PENCIL, a Corporation grantee, has spent the last three years assessing the success of its programs in helping NYC public school students develop relationships, navigate skill attainment, and access opportunities
What connects students to success? As youth-serving nonprofit organizations in the education and workforce development fields adapted throughout the pandemic, PENCIL, a Carnegie Corporation of New York grantee, assessed how it was helping students achieve their goals.
PENCIL raises awareness about public education by inviting civic and business leaders into New York City public schools to help design opportunities for students that build their networks and expand their skillsets. Weighing which program elements drive the most desirable outcomes, PENCIL has conducted a three-year retrospective evaluation to understand what is working, what could be improved, and what efforts must be better shared across the field overall.
Reimagining Pathways to Student Success: PENCIL’s Observations & Recommendations from a Three-Year Retrospective captures this work through a series of three briefs and a unique, data-driven hypothesis for each of the pillars of PENCIL’s theory of change. PENCIL’s theory of change asserts that to be “connected to success” a young person needs (1) developmental relationships, (2) skill attainment, and (3) access to opportunity. Students were asked to complete surveys before and after their program, and data was collected and reviewed across four PENCIL offerings — the PENCIL School Partnership Program (in person), the PENCIL School Partnership Program (virtual), the PENCIL Internship Program, and the PENCIL Career Explorers. At the end of each of the three briefs, the authors — PENCIL’s Jessica Bynoe, Devaughn D. Fowlkes, Keith A. Howey, and Katje Lilah King — offer recommendations to reflect the findings.
PENCIL’s first brief, “Increasing Access to Opportunity through New Youth Employment Models,” evaluates the Career Explorers program in the context of all other PENCIL programs. They found that Career Explorers, a Corporation-supported initiative that allows students to experience work-based learning and network building through a paid simulated internship program, outperformed PENCIL Partnership Program students (both those in person and virtually) as well as “traditional” internships across all three years of the study. Additionally, Career Explorers also revealed greater success in outcomes for nearly every demographic group evaluated, especially 17- year-old high school students and first-generation college-bound students. Notable trends were also observed for high school students and first-generation college bound students — particularly around an increased sense of connection and belonging.
The authors recommend:
The second brief, “Fostering a Foundation of Growth Mindset Through School-based Programs,” considers 2019 and 2021 students in PENCIL’s School Partnership Programs, who reported greater gains in PENCIL’s skill attainment index as compared to their summer peers. The skill attainment index measures students’ growth mindset – the understanding that knowledge can be developed through sustained efforts and perseverance. While students in both summer and school-year programs partook in these sessions, participants in School Partnership Programs developed more understanding that they can overcome challenges and increase abilities through effort. This can ultimately lead to more curiosity, comfort in risk-taking, and belief in one’s ability to define and reach their potential.
The authors recommend:
The third brief, “Building Relationships through Developmentally Aligned Program Modalities,” focusing on students from 2019 through 2021, revealed that participants in PENCIL’s in-person programs reported greater gains in PENCIL’s developmental relationship index compared to students in virtual programs. The developmental relationship index measures students’ connection to and trust of adults. The data showed a significant difference in outcomes for ninth- and tenth-graders versus eleventh- and twelfth-graders when modality is accounted for. Tenth-graders greatly benefit from in-person programs while experiencing a decline in the index through virtual work, while twelfth-graders benefited more from virtual programs than in-person. The disparities between tenth- and twelfth- graders seem to be related to the extent to which participants felt they believed people really care about them.
The authors recommend:
Read the full grantee publication Reimagining Pathways to Student Success: PENCIL’s Observations & Recommendations From a Three-Year Retrospective.
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