The ARKGroup, Inc. (Formerly The Children’s Center for Self-Esteem)

ARK (Adults Relating to Kids) ProgramsARK Programs Annual Report

Year Ended, 2012

Dear Board Members and Friends of ARK,

We are greatly appreciative of your support for our continuing mission to change the future of the world, one child, one family, one student, one teacher, one classroom, one school, and one community at a time. As we begin this report, the ARK Boards’ participation in our joint accomplishments has contributed to the ARK mission in 2012.

The purpose of this annual report is to give an “accounting” of our financial resources and the previous year’s activities and our impact on the communities we served. In addition to the “quantitative” information we will provide in this report, it is important that we share the “qualitative” results of 2012. We are convinced that your faith in us through your generous support has allowed us to grow community relationship and witness progress in the lives we have touched. Indeed, in a nonprofit organization like the ARKGroup, there have been many opportunities for us to impact the lives of children through the intentional decisions of adults, to make a differences in the lives of the families we served and to help change individuals, families, schools and communities. We believe this is what really matters to you.

We will quote again from the work of Peter Drucker’s Law, I quote: “If you drop the word ‘achieve’ from your personal view and substitute the word “contribute”, your life will focus on where it can have the most fulfillment in contribution to others.”

The ARK 19-member Advisory Board and 9-member Operating Board, staff, and family of volunteers extend our appreciation to you for your friendship and wonderful advocacy, counsel, and support for our ARK programs and processes. We greatly appreciate you for all that you have done.

ARK – MissionThe mission of The ARK GROUP (The Children's Center for Self-Esteem) is to educate

adults to become intentional and better skilled in providing the unconditional love that builds self-esteem in children.

ARK—Making a DifferenceThe ARK (Adults Relating to Kids) Program has experienced remarkable growth in its capacity for service in both our faith-based and secular programs because of your support in 2012. Our two Program Managers in Dallas and Houston, the addition of some 255 new facilitators and the support and guidance you have provided has allowed us to make a tremendous difference in the lives of thousands of children, parents, teachers and other adult caregivers who are dealing with the challenges of mentoring, caring and being present for children and students. The ARK church, juvenile justice, community service organization, and prison programs have greatly expanded their impact on parents and other intentional adults who want to grow their skills in loving and caring for kids. ARK, in public schools, has experienced remarkable acceptance by helping teachers create a

2

nurturing classroom environment and caring relationships with students—which results in reduced violence, truancy, and drop-out rates and improved high school graduation rates. We want to share with you what your support of our organization in 2012 has enabled us to accomplish in our efforts to serve children and to support the families, teachers and other significant community members who are involved in their care.

The ARKGroup strengthened its control processes during 2012 in the delivery of our programs to parents, teachers, college students, teens and kids. Feedback on ARK videos, manuals, workbooks, textbooks and our EPORTAL, ELEARN and newly completed International Server site, (thearkgroupmoodle.org ): online sites supporting Spring and Aldine Independent School Districts and other school and individual users has been highly complementary. The international server, (thearkgroupmoodle.org), which hosts ARK for Parents in English and Spanish, ARK for Divorcing Parents, ARK for College Students, ARK for Teachers and ARK for Teens now provides ARK processes and programs to our widest and broadest market place in the history of ARK offerings. These expanded offerings have greatly improved the content quality, usability, and readability.

The number of ARK facilitators has grown exponentially in 2012, because they were able to initiate ARK programs without our personnel assistance and have captured productivity savings from the online Internet products. This allowed the ARKGroup to export our programs to other states and countries effectively and has become a key to growing our reach and allowing us to impact more families, churches and schools and their kids. The continued improvements made by Dr. Glenn Wilkerson (founder and president) and his growing list of volunteers to ARK lessons, DVD’s, workbooks, manuals and all our products and programs have allowed The ARKGroup to form collaborative associations with other community organizations who are pursuing similar missions. This has allowed us to expand our curriculum offerings and to broaden our impact. Fourteen new lessons across the various ARK programs were included in the educational offerings in 2012, adding to the 22 lessons added in 2011. We will be expanding our efforts in our 2013 plan to add still other content products in English and Spanish and capture these opportunities in all sectors of our program development over the next five-year period.

