For the 10th consecutive year, the Center for Youth and Communities at Brandeis University has conducted a thorough evaluation of Earth Force's programs. And for the 10th consecutive year, they found increasingly positive results. Below is an excerpt of the findings detailed in a report that you can download at the bottom of this page.
Program participants continue to report a positive program experience. Seventy-seven percent of Earth Force participants rated their experience as “good” or “excellent,” and 64% wanted to be in Earth Force again. Sixty-two percent of participants felt that their project had made a difference and an equal percentage wanted to continue working on the issue their project addressed. Eighty percent of participants reported that they had gained a better understanding of environmental issues, and over 75% reported that they wanted to learn more about environmental issues as a result of the program. In general, these figures are comparable to those reported for 2004-2005.
Program participants showed statistically significant gains in program-related attitudes. As in 2004-2005, Earth Force participants showed statistically significant gains in 2005-2006 on the two summary measures of participant attitudes used in the participant surveys – the Earth Force Scale and the Civic Efficacy Scale.3 Overall, participants showed positive, statistically significant gains on 21 of 27 attitudinal items on the survey (Table 1). Gains were also evident across most of the Earth Force local offices, with participants from 7 of the 8 local office programs showing positive, statistically significant gains on the two summary attitudinal measures.
Participants continue to report strong, statistically significant gains in self-assessed civic skills. As in prior years, Earth Force asked participants, at the end of the program, to assess changes in a number of civic skills by indicating their skill level at the beginning of the school year and at the end of the program. Skills included ability to find information, analyze a policy, write letters about a community issue, work on a team, and plan an action project. Students reported gains that were large enough to be statistically significant on all of the skill items on the scale, and, on average, more than two thirds (66%) of students reported gains on each of the skills in the survey (Table 2).
A large majority of Earth Force educators reported gains in participants’ environmental and civic knowledge, skills and attitudes. Over 95% of the educators who completed a survey reported increases in their students’ awareness of environmental issues; ability to plan and carry out a community project; commitment to working on environmental issues; belief they could make a difference in the community; sense of belonging to the community; decision-making skills, and engagement in learning. Most educators (90% or more) also pointed to increases in participants’ leadership skills, decision-making and problem-solving skills; confidence in working with adults; and understanding of the connection between skills learned in school and their use in the “real world.” Across the full set of educator assessments, 48% of the educators surveyed thought the program had a “large impact” on participant skills; 45% indicated a “small to moderate” impact; and only 7% thought it had no impact.
Earth Force educators continue to report that involvement in the program positively impacted their own teaching and attitudes towards their students. More than 80% of Earth Force educators reported an increase in their knowledge of environmental issues, their use of community issues and student-led projects in their classrooms, and their satisfaction in teaching as a result of involvement in Earth Force. Seventy percent or more reported an increase in their emphasis on environmental issues in their classrooms, their belief that young people can make a difference in the community, and their own personal commitment to improving the environment. More than 70% also noted increased connections to other educators, increased access to resources and materials for use in teaching, new partnerships with community organizations, and an increased sense of self confidence as an educator. Eighty-nine percent plan to use Earth Force again next year, and 99% percent would recommend the Earth Force program to other educators.
