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II. RESULTS a) Describe the specific outputs resulting l~om your project. b) c) e~ Please Be specific and tangible about what your project plans to accomplish. How will you measure the outputs or success of the project? ~o will be responsible for conducting the assessment? If this is not a new project, what has been the previous result of this project? Please complete the Program Indicator Worksheet. (If your organization is selected to receive a grant, you will be required to submit a grant report at the end of the grant cycle. Please be as quantitative and specific as possible.) answer section II, questions a-d in the space provided on this page. The 4-H SOS Goldminers began in 1995 as the result of a grant from the Governors' Support Our Students initiative that is administered by the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention with collaboration of Cabarrus County Schools. The purpose is to work with local agencies to establish quality afterschool programs that promote academic, social, and character building experiences for North Carolina's school age children. The goals of the program are: to reduce the number of young people who are unsupervised after school (thereby reducing illicit behavior and juvenile crime); to improve the academic performance, attitudes and behavior of participants; to meet the physical, intellectual, emotional, and social needs of young people; to involve community volunteers; and to enhance collaboration between agencies that provide community resources for children. The results of the program are evaluated by Donley & Johnson Educational Evaluation Cdnsultants. The services of this professional evaluation consulting f'nnn is available to us because we are an affiliate of the Support Our Students Program. The following information is collected: age, gender, days enrolled, referral source, who student resides with, English, math, science and social studies grades, math and reading End of Grade levels, in-school suspension, and out-of-school suspensions. Program highlights and volunteer involvement is also reported. Comparisons are made with the progress of students in these areas within the county and other counties. These are published and distributed to North Carolina legislators and SOS advisory members. As progress reports and report cards are distributed, staff members have a conference with each student to review student goals and challenges related to grades and behavior. Classroom teachers and parents are also consulted if there are areas that need special attention. Students, parents, and staff conduct written evaluations regarding program activities and program objectives. The director and staff review evaluations for suggestions to improve the program and student outcomes. The results of the f'mdings are also reviewed by the advisory council/board of directors. The Executive Summary of the 2001-2002 Support Our Students Evaluation provided extensive information about the SOS programs. The NC End-Of-Grade Scores were examined. The results showed that in every grade, except sixth, participating students made greater academic improvement than goals set by the state; more students scored at grade level or above; and students who participated multiple years made steady progress, at a constant rate, each year. Potentially, as important as any other measure is changes in students' behavior and their perception of school. The percentage of students who said they liked school more than they did before enrolling in SOS was roughly six times greater than the percentage of students who said they liked school less. As children get older, they generally receive more suspensions for behavior. The percentage of SOS participants receiving out-of-school suspensions decreased (from 13% to 8%), as did the percentage of in-school suspensions. Since stricter standards are applied to older students, any decrease is especially noteworthy. During the school year, Cabarrus 4-H SOS Goldminers which includes sites at J.N. Fries, Concord & Mt. Pleasant Middle Schools, utilized 350 volunteers who donated a total of 1,363 hours to the program. A total of $83,000 in-kind funding was supplied by community resources. Cabarrus 4-H SOS Goldminers has been recognized for the efficient use of funds per student enrolled by the SOS deparhl~ent. Since the inception of 4-H SOS Goldminers in 1995, improvements have been made. Active support of school administration and teachers has increased. Staff professionalism and training has improved as indicated by mid-year and end-of-year evaluations. The variety and depth of program offerings has also improved.