We have completed year seven of our revised staffing and assessment cycle and a process approach to staff appraisals, contributions, and areas for improvement--with a feedback loop for accessing improvements in performance.

We have continued to significantly reduce the costs of our programs and processes to churches and community service centers during 2012 and have developed measurements working with Sam Houston State University Professors, which reflect impacts of ARK programs to school districts and your taxes. (ROI Impact Statements Attachment D). Likewise, the greater usability of ARK for Teachers materials with content specific to Early-Learning Pre-School, Elementary School, and Middle/High School curriculums have reduced the costs to schools by an additional 10% bringing the total costs reductions to over 89% percent over the past seven years.

Words From One of Our Volunteers “One of our teachers recommends that their students get

3

to participate in ARK for Teens at beginning of each day. I feel that I am a better person because of ARK as a teacher, colleague and parent. Thank you for bringing ARK to our campus and community”.

Current Programs, Accomplishments and Populations Served

The ARKGroup has trained facilitators to operate ARK Programs in over 250 schools in nine Texas Independent School Districts. ARK is also operational in seven Texas State Jails, ten county juvenile justice programs, and over 800 churches. An estimated total 78,000 adults and children have been offered ARK programming. The socio-economic demographics range from the very poor to the affluent and include all ethnic, racial, and religious populations in the areas served.

A. Participating Agencies and Collaborative

ARK in Houston, Texas Houston ISD Aldine ISD

Spring ISD Klein ISD Project Grad, Houston

AVANCE Head Start, Houston – 13 locations

Neighborhood-Centers Houston

Communities-in-Schools, Houston

YMCA, Houston Star of Hope, Houston Texas State Jails – 7 locations

Care Net Pregnancy Centers, Houston

Texas and Harris County CPS NAM Houston

Montgomery County Youth and Family Services

Montgomery County Juvenile Services – 5 locations

Harris County Juvenile Services – 4 locations

DePelchin Foster Parenting, Houston

Gulf Coast Community Services, Houston

Texas Youth mentoring Foundation

Parents in Education, Houston

AISD Bus Drivers ARK for Parents Programs (800)

Houston AIDS Foundation

Houston Assistance Ministries (ACAM) 4 locations

LoneStar College University Park, Victory Center, North Harris County, Greenspoint, Tomball in Harris County Houston

Project Ethics, Houston

Harris County, Precinct 4 Can Do Houston Houston Housing Authority, 4

2 Residential Complexes

ARK in Dallas, Texas Dallas ISD Irving ISD

HEB ISD HEB Truancy Program St Mary’s Carmel Catholic School, Dallas

Project SOAR – Earhart Elementary

Dallas Lakewest Headstart Mary Saner Child Development Center

Readers2 Leaders, Dallas Westmoreland Heights Ct., Dallas

Exodus House, Dallas

Brother Bills Helping Hand, Dallas

Victory Meadows Learning Center

Union Gospel Mission 2 sites

Voice of Hope, Dallas Wesley-Rankin West Dallas Community Coalition

Youth Believing in Change Dallas Housing Authority 4 site

AVANCE 2 sites

Dawson State Jail Mercy Street First Rate, Dallas

B. Demographics Schools- African-American (31%); Hispanic (60%),Native American(3%) and

Anglo (06%) Churches- (African-American (62%); Hispanic (13%); and Anglo 25%) Texas Prison System- African-American (63%); Hispanic (23%), and Anglo 14%) County Juvenile Justice Programs- African-American (38%); Hispanic (47%); and

Anglo (15%) Parent Programs – African-American (35%); Hispanic (55%); Anglo (3%);

Asian/Other (7%)

$s & Cents – Accountability Of Your GiftsRevenues, Expenses, Ending Net Assets

C. Financial Summary (Year-end December 31, 2012)

Revenue $413,673Educational/Training $ 17,106Grants $ 366,422Gifts $ 30,145

Expenses $352,524Programs $ 86,834Projects $ 241,566Administrative $ 24,124

5

6

D. 2012 Program Growth

In 2012, ARK added programs and processes affecting over 39,000 students in our Houston Harris County public schools and 7,000 in the Dallas area public schools, over 2300 teachers in Houston Harris County, 500 teachers in the Dallas area in 5500 total schools nationwide with over 600 new volunteer facilitators. Additionally, ARK continued support of over 800 churches in a variety of denominations in eleven states.

