Information: Study of the Week: Spirituality for Kids Program
8/11/2008 1:05 PM

TO:                  All Staff

 

FROM:            Michelle J. Walker, Chief Accountability Officer

                            Steve Schellenberg, Assistant Director

  Research, Evaluation, and Assessment

                       

RE:                   Study of the Week:  Spirituality for Kids Program

 

 

This research brief describes work done for RAND Labor and Population and documented in “An Outcome Evaluation of the Spirituality for Kids Program,” by Nicole Maestas and Sarah Gaillot.

 

ABSTRACT:  Aiming to improve on existing research on after-school programs, RAND researchers evaluated the effect of the Spirituality for Kids Program (SFK) on a wide variety of various behavioral outcomes. Maestas and Gaillot found that SFK had positive effects on nearly every domain tested, and many of these effects persisted at a 12-week follow-up.  Notably, the effect sizes exceeded the average effect sizes found for other programs with like goals. This suggests that SFK is a successful program model. This study also provides the first causal link between spiritual development and resilience.

 

For information and details on this evaluation can be found at http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR575.

 

Thank you.

 

 

 RAND-RB9348