On Reflection: ABC CREATE Impact Report

Occasionally, we’ll take a look at completed projects in an effort to provide transparency and ruminate on things that work and things we’d change on the next go-round.

ABC CREATE is an educational think tank based out of Penn State New Kensington that incubates best practices and develops training resources for K-12 STEAM educators in Western Pennsylvania. Their most recent effort is the L.E.A.D.S. (Leveraging Education to Accelerate Diversity and Success) initiative, a 2-year project funded through a $482,145 PASmart grant provided by the PA Department of Education.

Public Studio and Flywheel Strategies created an Impact Report detailing L.E.A.D.S.’ key activities. The finished product showcases ABC CREATE’s “secret sauce” as an amplifier for technological fluency-building in Western Pennsylvania.

It’s that “secret sauce” that outlines the challenge of illustrating ABC CREATE’s impact. Secret sauce is secret by design. How do you showcase the impact of an organization when the outcomes take place among one’s clients – or even one’s clients’ clients? Me and Heather Mallak (my colleague at Public Studio) had to capture the way in which ABC CREATE influenced technology and STEAM fluencies among its member schools, and do so in a way that would resonate with funders and stakeholders. Through conversations with ABC CREATE coordinator Melinda Spampinato, outreach to educators who took part in ABC CREATE activities, and sifting through mountains of data, we put together the following document, outlining how the L.E.A.D.S. initiative has set up schools in the ABC CREATE service area for ongoing success.

Now that the report is live, here are a few things I’d want to keep in mind for any future reports. Consider it a Message to My Future Self.

1. Showcase vectors, not points.
   While impact reporting does require you to capture a snapshot in time, the work of community-focused organizations is a perpetual evolution. Impact reporting provides an opportunity to show how the organization in question has set its constituents off on a different path.
   
   Many of ABC CREATE’s member schools are in remote parts of southwestern PA, and have few “neighbors” to rely on for camarederie and support. ABC CREATE’s model of elevating local achievements and co-designing train-the-trainer tools empowered educators at many of these institutions to build their own internal communities of practice. In doing so, the teachers created opportunities for cross-pollination between subjects.
   
2. Take a dip in the ocean before you start a deeper dive.
   We asked for everything at first: surveys, artifacts, spreadsheets – all of it. The resulting pile of material was overwhelming – a sea of noise in search of signals. For me, the only out of this situation was to barrel through it¹This may just be me, as I’m a completionist sicko. Your mileage may vary. Immersing myself in all of this material allowed me to feel for patterns, and absorb larger trends. Once we figured out that vibe, the corresponding data – those precious needles in the haystack – became much easier to find.
   
   In this case, it was a upward trend²or a vector, if you seewhatididthere of growing confidence. Participating teachers went from muddling through basic instruction to desigining their own modules as part of ABC CREATE’s training library. As sessions, surveys tracking educator skills began to show increasingly higher confidence ratings – not just with STEAM tools, but for teaching them to others. This is the kind of vibe shift we were hoping for, and the perfect illustration of how ABC CREATE’s secret sauce makes an impact.
   
3. Find the dramatic tension.
   Reporting on impact is all about creating a narrative. How do we guide readers through the story of what ABC CREATE accomplished, and how did the organization leave its member schools in a better place?
   
   We found our key metaphor in talking about micro:bits, tiny open-source hardware tools designed to help build coding fluencies. Like many educational coding tools, they seem impenetrable at first: simultaneously using the prerequisite of coding knowledge to keep the gate closed to new users, and being so open-ended³what I usually refer to as the Box of Lego Dilemma. as to make it a challenge to know where to start. But in making individual devices with specific use cases, Micro:bits provide a hook that can help learners get through the initial “suck factor” that comes with acquiring any new skill. Building in Python might be tricky, but making a name badge display your name? That’s a little easier to grasp. Once you make those connections – as students and teachers taking micro:bit workshops quickly discovered – it’s off to the races. Tinkering gives way to praxis.
   
   
   This in turn became the hook for the report: learning tech fluencies is extremely intimidating. But steady exposure and gentle encouragement helps them take root. As participants realize what they’ve learned, they gained greater confidence – to the point where they want to share their new competencies with their own colleagues. ABC CREATE’s story became about leading Pennsylvania educators through the wilderness, eventually creating enthusiastic advocates for STEAM skills.
   
4. Summarize again and again.
   When I’m explaining something, I never want to repeat myself. This way lies madness. Beyond the old marketing saw that someone needs to hear a message at least seven times to sink in, the pressure to create new ideas can spread yourself thin real quick.
   It’s important to keep in mind that the average reader isn’t nearly as immersed in the material as you have. What might seem like a retread to you is likely completely new to them. Developing technology fluencies is a self-replicating process. In true HoMaGo fashion, we sought to articulate the same sense of discovery that comes with learning something new and wanting to share it with the world. Showing how this process popped up again and again – with students, with educators, with ABC CREATE trainers, and ourselves – because a way to illustrate how the L.E.A.D.S. initiative helped teachers in the region flourish.
   

Are you looking to define your own impact? Drop me a line – I’d love to dive in and help out.