We stylized and simplified the ARKGroup website (www.thearkgroup.org) to be more informative and user-friendly. The site contains information on all of the ARK program offerings and includes pictures of all of ARK’s materials, manuals, DVD’s, newsletters, annual reports and financials. In addition, we have added feedback tools and quality control reports and Apps to the site, which are used daily to provide monitoring and assistance to our many volunteers.

We revised the format in all our DVDs, making them more aesthetically attractive and easier to use. We built and delivered ARK for College Students, re-did (and upgraded) our Spanish ARK for Parents, ARK for Teachers and the Introductory Videos. In addition, we produced an ARK for Prison Video and completed Courses I-IV of our ARK for Parents video set.

We implemented ARK for Teachers on the Aldine and Spring ISD EPORTAL and ELEARN sites respectively. This process to reduce the drop-out rate in the two school districts began with the 7th Grade Teachers and will add a class of Teachers yearly over 6 years affecting 39,000 students who will complete their Middle and High School curricula with Teachers who have participated in ARKGroups and materials. We are thrilled for this project in its 2nd year which is funded by the Rockwell Fund and Houston Endowment Foundation. An independent research study is being conducted to measure the impact by Sam Houston State University Education Department of Education. First year research results are shown in Attachment D.In addition to Aldine and Spring Moodle site, all ARK programs have been implemented on our international server at: thearkgroupmodel.org. Using self-enrollment management software, any individual worldwide can access the ARK educational materials.

7

Dallas Programs— In West Dallas, the nine elementary schools that feed into Pinkston High

School conduct ARK for Teachers and/or ARK for Parents. ARK for Parents has been implemented at Mercy Street Community

Center and is being offered simultaneously with a Bible study class conducted in English and Spanish.

ARK for Parents at Wesley-Rankin Community Center The Dallas Housing Authority. Four locations and growing ARK programming at Buckner Children and Family Services and the

Dallas Life Foundation. The Youth Believing in Change after-school program.

8

Dallas HeadStart – Roseland Homes, Socorro-Gonzalez, Lakewest and Margaret Cones

AVANCE Sites- Urban Park Elementary School, Annie W. Blanton Elementary School, Foster Elementary School, Burnet Elementary and El Alfarero Church

Houston Programs— ARK for Teachers and ARK for Parents programs at the 13 AVANCE

Head Start sites. Our Juvenile Justice programs in Harris County graduated over 1200

parents and their teens, respectively, who completed ARK for Parents and ARK for Teens. In a 2009 study of recidivism in Harris County’s Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace Court, ARK participants experienced a 5.6% recidivism rate compared to over 40% for non-ARK participants.

Ten juvenile justice courts in Harris and Montgomery Counties supported programs serving Houston, Conroe, Willis, Splendora, Montgomery, New Caney, and Magnolia, Texas.

Seven State Jail Sites We continue to celebrate the ARKGroup collaborative association with

the Lone Star Community College, University Park expansion in North Houston. LoneStar’s University Center offers not only their Associates Degree programming but also junior and senior level and Master’s Degree courses anchored by five major Texas universities. The ARKGroup’s National Headquarters is located in the center of this vibrant student filled environment of learning, hope and change. In 2012, we offered over 45 seminars, practicums, and ARK for Parents and ARK for Teachers classes. These classes were provided to businesses, college students, teachers, parents, and other adults who want to focus on relationships and rigor in the lives of children.

ARK for College Students has been implemented at the LoneStar Victory Center, Greenspoint, North Harris County and Tomball campuses. The program and process is offered to all new students and is expected to greatly improve student retention.

