they are mandated to attend
CT-IED program. However, about 20% of the
CT-IED students are currently not sponsored
and attend voluntarily.
As part of maintaining their sponsorship the
student must present a copy of their
quarterly grades from the public school or
college they attend. We require a grade
point average of 70%. This allows us to
track their overall progress and we do see
an overall trend of improvement, especially
with the most interested CT-IED students.
Non-sponsored students are not required to
give us their grades.
In
the CT-IED program we have 3-4 written exams
each year. Some questions are one line
responses, others are open ended. We are
looking to see their ability to reply
succinctly when required and also the depth
of their responses. With the essay questions
we are also seeking to measure the impact of
our work when student connect topics and
threads that we did not necessarily connect
in the class.
For instance, Jeff Carreira gave a video
skype class on emptiness. The previous
semester we were covering values
hierarchies. We noticed in a later exam that
one student was pondering the relationship
between our values, and our ability to
arrange them, to the fact that awareness
arises from no-thing.
The exams also allow us to see the
general stage of reference of the student,
if traditional mythic, self-power or higher.
We
perform standard tracking of attendance,
prior notification that a class will be
missed and general overall attentiveness of
each of the students. In our program there
is a three-strikes-you’re-out policy. We
are seeking consistency in attendance and
attentiveness as a mark of the impact of
this work on the awareness of the
individual.
Explanation
for 4, 5, 6, and 7: We
currently teach the CT-IED program once per
week. We give homework each week which the
student is asked to experiment with the
class content and then present their
findings the following week. This greatly
encourages self-confidence and self-esteem
(as we have seen even in the most meek
students) because they have to present in
front of their class mates.
We
also assign homework and impromptu in-class
tasks to pairs of students and they again
have to play out their experiments in class
or the following week. When we randomly
assign exercises during the class period,
which the students have to quickly prepare
for, then we mix and match them according to
where they live. Guatemalans are still quite
tribal and even kids who live a few miles
apart have little to share with each other
so this gives us a great opportunity to see
how this work is positively impacting their
ability to bond and produce a mutually
agreeable response with a person who
ordinarily would be avoided.
We
used to source new students by visiting
other NGO’s and informing them of our work
and that besides the benefit of the CT-IED
work, that there was the
possibility that if a student
attended they might also find a sponsor (we
currently have 60 children and adolescent
with individual sponsors). We no longer do
this and instead rely on and gauge the
impact of the program by the number of new
students referred to us by existing ones.
Currently 20% of our students at the end of
2013 are siblings, friends, or school mates
who were referred to us by existing
students. When we ask a newly referred
student to introduce him/herself to the
class we also ask what they heard that made
them want to come; most often we hear that
the classes have positively impacted the
life, decision-making, and self-perspective
of the referrer. This we really like to
hear!
The
students use this class to share personal
issues in the context of the teachings which
affords us the opportunity to address common
teen problems in an open forum. They also
approach us, the teachers, and our staff
members before and after the class. We track
the increase/decrease of personal problems,
issues at home, with their boy/girl friends,
at school, and with their peers which are
reported during these meetings as a way to
gauge the impact of the work. We also ask
them to apply what they have learned to
specific problems, and given permission, ask
them to recount those newly emergent
solutions with the class.
An
additional method we use to seek feedback on
the impact of the program is that during
meal times (in this program) we assign
seating based on their location, similar to
how we mix and match the students from
different villages and towns above. This
gives us another indicator of positive
impact of the work on the kids’ ability to
make light conversation with peers from
different geographical locations.
Explanation
for 8, 9, and 10: In
our Wisdom Speaker Series we invite guest
speakers to give a seminar to our students,
either in-person or via video-skype. As a
measure of the impact of this program we
monitor the number and the quality of
questions that the students have for our
invited guests. In the following week’s
class we debrief and unpack the speaker
event and are constantly seeking out gems of
understanding that have solidified because
of our course work and the content of the
speaker’s event.
We
seek clarity in our student’s recounting
of dreams and lucid dreams, in the context
of shadow or simple experimentation. We also
gauge the impact of the work as positive
since on several occasions we have had
students who have experienced states of
euphoria or great sadness and both
simultaneously because of realizations
during the classes. We allow and support
these expressions and encourage the students
to describe, as best they can, their
experiences for the benefit of all the
students.
One
of the key areas by which we can measure the
impact of our work is in the evidence for
shifts in perspectives. In 2013 we
challenged our students to write a one-page
article titled ‘My Perfect Day’ and then
to share that with the class the following
week. Many, as you can expect where
egocentric, personal experience based
narratives. However, two of our student
revealed to us by means of their story that
their perspective had shifted quite
dramatically. Here is a summary of their
stories;
[Name removed] who is 21, a 3rd year student
of ours, who is also being sponsored by one
of our donors to study for a career as a
chef. As part of his practical work his
class was invited to select an impoverished
village to cook for and feed for a day. The
village they selected was only reachable by
horseback. [Name removed] described this
experience of helping other people as
‘blissful’ and incorporated not only
such an event as part of a homework exercise
called ‘My Perfect Day’ but also the
fact that he saw himself with a worldwide
chain of self-sustaining and free
restaurants for the poor.
[Name
removed], 16, is a first year student who
was referred to our work from another school
after she expressed an interest in learning
about philosophy. Also as part of our
homework exercise called ‘My Perfect
Day’, [Name removed], who wishes to study
to be a nurse, expressed a wish to open
medical clinic for the impoverished
throughout the world.
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