AmeriCorps at Communities in Schools of Central Texas - Impact Analysis, 2016-2017

Communities in Schools (CIS) of Central Texas encourages students to stay in school through campus-based programs offering a network of volunteers, social services, and business and community resources. As a dropout prevention program, it provides a support system to at-risk students, encouraging them to be successful in elementary, middle, and high school.

Study Goals:

The goal of the study was to summarize the findings of the impact analysis conducted between 2016-2017. The analysis examined the unique contributions of AmeriCorps members to the CIS program, in the effort to determine if the students’ academics and behavior improved more when served by the AmeriCorps members in the CIS program versus being served by CIS staff alone.

Research Questions:

The evaluation questions were divided into two sections: the implementation/fidelity measures and the impact/outcomes measures. The research questions included:

• Implementation/Fidelity Measures:
  • What are the most commonly targeted issues of students who are referred to AmeriCorps members?
  • How clearly defined were the AmeriCorps members’ service goals prior to starting their service period?
    • Did these goals (or members’ understanding of them) change throughout the service period?
  • What was the quality of communication between AmeriCorps members and program managers (PMs) during the term of service, and what is its relationship to member effectiveness?
• Impact/Outcome Measures:
  • To what extent do members plan their activities to align with the targeted issues of the students they serve?
    • How often, on average, are members able to engage students on specific targeted issues during sessions?
    • Does this type of engagement lead to overall improvement on the specific issues that were targeted during sessions?
  • What are the differences, if any, in the number of students completing the school year/being promoted to the next grade level:
    • Between AmeriCorps students and those attending CIS at campuses not served by AmeriCorps?
    • Between students served by AmeriCorps and students who attend CIS with an AmeriCorps member on campus but who are not served by AmeriCorps?
  • How do AmeriCorps members/PMs rate members’ ability to meet/exceed program goals?

Findings:

The evaluation found the following:

• Students served by AmeriCorps members tend to have higher rates of promotion to the next grade level than those not served by AmeriCorps members.
• Without AmeriCorps members, CIS staff would be overextended, and the quality of service provided to students would decrease.

For more information, download the full report.