In 2013, Way to Grow was selected as one of six (SIF) fund recipients in the Twin Cities, which included a $100,000 investment from the Social Innovation Fund to expand our Great by Eight home visiting model. The goal of this project is to determine if the Way to Grow Great by Eight program is a scalable, replicable model for early childhood and parent success.
The initial findings* provided credible evidence that our programming is achieving our stated impact, improving parent engagement, school readiness and academic proficiency among participating students.
Initial Findings SIF Evaluation – Parent Engagement
- Frequency of home visits was a significant positive predictor of higher nurturing, discipline, support of child development and child care scores.
- Frequency of home visits, both early learning and elementary, was a significant predictor of parent-teacher conference attendance.
- Frequency of elementary home visits was a significant predictor of parents attending a school event or volunteering.
Initial Findings SIF Evaluation – Academics
- Home visits the summer before kindergarten were a significant positive predictor of higher Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDI); when frequency of home visits increase, indicator scores increase.
- Program participation duration is significantly associated with higher DIBELS scores.
- Non English speaking children scored significantly higher on DIBELs compared to children with English as home language.
- Highest gains were seen in mathematics (16.37 points) based on MAP scores, fall to spring.
- The second highest gain was seen in informational text (reading) based on MAP scores.
- The third highest gain was seen in the vocabulary scale based on MAP scores.
*Way to Grow received its initial evaluation findings in 2015, completed by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement through the guidance of the Corporation for National and Community Service, made possible through a grant from the Greater Twin Cities United Way in partnership with Generation Next and the STRIVE Network.
Great by Eight is supported by subgrant from the Social Innovation Fund (SIF), a program of the Corporation for National and Community Service. The Social Innovation Fund combines public and private resources to grow the impact of innovative, community-based solutions that have compelling evidence of improving the lives of people in low-income communities throughout the United States.