Houston AIDS Foundation Apartment sites Spring ISD- Elementary, Middle School and High Schools Aldine ISD – Pre-K, Headstart, Primary and Elementary, Intermediate,

Middle and High Schools Houston ISD – HeadStart, Elementary, Middle School and High School Klein ISD – Elementary Houston Housing Authority –two Apartment Complexes serving 60

families

E. Research

We continue to measure ARK’s impact on individuals in our program offerings in juvenile justice venues, churches, schools, community organizations and state jails and are receiving strong, positive feedback. In 2012, the measurement tools continue to employ the research methodology, and processes of professors and doctoral candidates at Sam Houston University.

9

F. 2013 Goals and Objectives

Our current financial goal is to fund over $550,000 dollars in 2013, a significant growth over the prior year, for our school projects in the Dallas and Houston areas for the 2013-2014 school year and for an expanded ARK for Parents and ARK for Teens program in churches and community centers located in lower socio-economic locations. These funds will secure an adequate cash flow position for The ARK Programs in support of our direct service with children and help to move our expansion plans forward so that the children and their parents and teachers will have their lives enriched by the provision of nurturing classroom and home environments.

In 2013, we will expand and continue to test market a series of courses designed for individual use. The materials will allow individuals, who are unable to join ARK groups, to utilize small network sessions to grow and learn about the latest in parenting and teaching concepts from the comfort of their homes. We are excited about this new venue and will be providing more information to you in early 2013.

Additionally, we will be expanding our initiatives for our faith-based programs in 2013. In addition to employing ARK in the Texas prison system (seven State Jails use the faith-based version of ARK for Parents as part of their Chaplaincy program); we will continue to investigate the possibilities for sharing ARK in parochial schools in Dallas and Houston. Also, we hope to continue to expand our faith-based initiatives through sharing ARK for Parents in economically depressed communities in Houston—similar to our Dallas initiatives - by working through community coalitions of churches. We believe this project will provide a vehicle for growing new toolsets for providing unconditional love and will become a source of enrichment–providing churches with the teachings of Christ in the raising and nourishing of their children.

Specific 2013 projects include the following:.

Dallas-- Expand installation of ARK for Parents in Dallas Housing Authority

facilities Installation of ARK for Teachers and ARK for Parents at schools served

by Voice of Hope (two DISD elementary schools that they serve outside of West Dallas)

Installation of ARK for Teachers and ARK for Parents in DISD schools Installation of ARK for Parents in five additional churches in West Dallas Installation of ARK for Parents in AVANCE Dallas Expand West Dallas InitiativeHouston-- Continue to support the ARK for Teachers and ARK for Parents at 24

Spring ISD elementary schools and two Klein ISD elementary schools. Complete Year 3 of ARK for Teachers Middle School Dropout Prevent

Project at Spring and Aldine ISDs.

10

Installation of ARK for Teachers and ARK for Parents at an additional 5 Klein ISD elementary schools.

Add a 4th year of expansion of ARK for Parents in support of the ARK for Teachers on-going programs at AVANCE (13 sites).

Support ARK for Parents at ACAM sites in Houston (Assistance Ministries project) and two Houston Housing Authority Sites.

Explore expanding Middle School Dropout Prevention Project into Elementary and Intermediate Schools in Aldine ISD. Explore expanding Middle School Dropout Prevention Project in Klein and Cy-Fair ISDs.

Thank You!

We are so very, very grateful for your support and advice over 2012. We appreciate very much all of your contributions to the quality of life in our community and are deeply grateful to you. Your faith in our mission and in the importance and impact, that an intentional adult plays in the growth of our nation’s children has made our programs significant and meaningful. We look forward to working with you in the coming years.

The ARK programs, mission and impact have seen significant accomplishments and have had immeasurable impacts on the future and vision of this world we share and for our children and our neighbors and their children. You made this possible.

We welcome 2013 challenges, dreams, expectations and the journey we make together.

With deep gratitude,

Bill Glenn

Jan

11

Peggy OmegaProgram Manager Houston Program Manager Dallas

Dr. B Glenn Wilkerson - PresidentWilliam R. Duffy – National Executive DirectorJan Nelson – Dallas Executive DirectorAttachments

RESEARCH AND STUDY PAPERS12

2012Regarding

THE ARK PROGRAM

THE ARK (Adults Relating to Kids) PROGRAMRESEARCH AND STUDIES PAPERS

Newsweek Magazine has ranked Dallas’ Townview Center School for the Talented and Gifted (TAG) the No. 1 high school in America for years 2006, 2007, and 2009.1 The school’s principal, Michael Satarino, said, “Kids don’t care how much you know—they just want to know that you care.”

