The Evidence

A recent two-year (2004-2006) evaluation by the Center for Youth and Communities at Brandeis University found that KIDS Consortium programs had a positive impact on the civic, social, and academic attitudes of program participants (middle and high school students), on their civic skills, and on their involvement in volunteer service.

Program participants were significantly more likely to show an increase on measures of civic, social, and school-related attitudes. In general, participants were roughly 1.5 times more likely than comparison students to show an increase in each of those areas.

Program participants were significantly more likely to show an increase in:

• Civic efficacy (their sense of being able to make a difference) – 49% of participants showed a gain vs. 36% of comparison students
• Interest in future involvement in civic affairs – 35% of participants showed a gain vs. 26% of comparison students
• Their sense of belonging in the community – 52% of participants showed a gain vs. 38% of comparison students
• Their sense of personal efficacy (ability to make a difference) – 39% of participants showed a gain vs. 31% of comparison students

Program participants were also significantly more likely to report gains on measures of civic skills than comparison students. Examples of civic skills include ability to: identify important community problems/need; use multiple sources to research a community problem; compare pros and cons of different solutions to a problem; communicate ideas to others; and work effectively on a team.

• On 16 of the 17 individual skill questions, participants were significantly more likely to show an increase than comparison students.
• Participants were nearly 1.7 times more likely to report an increase on the overall measure of civic skills; they were also more than twice as likely to report a larger than average increase than comparison students. That is, participants were not only more likely to show some gains, they tended to show gains across a broader set of skills than the comparison students.

Participants were significantly more likely to show an increase in their involvement in volunteer service. Participants were roughly 1.5 times more likely to report an increase in hours of service than comparison students.

Learn more about the benefits of the KIDS learning model.