Krista's Enemy Evaluation
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Introduction

In 1991-92, Bridgework created a play that addresses the problem of peer conflict. The play, Krista's Enemy, targets children in grades, five, six, seven and eight. Bridgework designed Krista's Enemy to (1) support the conflict resolution programs of schools where such programs are in place and (2) assist schools without such a program to initiate one. The play and supporting materials were based on a conflict resolution program created by the Community Boards Program of San Francisco, California.

During the fall of 2002, Bridgework performed Krista's Enemy for 13,000 students in ten states. Bridgework's evaluator chose schools at random and requested help in evaluating the program. Three schools agreed to participate: Annunciation BVM School at 421 Brookline Blvd in Havertown, PA 19083, Public School #17 at 600 Bergen Avenue in Jersey City, NJ 07304 and Slatington Elementary School at 1201 Shadow Oaks Lane in Slatington, PA 18080.

Goal and Objectives

The goal of Krista's Enemy is to increase the ability of participants to effectively resolve peer conflict. Objectives of the play are that students who participate in Krista's Enemy will demonstrate:

  • increased confidence in their ability to resolve conflict

  • increased willingness to take personal responsibility for resolving conflict

  • increased satisfaction with conflict resolution strategy #1: each adversary makes promises about what she/he will do to solve the problem

  • increased satisfaction with conflict resolution strategy #2: each adversary tells how he/she feels

The Play and Related Activities

Bridgework's program consists of:

    1. A live performance of Krista's Enemy, a 40 minute play
    2. A classroom activity session
    3. A student handout that describes an effective conflict resolution process
    4. A list of resources that schools can use to create an ongoing conflict resolution program

 

Evaluation Design

Bridgework's evaluator wanted to know if the play accomplished the objectives of the program's designers. The evaluator compared the attitudes of a randomly selected group of young people who had not participated in the program (control group) with the attitudes of a similar group of young people who had seen the play (experimental group).

The evaluation instrument consisted of four statements. Students chose a phrase to complete the statement. The choices comprised a five-point semantic differential. Each statement measured whether the program accomplished a particular objective.

Scoring

Points along the semantic continuum were weighted with values of one (left side of the continuum) to five (right side of the continuum). The mean score of the control group was compared to the mean score of the experimental. For questions 1, 3, and 4, a significant decrease in mean score was desired. For question 2 a significant increase in mean score was desired.

 
Evaluation Statements-The following statements were used in the evaluation of Krista's Enemy:

  1. If two people in my class are very angry at each other, I think it's a (very good, good, kind of good and kind of bad, bad, very bad) idea for each person to promise what they will do to solve the problem. Measured satisfaction with conflict resolution strategy #1: each adversary makes promises about what she/he will do to solve the problem.

  2. If somebody in my class gets mad at me, and I get mad at them, I (strongly doubt, doubt, am not sure, believe, strongly believe) that I can help solve the problem so we can stop being enemies. Measured confidence in ability to resolve conflict.

  3. If I get mad at somebody, I (will, probably will, don't know if I will, probably will not, will not) talk to them to see what I can do to solve the problem. Measured willingness to take personal responsibility to resolve conflict.

  4. When two people are mad at each other, I think it is a (very good, good, sort of good and sort of bad, bad, very bad) idea for the two people to tell each other how they feel. Measured satisfaction with conflict resolution strategy #2: each adversary tells how he/she feels.

Significance

A Z-test at the .05 level of significance (95% chance that test results can be replicated) was used to determine statistical significance. A Z-score of 1.65 or higher was considered to indicate a statistically significant difference.

Implementation

The schools used Bridgework's written instructions to (1) randomly select class rooms of students to participate in the control group and to (2) select similar class rooms of students to participate in the experimental groups. Students in the control group completed the test before Bridgework's performance and class room activities. Students in the experimental group completed the test after seeing a performance of Krista's Enemy. Class room teachers used Bridgework's written instructions to administer the test.

The evaluator received completed tests from a total of two hundred and eleven students (N = 211). Of those students, one hundred and five were in the control group (N control=105), one hundred and six were in experimental group (N experimental = 106).

Results and Summary

Evaluation results indicate that, compared to students in a control group, students who saw the play Krista's Enemy were:

[] More willing to take personal responsibility for resolve conflict

[] More satisfied with conflict resolution strategy #1: each adversary makes promises about what she/he will do to solve the problem

[] More satisfied with conflict resolution strategy #2: each adversary tells how he/she feels

Results are outlined in the following table:

Results Table

Statement 1

Statement 2

Statement 3

Statement 4

Mean, Control Group

 2.36

3.63

3.02

2.12

Mean, Experimental

1.85

3.62

3.44

1.88

Z-score (Control compared to Experimental)

3.95

0.09

2.51

2.02

P Value

p<.0005

p>.01

p<.01

p<.025

Desired Direction?

yes

no significant change

yes

yes

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