Heads Up Lancaster/Fulton Elementary Community School

A Case Study of FlameTime Leadership Academy

Ah Ha grant received from Lancaster County Community Foundation

1.16.15

Heads Up Lancaster

Mission:To empower urban students through mentorship and innovative educational experiences.

Current Initiatives/Programs:•Community School at Fulton Elementary School•FlameTime Extended Day Program•FlameTime Literacy & Leadership Summer Program

Fulton Elementary Community SchoolFast Facts

Total Students: 445Grades: K4-5th GradeEthnicity by group: 61.16% Latino, 15.63%

Black/African-American, 11.38% White, 6.25% Asian, 5.58% Multi-Racial

Economically Disadvantaged: 90.18%Homeless Students: 12% (last year 6%)English Language Learner: 16.07%Special Education: 14.21%School-Based Mental Health: 15% and rising

2 Full-Time Therapists from PA Counseling

FlameTime Literacy & Leadership Academy

Summer Program: Discovering Lancaster: Exploring Myself and My Community

June 11 –July 3, 20142 Teachers

Served: 16 studentsGrades: Rising 5th & 6th Grade

Extended Day Program:October 2014-Present

5 Artist Mentors (1 working during school day)Serves: 75 Students

Grades: 1st-5th Grades# of 5th Grade Students:17

# 5th Grade from summer program: 6

3 OutcomesAll targeted 5th grade students who participated in the FlameTime Summer

Academy and will continue participating through the school year will:

•Feel more connected to their community, school & school staff•Increase leadership skills

•Attend school/after school regularly

IndicatorsThese are indicators identified as helping to measure outcome #3:

Students will feel more connected to their community, school(including after-school) & school staff

Indicators:•A sense of belonging (in this case, in relation to school, after-school and staff)•Trust (in this case, in relation to school, after-school ,staff and in one’s social environment)

A sense of belongingResearch has indicated that a sense of belonging at school is an important factor in academic success, social, emotional and mental health as well as a factor for reduced absenteeism (Anderman, 2011).

For this program’s purpose, we are using Carol Ludenow’s(1993) definition:

“psychological membership in the school or classroom, that is, the extent to which students feel personally accepted, respected, included, and supported by others in the school environment” (p. 80).

TrustFor this program’s purpose, we are defining trust how Dr. Megan Tschannen-Moran defines it:

“one party’s willingness to be vulnerable to another based on the confidence that the other is benevolent, reliable, competent, honest, and open” (http://wmpeople.wm.edu/index.php/site/page/mxtsch/home)

Data Collectiono A Student Sense of Ownership Questionnaire obtained

from the performwell.org website and modified for our purpose.

o We felt this questionnaire would be a good way to capture the indicators of trust and a sense of belonging that directly related to outcome #3: Students will feel more connected to their community, school & school staff

o The survey was administered during the first week of the FlameTime program.

o We do hope to administer the survey again during the last week or two of the program in order to compared (in March or April of 2015).

Student Ownership QuestionnaireA Student Ownership Questionnaire was obtained online from the website performwell.org and modified to fit our purpose.

Quick Facts:•Survey administered to all 3rd-5th grade students•Total #: 54•100% (11/11) of enrolled 3rd graders participated•95% (22/23)of enrolled 4th graders participated•100% (20/20) of enrolled 5th graders participated

Students will feel more connected to their school (including after-school) &

school staffThree questions from the questionnaire that really address the indicator of sense of belonging:

Question # 4: I feel proud to be a part of this schoolQuestion #5: I feel proud to be a part of this after-school.Question #9: Most students care about each other, even people they do not know well.

One from the questionnaire that really address the indicator of trust:

Question #8: I trust teachers and staff.

Question #4 & 5: I feel proud to be part of this school/after-school

Question #4 & 5: I feel proud to be part of this school/after-school

Question #4 & 5: I feel proud to be part of this school/after-school

Question # 9-Most students care about each other, even people

they do not know well.

Question # 9-Most students care about each other, even people

they do not know well

Question # 9-Most students care about each other, even people

they do not know well

Question #8: I trust teachers and staff.

3rd Grade Percentages55% Strongly Agree27% Agree18% Strongly Disagree

Question #8: I trust teachers and staff.

4th Grade Percentages65% Strongly Agree22% Agree4% Disagree

Question #8: I trust teachers and staff.

5th Grade Percentages45% Strongly Agree20% Agree10% Undecided10% Disagree15% Strongly Disagree

What does this mean?

• Most students seem to be proud of being a part of both the school and the after-school• There is an overall higher positive

response from the 4th graders on these questions than 3rd and 5th graders—what does that tell us, if anything? What are contributing factors for this?• 3rd grade students least trust teachers

and staff

Lessons Learned• Think more about how to measure outcomes (would is doable in the

reality)• How can we capture some of the intangibles such as noticing

leadership skills through actions like positive role modeling, earning FireBall Tickets, etc

• Two outcomes would have been MORE than enough to work with Having three was tricky (never really captured the leadership skill one)

• Was incredibly idealistic to think we could target 25 youth leaders and then have them train more youth during school year…it takes a lot of time, energy and dedication to work with the 6 targeted 5th grade students who are currently in the program!

• Is there a way to include the families in this process? How could we interview them on changes they noticed in their children? (Use info from MU survey—didn’t have staff capacity to get to this…)

• More time, more capacity, more staff!• Measuring Success Consortium—what questions do you have?

Added Benefits/Results:

• Students stepping up to apply to be on Student Council• Students recommended for Safety

Patrol (new initiative this year)

Sarah E. FarboCommunity School DirectorFulton Elementary & Heads Up Lancaster717.291.6110