CTC Youth Program Building
Organization:
RTPNet VISTA Name:
Chad Custer
Program Start:
8/2003
Program End:
8/2004
Project Description:
Goal 1: Continue the after-school computer-training program (CLICK) for students at Rogers-Herr Middle School in Durham, North Carolina.
Goal 2: Expand the computer-training program (CLICK) to a community technology center (CTC), such as the West End Community Center or the Lakewood Center in Durham, North Carolina.
Goal 3: Further develop and evaluate the template for scaling and replicating the program in North Carolina and nationwide.The main purpose of the CLICK website is to allow other organizations access to the lessons.
Goal 4: Encourage public and private sector resources to enable the project to continue after the Members leave.
Project Outcome:
A pretest and post-test was implemented during the first section of CLICK, which underscored the need for CLICK and the quality of the lessons. The pretest/post-test was a shortened version of the skills portion of the North Carolina Computer Competency Exam. The mean score on the pretest of the students who completed CLICK was 22.5%, with a high score of 49% and a low score of 6%. Coming into CLICK the students were lacking the most basic of computer skills. The mean score on the post-test of those same students was 74.3%, with a high score of 89% and a low score of 60%; a drastic improvement. On an individual student basis, no student increased his or her score by less than 32 percentage points. With a mean score increase of 51 percentage points, it is clear that CLICK is both needed and effective.
Some of Chad’s major accomplishments have been that he successfully introduced the program to Lyon’s Park Community Center; revised all of the lesson plans and oversaw the development of new lessons for the younger audience at Lyon’s Park; completely redid the website; instigated the donation of computers from the Franklin Center to Rogers-Herr; put together background and procedural information for future coordinators of CLICK; instigated a relationship with Gary Ybarra in Engineering, which resulted in $5,000 worth of support in the form of assistant coordinators; and successfully set up the program for next year (so the transition is as seamless as possible).
The relationship between CLICK and the Rogers-Herr after-school program has changed in the past and most likely will change in the future. During the first semester of CLICK there were two sections meeting twice a week. One section was for students enrolled in the after school program and one section was for students who were not part of the after school program. Attendance for the after school section was very poor while attendance for the non-after-school section was good. This was caused, at least in part, by changes in after-school administration and staff shortages at Rogers-Herr.
Impact Quote:
“In tutoring the youth in our CommUNITY Scholars program, I’ve noticed many have computer homework assignments as early as the 4th grade! Students are asked to write essays and to research cities, nature or historical figures. Most are familiar with the computer from playing computer games or surfing the web but do not know how to use software tools or how to properly position their hands to type. CLICK teaches basic skills to allow students to efficiently complete homework assignments and, ultimately, have more confidence functioning in a growing computer-based world.”
Jill Potters (Executive Director of Calvary Ministries of the West-end Community)