The establishment of a caring relationship between a student and a teacher is critical , not only to the child’s academic success, but also in regard to inculcating a positive attitude toward school that will keep the child from dropping out later on. In fact, recent studies say that, by measuring the attitudes preschoolers have toward school, an accurate prediction can be made in regard to the chances of that child’s staying in school during his/her adolescent years.

Research also shows that a caring, loving relationship between a parent and a child has a great impact upon the degree in which a child values his or her self. The importance of this revelation lies in the fact that a positive concept of self is a central ingredient in a person’s living a contented, productive life. The ARKGroup has created the ARK (Adults Relating to Kids) Program in response to these studies and research,

Since its inception, the ARK Program itself has been subjected to a variety of research studies regarding the principles undergirding the Program and its efficacy in effecting major changes in the lives of adults and children. Among those studies are the following:

1. University of Texas School of Public Health   (Houston) study

“The New Research Linking Unconditional Love with Self-Esteem and a Positive Self-Concept” is the pivotal piece of research undergirding the ARK Program and is found in Attachment A.

The “The Role of the Nurturing Parent/Teacher in Promoting Academic Success” paper notes that the core research of the U.T. School of Public Health paper (on the connection between unconditional love and high self-esteem) was published in the Winter, 1995, issue of Self-Esteem Today.  The paper also contains the Glasser and Payne annotated references (regarding the necessity of a nurturing classroom environment in promoting academic success) and a medical school brain research study that shows why a nurturing classroom environment is

1 “The Top of the Class: The complete list of the 1,500 top U.S. high schools," Newsweek. June 8, 2009.13

essential to the learning process. (Available on request and at www.thearkgroup.org.)

  2. University of Texas Medical School and Sam Houston State University Studies

The U.T. Medical School study on Plane State Jail prison evaluations (showing how “The self-esteem of the adult participants was elevated through their participation in ARK”) was an independent study sanctioned by the University of Texas Medical School in 2000. The study director was a member of the faculty at the University of Texas Medical School (Houston), Dr. Maria E. Ferris, MD, MPH. (Available on request and at www.thearkgroup.org)

Tammy Garland, PhD, Sam Houston State University, completed a similar, peer-reviewed study of the Plane State Jail prison evaluations as part of her doctoral project and thesis in July, 2003. Dr. Garland's study was over a longer period of time and involved more subjects. (Available on request and at www.thearkgroup.org.)

3. University of North Texas Study

UNT’s Dept. of Educational Psychology analyzed “The positive changes in the behavior of preschoolers as a result of their parents’ participation in ARK.” (Available on request and at www.thearkgroup.org.)

4. Furr High School Independent Study

A study at Furr High School (Houston ISD) confirmed “The importance of a nurturing classroom environment—and caring relationships between teachers and students—in increasing academic performance and reducing the dropout rate.” (Available on request and at www.thearkgroup.org.)

5. The ARK Program in the Juvenile Justice System: An Independent Study

This study measured “The positive impact of the ARK Program in reducing recidivism in the Juvenile Justice System.” (Available on request and at www.thearkgroup.org.)

5. Houston AVANCE HeadStart Study

This study measured AVANCE Houston, the mCLASS instrument was administered to the teachers at all thirteen of the AVANCE Head Start sites—at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year (pre-ARK) and at the end of the 2009-2010 school year (post-ARK).

The rate of change in three of the primary mCLASS measurements--"Teacher Sensitivity" (+8.7%), "Regard for Student Perspectives" (+6.7%), and "Productivity" (+7.5%)--are VERY significant indicators of positive change.

6. Year One and Two Results for the 7 Year Aldine Spring Middle School Dropout Prevention Project

7. ROI DATA ARK Programs in Middle Schools and Juvenile Justices Systems.

14

Studies of the return on investment dollars that reduced State Court and School District costs by reducing student incidents and violence and their related costs in Middle Schools and recidivism in Juvenile courts and its related court costs.

