Program Impact
In the 2007-2008 school year:
- 95% of teachers agreed that having an Experience Corps member in the classroom improved the overall learning environment.
- 100% of Experience Corps members reported being satisfied with their experience.
- 97% of members reported feeling their service was important to both the school and the individual student with which they worked.
- 97% of members reported feeling their work was important to the community.
- 99% of members stated that service with Experience Corps enabled them to better understand the needs of the school and the students at the school.
- 96% of members felt that working with Experience Corps enabled them to socialize with other adults.
- 98% of members stated that their work with Experience Corps allowed them to better understand the value of service.
- 96% of members agreed that Experience Corps work enabled them to learn about new topics.
- Experience Corps members reported being more physically active and showed improvements in walking speed and grip strength. They reported more social ties and people they can turn to for help. They show improvements in selected aspects of cognitive functioning, including memory and attention.
Recent data provides solid evidence of academic improvement among student participants. We compared gains in reading and math performance on standardized achievement tests of 1-3rd grade students in 12 Baltimore City schools participating in the program with the performance of students in 12 matched comparison schools without the program. Each school in the Experience Corps program was matched with another school in the Baltimore City Public School System in terms of ethnic composition, number of free/reduced price lunches, and size of enrollment.
- First and second grade children in the Experience Corps schools had higher reading and math scores on the Stanford 10 Achievement Test in 2006/2007 than children in the matched comparison schools.
- There are differences in MSA reading and MSA math scores of third grade children between the six original schools versus the six matched comparison schools in 2006/2007 in favor of the Experience Corps schools.
- There have been larger increases over the past three school years in the percentages of third grade children scoring at the advanced and proficient level on the MSA reading tests in the Experience Corps Expansion One schools than in the comparison schools.
- First and second grade children in the Expansion One schools had significantly fewer suspensions in 2006/2007 than first and second grade children in the matched comparison schools.
- The number of principal office referrals dropped by roughly half in the three Experience Corps Expansion One schools from 2005-2006 to 2006-2007 for which data are available.
- Teachers/staff and parents of students in the Experience Corps Expansion One schools perceived that Experience Corps schools have a better overall learning environment than teachers/staff and parents of students perceived in the comparison schools.
