Impact of Alchemy, Inc. on Participants' Social Emotional Learning 2013-2014

74 Pages·2016·5.09 MB·English

Impact of Alchemy, Inc. on Participants’
Social Emotional Learning
2014-2015 School Year
The Research and Evaluation Bureau, Kent State University
Table of Contents
Introduction…………………….…… 3-4
Evaluation Focus and Design….….... 5-8
Participants………………….………. 9-11
Findings……………………………… 12-55
Open-Ended Questions……….……... 56-63
Summary…………………………….. 64-70
Conclusions…………………….…….. 71-72
Recommendations…………………… 73

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About Alchemy, Inc.
• Alchemy, Inc. is a non-profit organization with a mission to assist
urban adolescent males to develop a sense of purpose in life and
successfully function as members of a family, school, and
community.
• Alchemy’s name is derived from the ancient art of transformation
in which medieval alchemists attempted to transform a lower base
metal, or prima materia, into gold, called the Philosopher’s Stone.
Alchemy, Inc. works to transform prima materia (urban youth) into
the Philosopher’s Stone (the gold inherent within our youth).
• The goals of Alchemy, Inc. include the following:
o Increase Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
o Increase school attendance
o Increase GPA averages
o Increase high school graduation rates
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o Increase college acceptance rates
o Develop character traits necessary to succeed in life
The Sacred Circle of Alchemy, Inc.
• The program uses myth as a sociological and pedagogical tool with
the goal of teaching participants how to live in the world together.
o The myths also provide examples of how each participant can realize
the personal gifts that he brings to the world.
• Myths are told to the beat of an African drum with the aim of
creating a safe environment and sense of community for
participants.
• The Sacred Circle of Alchemy, Inc. is derived from the ritual of
Aesculapius and other traditional cultures.
o Youth are greeted by the adults present and then relate a brief history
of their ailment through the discussion of myth.
o Hand sanitizer of some sort is passed around to symbolize washing.
o The drumming is reminiscent of the cultures’ sacred song-chanting.
o Youth come to the circles to be healed through their analysis and
discussion of myths. 4
Evaluation Focus
• The focus of this evaluation is to assess the Social Emotional
Learning (SEL) growth from participation in Alchemy, Inc.
• SEL is defined as the process by which students learn to:
o Recognize and manage emotions
o Care about others
o Make good decisions
o Behave ethically and responsibly
o Develop positive relationships
o Avoid negative behavior
• SEL enhances the student’s ability to integrate thinking,
feeling, and behaving in order to achieve important life tasks.
• The major benefits of SEL are to:
o Enhance growth and learning
o Prepare students for life
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Evaluation Design
• A survey was administered to 6 through 12 grade participants of
th th
the Alchemy, Inc. program in the following schools:
o Crouse Middle School
o Innes Middle School
o Litchfield Middle School
o Akron Early College High School
o Buchtel Community Learning Center High School
o Copley High School
o Coventry High School
o Firestone High School
o Garfield High School
o Kenmore High School
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o St. Vincent-St Mary High School
Evaluation Design Continued…
• The survey presented participants with major themes faced by the heroes in
the myths. The themes represent challenges in the hero’s quest. For
example, one theme is “being connected to something larger than oneself.”
• Within each theme, there were five to seven pairs of Likert-type items
representing social-emotional development concepts.
• The first item in each pair asked the participant to indicate the extent to
which he felt he had learned about that concept. The second item in each
pair asked the participant to indicate the extent to which he felt his
behavior or attitude had changed in that area as a result of participation in
Alchemy, Inc.
• Participants responded to each item using the following scale:
 1=Not at all
 2=Only a little
 3=Some
 4=A lot 7
• A total of 60 surveys were collected.
Evaluation Design Continued…
• Open-ended questions were included in the survey to assess the
following:
o Which myths made the biggest impact on participants in terms of each
major theme presented
o Who are the most influential males in the lives of participants
o Which myth had the biggest impact overall on participants
o Changes that participants have made in their lives as a result of
participation in Alchemy, Inc.
o What participants like most about Alchemy, Inc.
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Participants
Number of Students in Each Grade Level at Each Participating School
6th 9th 10th 11th Total
Innes Middle School 10 0 0 0 10
Crouse Middle School 13 0 0 0 13
Litchfield Middle School 14 0 0 0 14
St. Vincent-St. Mary High
0 3 0 0 3
School
Buchtel CLC High School 0 5 1 0 6
Firestone High School 0 0 3 1 4
Kenmore High School 0 2 1 0 3
Akron Early College High
0 1 0 0 1
School
Coventry High School 0 1 0 0 1
Garfield High School 0 1 2 1 4
Copley High School 0 1 0 0 1
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*No participants from 7th, 8th, and 12th grade
Participants continued…
Summary of Number of Students in Each Grade Level
Grade N Percent
6th 37 62%
9th 14 23%
10th 7 12%
11th 2 3%
Total 60 100%
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