ATTACHMENT ATHE ARKGroup

ORGANIZATIONAL CHART*Administrative Board meetings are held quarterly

Advisory BoardHoustonJudge J. Kent Adams - Harris County Justice of the Peace (Houston) – 281-895-0376Dr. Wanda Bamberg – Aldine Independent School District Superintendent (Houston) Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell – Senior Pastor Windsor Village United Methodist Church (Houston) – 713-723-8187Dr. Richard Carpenter – Chancellor, Lone Star College System (Houston) – 832-813-6500Pete Cooley – Retired Sr. VP/GM of Compaq, Juvenile Diabetes - 281-460-6946Dr. Brooke Duffy - Roberts, Board Member, Marriage and Family Therapist (Houston) – 281-376-8006Tory Gattis – Social Systems Architect – Technology Entrepreneur (Houston) - 713-269-9373Ken Melber – President, President, Infinite Investments, Inc. (Houston) – 281-893-6900E.C., “Bud” Simpson – (Retired) V.P. – Human Resources & Environmental & Safety Compliance Costal Corp. (Houston) – 281-778-5199Dan Wilford - Former CEO (Retired), Memorial-Hermann Healthcare Systems (Houston) – 281-240-2112Dr. Robert Wimpelberg – Former Chairman, School of Education University of Houston (Houston) – 713-743-5048

DallasJohn Castle – Attorney and Consultant (Dallas) – 214-520-8601Christine Cook – President Sleep Experts (Dallas) – 214-529-1868 and 469-574-1160 Terri Heard – Community Volunteer (Dallas) – 214-924-4415Jim Hinckley - Century Golf Partners (Dallas) – 972-490-2671Jan Lightfoot Evans – The Evans Group (Dallas) – 972-788-4496Ellen McStay – Morning Star Family Foundation (Dallas) – 214-750-7583Regina Nippert - Executive Director of the Center on Community and Education, staff at SMU – 214-269-3341Dr. Duke Samson - Chairman, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School (Dallas) – 214-648-3529Arrvel Wilson – Pastor, West Dallas Community Church Ministries (Dallas) – 214-634-1303

*Administrative Board Tom Adkins – Board Member, Former Lawyer, 713-742-3148

Jerry Albrecht - Board Member, Vice Chair, Cy-Fair Chamber of Commerce – 713-248-6199Aaron Cooley – Attorney and Consultant (Houston) – 281-778-5483Jim Darling - Board Member, Owner Merit Millwork – 281-351-9883Richard Didow – Catch the Moment – 713-255-4500Randy Hardwick – (Retired) CFO Hughes Christansen – 281-851-2673David Hendricks - Chairman, President of Pacific American – 281-580-1247Robert Higgason – Attorney (Houston) 832-922-5402David Klein - Board Member, Businessman – 281-374-9393Anais Watsky - Board Member, Former Executive Director, Northwest Assistance Ministries – 281-370-4200

15

Administrative StaffHouston

William R. Duffy, C.P.A., CISA, CISM, National Executive Director – 281-537-1301Peggy Fuss, BS, Ed., LCDC, Program Director – 281-537-1301Quintina Jackson, Office Manager – 281-537-1301Judy Reid, Program Director, Houston – 281-384-8021Dr. B. Glenn Wilkerson, President/Founder – 281-376-7113

Dallas/Fort WorthJan Nelson, Executive Director Dallas/Ft. Worth – 214-500-3215/214-637-7741, Ext. 106Martha Jeavons, Program Director Dallas/Ft. Worth – 214-500-3215Kate Losecco, Program Director Dallas/Ft. Worth – 214-500-3215Dr. Omega Macias, Program Director Dallas/Ft. Worth – 817-899-1571

ATTACHMENT B

ALDINE-SPRING ISD MIDDLE SCHOOL DROPOUT PROJECT

“First-Year Data”

Working with Sam Houston State University’s School of Education, Dr. Cindy Benge is the Aldine-Spring Middle School Dropout Project’s lead researcher. She is gathering data pertinent to the project and will assess and evaluate it.

