How
we measure results:
In
order to measure the impact of the
Critical-Thinking (CT-IED) Program, 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.
Please
contact
us if you are interested in investing in our
programs.
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