City of Orlando AmeriCorps
PSA is conducting two AmeriCorps program evaluations for the City of Orlando.
Operation AmeriCorps (OPS) annually engages AmeriCorps members to provide in-school and out-of-school tutoring and career and education counseling services to high school juniors and seniors who are economically disadvantaged, low-performing, and/or not on track for graduation. The primary program objective is ensuring that students are on track to graduate high school. The City of Orlando has enlisted PSA to conduct a process evaluation of the OPS program. The process evaluation is examining program implementation, member professional development, OPS program and AmeriCorps member relationships with teachers and administrators, and other factors affecting member ability to support students, including potential program adaptations due to COVID-19. The focus is on implementation to ensure the quality of member professional development, supports, partnerships, and services are high, and that implementation is continually revisited throughout the school year to meet the needs of students. Data collection includes stakeholder surveys and focus groups.
Orlando Partnership for School Success (OPASS) serves middle schools across Orlando. Through OPASS, AmeriCorps members support students in classrooms, afterschool, and summer programs by providing tutoring and academic support. The City of Orlando has engaged PSA to conduct an impact evaluation, examining the impact of services on students’ literacy and math achievement using the Florida State Assessment (FSA) and/or iReady assessment. The quasi-experimental evaluation is using a two-level matching process, at the school and student levels, to identify comparison students. Data are being collected in 2020-2021 and results will be reported in winter 2021.
City Year
PSA has been one of City Year’s research partners for almost 20 years, using quasi-experimental research designs for multiple studies of City Year and its Whole School Whole Child (WSWC) model for national, New York City, and Los Angeles City Year clients.
PSA is currently conducting a three-year study to assess the impacts of City Year’s Whole School Whole Child (WSWC) model on the performance of 325 schools that partner with City Year in 29 cities in 21 states. The current study follows up on the results of our 2015 study, which assessed the impacts of the WSWC model on the performance of 242 schools in 25 cities and 18 states. Both the current and 2015 evaluations use a comparison group design and cross-state logistic and linear regression models to assess whether City Year influences the performance of its partner schools, as measured by student test scores in English/language arts and mathematics. The evaluations also examine any variation in effects across states, by site, and within sites, controlling for school characteristics, prior performance, and implementation features of the WSWC model.
Reports include the following:
Analysis of the Impacts of City Year’s Whole School Whole Child Model on Partner Schools’ Performance
Analysis of the After School Program Component of City Year Los Angeles’s Whole School Whole Child Model
The City Year Experience: Putting Alumni on the Path to Lifelong Civic Engagement
Year 4 Evaluation of City Year New York’s Whole School Whole Child Initiative
Year 2 Evaluation of City Year New York’s Whole School Whole Child Initiative
City Year Parent Study: Exploring City Year’s Impact on Younger Alumni and Their Parents
The Effect of the City Year Experience Over Time: Findings from the Longitudinal Study of Alumni
Reading Partners
Policy Studies Associates recently completed an important study of Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni. Focused on alumni who completed at least one year of service between 2010 and 2018, the study was intended to help Reading Partners deepen their understanding of the quality of the Reading Partners service experience and its effects on the civic engagement and educational and career pathways of their AmeriCorps alumni. PSA surveyed 898 Reading Partners AmeriCorps alumni across all sites and cohorts and conducted virtual focus groups with 50 alumni. PSA also conducted comparative analyses using data from statistically matched comparison groups of similarly situated members of the national population. The three-volume report, Executive Summary, and technical appendix are below.
Reading Partners AmeriCorps Alumni Study: Executive Summary
Report 1: The Reading Partners Experience—Alumni reflections on their service year(s)
Report 2: The Reading Partners Experience—Influencing the academic and career pathways of Reading Partners AmeriCorps Alumni Report 3: The Reading Partners Experience—Influencing the civic engagement of Reading Partners AmeriCorps Alumni
Appendix A (Methodology); Appendix B (Reading Partners Alumni Survey)
Jumpstart for Young Children
For Jumpstart, an AmeriCorps grantee, PSA conducted a study of the language and literacy skills gained by Dual Language Learners (DLLs) receiving Jumpstart services in California. Jumpstart partners with colleges and universities in 20 cities across the United States to recruit and train college students to tutor and mentor preschool-aged children to improve their language and literacy development. The college students, known as Corps members, tutor or mentor small groups of young children enrolled in community-based preschool or child care programs. Twice a week for approximately 20 weeks, Corps members work with their small groups, using a curriculum that focuses on improving children’s language, literacy, and social-emotional skills. PSA conducted multi-level regression modeling using data for 2,130 Jumpstart children, 767 Corps members, and 87 early education program partners to measure the impact of Jumpstart programming on the literacy and language skills of DLLs.
Teach for America
For TFA, PSA has administered and analyzed the results of principal and teacher surveys from 2007 through 2013, to support TFA’s continuous improvement plan. The principal survey, administered every two years, inquired about each principal’s satisfaction with the performance of the corps members in his or her school, the principal’s ratings of corps members’ specific teaching skills, and the principal’s estimates of the impact of corps members on the academic performance of students. The survey also inquired about each principal’s experiences with TFA program staff. For a separate report, PSA administered a school safety survey to corps members working in schools.
ReServe Elder Services, Inc.
For ReServe, an AmeriCorps grantee, PSA evaluated the implementation and reported outcomes of its READY program, which places retired professionals aged 55 and older in approximately 70 high-need New York City high schools to support the schools’ college guidance staff. ReServists coach students through the college application process. The initiative is intended to increase the enrollment of high school graduates in colleges for which the graduates are qualified. The study offered recommendations on changes to the READY program that could improve program implementation and help achieve program goals.
Experience Corps
For Experience Corps, an AmeriCorps grantee, PSA evaluated older adults’ opportunities for greater participation in afterschool programs. The product of the study was developed for leaders and supporters of established after-school programs and described options for expanding the participation of older adults in after-school programs.
Student Literacy Corps
For the U.S. Department of Education’s Planning and Evaluation Service, PSA conducted the national evaluation of the Student Literacy Corps (SLC), the forerunner to the Corporation for National and Community Service’s Learn and Serve America Higher Education program. The SLC program provided grants to colleges and universities for the purpose of establishing undergraduate-level, credit-bearing courses that combine academic training with experience as unpaid tutors. The evaluation: (1) described and assessed the operations and effects of the SLC program nationwide, (2) identified exemplary practices in the administration and operation of college-based literacy programs, and (3) identified lessons learned that would inform the design of future service-learning initiatives. Data collection included a mail survey of all 58 SLC grantee institutions; a follow-up telephone survey of 263 grantees; a mail survey of a representative sample of over 425 SLC tutors at grantee institutions; and case studies of 29 SLC projects. The national evaluation produced three final reports. The first report described and assessed the SLC program and identified and discussed effective practices and participant outcomes. The follow-up report documented the status of SLC projects after federal support ended and explored issues related to persistence. The third report discussed the effects of SLC tutoring on participating learners’ literacy skills, attitudes, and behaviors.