While the Project involves a six-year longitudinal study -- evaluating the ARK for Teacher Program’s impact upon the dropout rate of the 2011-2012 school year’s 7th grade cohort -- yearly testing will be conducted as well. One such test involves two student surveys taken by all of Aldine 7th grade students (over 3,000 students) during September and May of the 2011-2012 school year.

Dr. Benge has run some preliminary comparisons on the two student surveys and reports that the results are statistically significant.

One of the survey items was, “I have a good relationship with at least one teacher at my school.” The students were asked to reply to this question by indicating one of the following five responses:

Strongly agree Agree Unsure Disagree Strongly disagree

The importance of this question is explained by the MindOh research that discovered that, if a student has just one adult at school that he thinks cares about him, it reduces the chances of that child’s dropping out of school by 97%.

16

The first survey was taken six weeks into the school year (in late-September), and 38.5% of the Aldine students indicated that they “strongly agree” that they had a good relationship with at least one teacher. At the end of the school year (the May survey), 47.3% of the Aldine 7th grade students “strongly agree” that they had a good relationship with at least one teacher.

An almost 10% improvement in the number of students who claim a good relationship with at least one teacher -- during the initial year of the project -- exceeds expectations and provides a very hopeful prognosis regarding our ultimate goal of reducing the student dropout rate. The survey’s results indicate that many of Aldine’s teachers have been very intentional during this past school year in developing caring relationships with their students.

June 18, 2012

17

ATTACHMENT C

ARK for Teachers: New, Independent Research!

The ARK (Adults Relating to Kids) ProgramAVANCE Houston--Head Start Centers

2009-2010 School Year

The two main components of the ARK Program—ARK for Parents and ARK for Teachers—were introduced to AVANCE Houston’s thirteen Head Start Centers during the fall of 2009.

ARK for Teachers facilitators were trained, and the program was conducted at all thirteen Centers during the 2009-2010 school year.

ARK for Teachers—the mCLASS Study

One of the major goals of the ARK for Teachers is to help teachers to become better aware and more sensitive regarding children's feelings and perspectives. The result will be a child who enjoys being in class and who will become more productive. The federal Head Start program has devised a testing instrument called mCLASS that is designed to measure the quality of the relationship between teachers and students over the course of the school year. mCLASS evaluators must take a course on how to administer the instrument and then provide an independent observation of the teachers in a class setting at the beginning, and then again at the conclusion, of the school year.

At AVANCE Houston, the mCLASS instrument was administered to the teachers at all thirteen of the AVANCE Head Start sites—at the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year (pre-ARK) and at the end of the 2009-2010 school year (post-ARK).

The rate of change in three of the primary mCLASS measurements--"Teacher Sensitivity" (8.7%), "Regard for Student Perspectives" (6.7%), and "Productivity" (7.5%)--are VERY significant indicators of positive change.

This mCLASS study contains major implications regarding the efficacy of ARK for Teachers in helping teachers to create a nurturing classroom environment and caring relationships with students.

The following chart illustrates the mCLASS results—pre-ARK and post-ARK—at the thirteen AVANCE Houston campuses:

19

ATTACHMENT D

ARK for Teachers -Aldine ISDMiddle Schools Dropout Prevention Project

Aldine 2011 - 2012 ROI for ARK

 

Number of Students Impacted through ARK for Teachers MSDRPP Project

9070

Incidents of School Disturbance requiring Court System 2010-2011 Aldine

410

Incidents   Reported   Disturbances   requiring   Court   System   2011-2012 Aldine

315

Incremental   reduction   in   Student   behavior   incidents   requiring Courts Aldine

23.2%

Reduction in the Number of Youth returning to Court 95

Average annual cost per juvenile delinquent[2] $8,603

Total projected savings from reduced juvenile incidents $817,285

Total  Annual   cost   for  operation of   the  ARK  for  Teachers  DOPP Project

$93,500

Savings  generated   per  $1   invested   in   ARK  program   in   reduced Court Costs

$8.74

Incremental reduction in Student behavior incidents requiring Aldine In-House Alternatives (3)

23.6%

Average Costs In-House Incident Alternative (4) $140

Reduction in 7th Grade Behavioral Incidents (5) 16.5%Total Projected Savings to School District in House Alternatives (6) $301,000Total Annual Costs for operation of ARK for Teachers DOPP $93,500Savings generated for $1 invested ARK program in reduced costs to District

$3.22

[1] Estimate provided by Rich Schmidt, Chief Clerk, Harris County Precinct 4 (Houston Texas).

