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Developmental Studies Center (DSC) is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Oakland, California that was founded in 1980 by Eric Schaps. DSC develops and disseminates literacy and community-building programs for use in elementary schools, and literacy, mathematics, and science enrichment programs for use in after-school environments, as well as provides professional development services tailored to each program. DSC develops its programs with the goal of helping schools and after-school sites create caring, supportive learning environments that help all children acquire the academic skills they need to be productive and successful, and as well as build and deepen their understanding of, and commitment to, values such as kindness, helpfulness, personal responsibility, and respect for others. DSC reaches over 25,000 new classrooms each year and supports itself largely through earned revenues. DSC's programs have been adopted in over 4,000 schools and 5,000 after-school sites across the United States, including Title I schools serving low-income and minority youth. DSC’s lessons are designed so that the students are the ones doing the hard work of thinking, talking, and interacting in the classroom. Teachers learn how to increase student talk time, ask more and tell less, and acquire a broad cache of effective teaching strategies on which to draw. The lessons are designed to tap into students' innate motivation and curiosity and to engage 100% of the students 100% of the time. Rigorous evaluation studies have shown that DSC’s programs improve students’ academic achievement, strengthen their pro-social inclinations and skills, and reduce their involvement in problem behaviors including drug and alcohol use.〔Solomon, D., Battistich, V., Watson, M., Schaps, E., & Lewis, C. (2000), “A six-district study of educational change: Direct and mediated effects of the Child Development Project,” Social Psychology of Education, 4, 3–51; and Munoz, M.A. & Vanderhaar, J.E. (2006). “Literacy-embedded character education in a large urban district: Effects of the Child Development Project on elementary school students and teachers.” Journal of Research in Character Education, 4, 27–44.〕 ==Mission and Research== A nonprofit institution since 1980, DSC’s work has been supported by $85,000,000 in grants from over (60 different philanthropic and governmental sources ). That funding has enabled DSC’s mission of developing educational materials that promote academic learning while also fostering children’s social, emotional, and ethical growth. Over the past ten years, the effectiveness and scalability of DSC’s programs have driven a 2000% increase in the rate at which the programs are adopted by schools and districts. In turn, that increased adoption rate has driven a near-complete reversal from grant dependence to organizational self-sufficiency. These programs have been (extensively and rigorously evaluated ) and have been recognized as exemplary by, among others, the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Character Education Partnership, and the National Association of Elementary School Principals. Formative evaluation is key to the creation of all of DSC’s programs. Programs are developed with extensive feedback from panels of teachers who pilot program lessons. The lessons are revised based on feedback and on classroom observations. The revised lessons are then field-tested by entire faculties in a diverse set of schools, and are again revised before final publication. Through questionnaires, surveys, interviews, and/or focus groups, DSC's research department conducts ongoing evaluations of staff development offerings and selected program implementation efforts. DSC also collaborates with third-party evaluators to conduct comprehensive outcome evaluations of its programs that assess the programs' effects on students' academic achievement and social/ethical growth. These (evaluations ) have shown that when well implemented, DSC’s programs have powerful positive effects on students, including strengthening their motivation to learn, promoting their academic achievement, and fostering their growth as caring and principled human beings. A major evaluation 〔Solomon et al. (2000) ()〕 of its community-building program for elementary schools (then called the Child Development Project; now called the (Caring School Community ) program), conducted in the 1990s in six school districts nationally, found that students in high-implementing schools, relative to their comparison school counterparts, showed: * a greater sense of the school as a caring community * more liking for school * stronger academic motivation * more frequent reading of books outside of school * stronger commitment to democratic values * better conflict resolution skills * more concern for others * more frequent altruistic behavior * less use of alcohol * less use of marijuana A summary of this study is reported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which helped fund the evaluation.〔“Fostering a Sense of Community in the Classroom Lowers Alcohol and Marijuana Use and Delinquency.” Robert Wood Johnston Foundation Publications and Research. (http://www.rwjf.org/reports/grr/027098s.htm)〕 Significantly, a follow-up study 〔Battistich, V., Schaps, E., Wilson, N. (Spring 2004).”Effects of an Elementary School Intervention on Students’ ‘Connectedness’ to School and Social Adjustment During Middle School.” Journal of Primary Intervention, Vol. 24, No. 3.〕 tracked students from both program and comparison schools through the middle grades and showed that the program had lasting effects on school success and high-risk behavior: While in middle school (where there was no comparable program), former program students showed: * higher grades in core academic classes (English, mathematics, science, social studies) * higher achievement test scores * a greater sense of community * higher educational aspirations * more liking for school * greater trust in and respect for teachers * greater involvement in positive activities such as sports, clubs, and youth groups * less delinquent behavior 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Developmental Studies Center」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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