Poetry Evaluation Project
"A Poet Came to Our Class"
Executive Summary

Report prepared by Jana Kay Slater, PhD September 15, 2002

What is the value of poetry education? Why should teachers allocate time for instruction in creative writing when they are held accountable, not for the visual and written arts so prominently posted on their classroom walls, but for the results of their students' standardized test scores in reading and math?

  A rigorous evaluation of the Bridges poetry education program provided clear answers to these questions. During the 2001-2002 school year, nearly 450 children in seventeen 4th grade classrooms participated in the Bridges program; these children received fifteen to seventeen weeks of poetry education lessons from a professional "poet in residence." Following participation in a CPITS' residency, students demonstrated the following significant achievements: ability to write expressive poetry, positive attitudes about writing poetry, and knowledge about poetry. During interviews and focus groups, teachers reported that students also experienced increases in vocabulary, critical analysis skills, and reading comprehension. Poetry education was felt to be particularly beneficial for students who were "struggling" in school, especially in the areas of writing and reading. The evaluation also suggests that poetry education holds promise as a youth development strategy.

  A quasi-experimental evaluation design involving a "treatment" group (17 classes of students who received poetry education) and a "comparison" group (three classes of students who did not receive poetry education) was used to measure student gains associated with poetry education. Information about the effects of this program was gathered through student, teacher and principal surveys; focus groups; observation; and a student writing assessment.

  Selected results from the evaluaton of the Bridges program are summarized below. For a copy of the full report, A Poet Came to My Class: Benefits of Short- and Long-Term Poetry Residency Programs, contact California Poets in the Schools at the address listed on the contact page.

  This evaluation (including the corresponding residencies) was funded by the California Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Walter and Elise Haas Fund, Miranda Lux Foundation, and the Silver Giving Foundation.

What is the Value of Poetry Education?

What students said:

° It was fun!

° It makes me feel good to see my work.

° I had trouble with writing before I wrote poems.

° It helped me organize my thoughts.

° It helped me with my vocabulary.

What teachers said:

° Poetry education filled a void that we didn't know we had. Or had forgotten to notice that we had.

° I had a student who came to our school in December. He had very little self confidence, he'd had very little schooling before and was way below grade level. A typical writing paragraph was very hard for him. He had ideas but didn't have the skills to put those ideas into a paragraph form. It was exciting to see him writing poetry because he could express his ideas; it also improved his peers' perception of him as well.

° For some kids it was a fine reading comprehension activity. Poets brought in these poems on butcher paper and kids had to read the poems and respond to them. For my reluctant readers, that was a really helpful activity. ]

° I liked to see the kids analyzing the poetry. They would think critically. It was a great way to teach critical thinking. They would look at a poem and pull out emotion and meaning from the writing. We do a lot of critical thinking with math skills but it was great to do it with a piece of writing.

° I showed the kids' poems to their parents. Especially for the parents of kids who are struggling writers. I'd say, this is what your child has produced. The parents were like, oh my gosh, my child can write a poem like that?

° I have a few boys in my class who are, you might say, quietly rebellious. It seemed like this was the perfect medium for them. The poems that they wrote were very strong and even edgy. They were really proud of it. It was a good opportunity for them to say stuff that was inside them that they really hadn't said before. Some of the best poems came from the boys who you would think, "oh, poetry wouldn't be his thing."

° I would tell other teachers that having a poet in your class broadens you, makes you a better teacher, and makes you a better student. I learned stuff from the poet...

What poets said :

° I have a bilingual student who, at the beginning, I was lucky if I could get one line out of this kid. He was really unfocused, antsy, and didn't want to participate. And now I'm getting one to two pages of poetry from him. Something exploded with his writing and he's really proud.

° Her parent told me that "Hannah" had problems with dyslexia and writing and spelling and all this stuff. I told her that Hannah was doing great in my poetry section because we don't focus on that stuff at all. I think as a result it has allowed her to be a writer in a way she's never had before.

 

Key Research Results:

Ability to write expressive poems improves

Pre-and posttest writing samples were collected from students. Standardized numeric ratings of posttest poems were significantly higher than ratings of pretest poems. Following Bridges, student poems were more likely to express enthusiasm, evoke a sense of emotion in the reader, use vivid description and colorful language, and clearly express a message that is insightful and creative. As shown below, the mean rating scores of poems produced by students in the comparison classes did not change between the pre- and post-test.

 

Attitudes about poetry and writing poetry improve

As shown below, by the end of the school year, the percentage of students with positive attitudes about poetry and writing poetry increased significantly. Student enjoyment of writing increased as did confidence in poetry writing ability. There were no significant changes in the responses of students in comparison classes on any items related to attitudes about poetry.

Teachers notice improvements in students' attitudes about poetry

Following Bridges, classroom teachers estimated that significantly higher percentages of students were enthusiastic about poetry, enjoyed writing poetry, were confident in their ability to write, and were able to write creative poems (see below). They also estimated that fewer students were fearful about making a mistake or were unable to get started when instructed to write a poem.

Knowledge about poetry increases

Participation in poetry education was associated with statistically significant - and in some cases quite dramatic - increases in student knowledge about poetry. As shown below, there were no changes in the responses of students in comparison classes on items related to knowledge about poetry.

Poetry education shows promise as "youth development" strategy:

Teachers and poets reported that poetry education was especially beneficial for struggling students (e.g., reluctant writers, reluctant readers, special needs students, ESL students, emotionally distant students and those struggling academically).

There is one little girl from Korea who couldn't speak any English a couple of months ago. She is doing pretty well now. She is very enthusiastic about the poetry. She writes and reads her poems. Sometimes you can't understand a lot of what she says. But she always writes poems. (poet)

Teachers and poets also reported that poetry education improved empathy and cooperation between students; provided a source of joy and humor for students; provided an important avenue for self expression; and increased teachers' expectations for low performing students.

Teachers benefit in multiple ways:

Teachers learned new techniques for teaching poetry and gained new confidence in using poetry to enhance instruction across the curriculum. After observing their students during poetry education sessions and reading their poems, teacher expectations of students, especially those who are low performing academically, increased.

° When I teach poetry in the future I feel like I'll do a much better job given what I've seen demonstrated by the poet teacher. A much better job. What I did before was very elementary. (teacher)

° How it affected me as a teacher was to make me re-commit again to getting creative writing back in the curriculum. (teacher)

° The poet provided me a great opportunity to observe my own kids. I could pick out a kid I wanted to observe and just do it. I can't do that when I am the teacher. I could really see how they paid attention and what they created. (teacher)

Characteristics of Bridges and Comparison Groups

Twenty classes participated in the Bridges program. Seventeen received the poetry education curriculum (Bridges) and three classes did not (comparison). There were no statistically significant differences at time of pretest between groups in student age, gender or grade level. The mean number of students per classroom, however, was significantly higher for the comparison group, due to a single comparison class with 36 students.



BACK TO BACKGROUND