20

(2) Based on an average daily detention cost of $240.99 per day, times an average 17.5 days per sentence, times an average of 2.04 arrests per year.  Reference – The Cost of Confinement: Why Good Juvenile Justice Policies Make Good Fiscal Sense; Justice Policy Institute, May 2009.(3) 7th Grades in 16 Middle Schools Sam Houston State researchers found 23.6% decrease in the rate of behavior incidents among students who experienced ARK Teachers 2012.(4) Texas Appleseed,Texas’School to Prison Pipeline, Ticketing, Arresst & Use of Force in Schools (2011)(5) Drs. Tony Onwuegbuzie and Cindy Benge, Sam Houston State University, October 27, 2012, 2150 fewer incidents(6) High Cost of School Discipline in Budgets –Stressed Texas 11 School Districts (incl. 4 Harris County), Texas Appleseed, Kathryn Freeman, Deborah Fitgerald, Rebecca Lightsey, Mike Vitris, Jamie Monger; September 2012. (Raw $’s spent 2010-2012 - $232M Alternative Schools, $31M monitoring, $327M Security)

ATTACHMENT E

THE ALDINE-SPRING MIDDLE SCHOOL DROPOUT PREVENTION PROJECTYear One (2011-2012) Project Evaluation

The six-year longitudinal Dropout Prevention Project is being evaluated by two Sam Houston State University professors: Dr. Cindy Benge and Dr. Tony Onwuegbuzie.

The final assessment of the Dropout Prevention Project’s effectiveness in dropout prevention will occur when the 2011-2012 7th grade class graduates in May, 2017. However, during each year of the study, the students complete a Student Survey both at the beginning and at the end of each school year. These Student Surveys are being utilized to yield significant evaluations and assessments on an annual basis.

At the conclusion of Year One of the Dropout Prevention Project, three important studies were evaluated:

The first study compared the percentage of students in Survey 1 (pre-ARK) who agree/strongly agree with the statement, "One teacher, in particular, likes me and cares about me," with the percentage of students in Survey 2 (post-ARK) who agree/strongly agree with that statement. At the end of Year One (the 2011-2012 school year), the study revealed a 10.7% improvement (from Survey 1 to Survey 2) in terms of students' perception of their having a good relationship with a teacher.

The second study involved an analysis of the degree to which the quality of student/teacher relationships impacts student behavior. The study utilized 10 misbehavior items, comprising a “Misbehavior Chart,” in monitoring each student’s behavior. The end-of-the-year Student Surveys, paired with the Misbehavior Chart, provided a comparison between the number of misbehavior incidences perpetrated by two student populations: students who reported that they agree/strongly agree with the statement, "One teacher, in particular, likes me and cares about me," and students who reported that they disagree/strongly disagree with that statement.

At the end of Year One, this second study produced the following results: in comparing the two student groups, there was a 23.6% decrease in the rate of misbehavior incidents among students who agreed/strongly agreed that a teacher likes them and cares about them. The study indicates that a good relationship with a teacher dramatically reduces the likelihood of student misbehavior.

The third study compared the misbehavior incidences perpetrated by the 2010-2011 7 th grade cohort with the incidences of misbehavior perpetrated by the previous year’s 7th grade cohort. The data showed a 17% decrease in student misbehavior from 2009-2010 to 2010-2011.

Major implications can be drawn from the three studies. The first study indicates that ARK for Teachers played a major role in increasing the percentage of students who reported a good relationship with their teachers during the 2011-2012 school year. The second study shows that students with a good relationship

21

with their teachers behave better in class. The third study shows a 17% decrease in the misbehavior of the 2011-2012 7th grade class when compared to the previous year’s 7th grade class.

The first year metrics gathered and evaluated by the Sam Houston State research team indicate great efficacy upon the part of the Dropout Prevention Project in improving student/teacher relationships and in reducing the incidences of student misbehavior.

22