What The Data Shows
Throughout its history, Global Writes has worked with Metis Associates, a nationally recognized research and evaluation firm, to conduct research based projects to collect a body of evidence to monitor the effectiveness of our programs in schools.
POETRY Express was the first federal grant project (2003-2007) conducted by Global Writes and evaluated by Metis Associates. POETRY Express (PE) was implemented in four NYC Bronx schools (two elementary and two middle) and used a quasi-experimental design with carefully matched comparison schools to provide necessary data to validate the project’s impact on students’ levels of achievement, attendance, motivation and interest in integrating the arts into their literacy learning. POETRY Express had three overarching goals including 1) increasing students’ oral and written communication and deepening their appreciation for the arts, 2) increasing teachers’ proficiency in leading literacy instruction and integrating the performing arts and technology with the core curriculum, and 3) sustaining the project beyond the federal funding period. Over a 3 year period the project impacted over 900 treatment students from grades 3 through 8.
Poetry ExpressHonoring Student Voices (HSV) was a U.S. Department of Education Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination (AEMDD) grant project (2006-2010) that provided teachers and students in three high-needs middle schools in New York City (NYC) and three high-needs middle schools in Chicago with intensive workshops in the art of performance and poetry. The report below describes the results of a rigorous evaluation of HSV, which utilized an experimental design, tracking participating treatment and control school students over the course of three years of program implementation from sixth grade (2007-2008) through eighth grade (2009-2010),assessing cumulative impacts. This federally funded initiative, a project of Global WRITeS (Writers & Readers Incorporating Technology in Society), targeted two significant educational needs: improving student achievement in English Language Arts and increasing access to quality instruction in theater and performance. The project impacted 1300 students over the 3 years of implementation.
HSV Eval FindingsA Tale of Two Cities (T2C) was a collaboration of Global Writes (GW), DreamYard (DY) and Performing Arts Workshop (The Workshop) (2010-2014), along with five schools in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD): Visitacion Valley Middle School, San Francisco Community School, Martin Luther King School, Denman Middle School, and Marina Middle School1; a school in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS): Chalmers Elementary School; and three schools in the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE): MS 145, MS 313 and PS/MS 315. T2C built on the GW program model (evidenced by previous AEMDD-funded programs – Poetry Express and Honoring Student Voices) by providing opportunities for at-risk middle school students to write, collaborate and share their original poetry and performances with one another. The project served two significant educational needs: 1) higher student achievement in English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics; and 2) increased access to quality instruction in theatre and performance. The project combined literacy and mathematics instruction, theatre performance, and technology, and used a rigorous, scientifically-based research design in order to determine the impact of participation on student academic achievement. The project impacted 1700 students over the 3 years of implementation.
A Tale of Two Cities Exec 2014The Arts and Academia Bridging Boundaries, Empowering Collaborative Communities A2 + B2 = C2 program (2013-present) is a comprehensive initiative designed to provide high-quality afterschool programming to meet the needs of over 800 elementary and middle school students and their families per year at ten New York City Public School sites in Community School District 9 and District 10 (D9/D10) in the Bronx. The school sites served include PS 32–Belmont, PS 306, PS/IS 54, PS 132–Garrett A. Morgan, PS 159, MS 331–Bronx School of Young Leaders, MS 45–Thomas C. Giordano, MS 145–Arturo Toscanini, MS 328–New Millennium Business Academy, and MS 325. The goals of the program are:
- After school and summer arts integrated literacy programming aligned with school day literacy practices and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS);
- Quality professional development and classroom modeling to support effective integration of 21st century teaching practices in the classroom;
- Tutoring and workshops in youth development;
- Activities for families to support social and emotional needs.
The Mirror and the Canyon: Reflected Images, Echoed Voices: a National Endowment for the Arts Research grant 2014-2-15
The GW program is based on research that shows that participation in the arts encourages and fosters key Social Emotional Learning (SEL) skills, which have been acknowledged by the education community as necessary for students to be prepared for college and careers. This research project demonstrates the relationship between the arts and the development of key SEL skills.
Final Report Grant #14-3800-7021 Global Writes.pdfThe Mirror and the Canyon: Reflected Images, Echoed Voices
How evidence of GW’s performing arts integration model is used to build support for arts education integration and to promote sustainability.
The following article presents a summary of the findings from all GW projects, which have been recently published in the Journal for Learning Through the Arts (Fall 2014), revealing a body of evidence of the program’s impact on student literacy, motivation for learning and students’ procognitive skills.
The Mirror And The Canyon FinalGlobal Writes NEA Artworks Research grant 2016-2017 reveals statistically significant data for treatment students on the 4C’s Rubric for 21st Century Learning as well as the increased achievement in writing and performance!
The Mirror and the Canyon: Final Report