LINE BY LINE

Transforming Student Lives and 

Learning with the Art of Poetry

A Longitudinal Study of Poetry Out Loud, 

a National Arts Education Program

Co-sponsored by the 

National Endowment 

for the Arts and the 

Poetry Foundation

May 2020

Maine State Champion João Rodrigues 

Victor competing in the 2019 Poetry Out 

Loud Finals. Photo by James Kegley
2 

May 2020

National Endowment for the Arts

400 7th Street, SW

Washington, DC 20506

202-682-5400

arts.gov

Produced by the National Endowment for the Arts

Mary Anne Carter, Chairman

Office of Research & Analysis

Sunil Iyengar, Director

Patricia Moore Shaffer, Deputy Director

Melissa Menzer, Program Analyst

Patricia Germann, Research Administrative Officer

Bonnie Nichols, Operations Research Analyst

Prepared for the National Endowment for the Arts by Social Policy Research Associates: Dr. Rachel

Estrella, Melissa Mack, Dr. Laura Pryor, Marianne Chen Cuellar, and Jennifer Hogg 

Editorial assistance by Don Ball and Rebecca Sutton 

Appendices for this report will be posted online at arts.gov/publications/line-by-line. Meanwhile, 

they can be obtained by contacting the National Endowment for the Arts at research@arts.gov.
3 

Preface

Over the past 15 years, more than four million students 

from 16,000 schools across the country have participated 

in Poetry Out Loud, a poetry recitation competition for 

high school students. A program of the National 

Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, with support from state and jurisdictional 

arts agencies, Poetry Out Loud connects students with their literary heritage, instills a sense of 

poise and confidence, and in some cases, transforms lives.

Poetry Out Loud starts in the classroom, where teachers can use free Poetry Out Loud materials 

to teach poetry recitation and run classroom competitions. Students select, memorize, and 

recite poems from an anthology of more than 1,100 classic and contemporary poems, choosing 

poems that speak to them at a personal level. Winners at the classroom level advance to the 

schoolwide competition, which then leads to the state competition and ultimately to the 

National Finals in Washington, DC.

In addition to introducing students to a wide range of poetry, the program helps them to 

master public speaking and build self-confidence, which can be critical for young people finding 

their way through adolescence. As 2017 national champion Samara Elán Huggins said, “I would 

never have expected myself to be able to speak to more than one person and convey such 

strong emotions and ideas and messages, but I'm capable of that, and I appreciate this program 

for helping me find that out.”

While some students move on in the Poetry Out Loud competition to regional, state, and 

national finals, the heart of Poetry Out Loud lies within the classroom experience, which is the 

focus of this study. The report explores the program’s impact in three main areas: academic 

engagement and performance; social-emotional development; and poetry engagement and 

appreciation. Taken together, this study reveals how participation in Poetry Out Loud not only 

cultivates a greater appreciation of poetry, but also results in improved writing and analytical 

skills and gives students a greater understanding of themselves, their past, and others.

This report includes the perspective of students, teachers, and school administrators and also 

explores the positive role Poetry Out Loud can play in schools, from building community to 

providing students with new avenues for self-expression.

With this key research, we hope more schools will be inspired to add Poetry Out Loud to their 

curricula so that the gifts of poetry can reach a new generation of students.

Mary Anne Carter

Chairman

National Endowment for the Arts

5 
6 

Table of Contents 

Preface ..............................................................................................................................................3

List of Exhibits....................................................................................................................................7

Executive Summary............................................................................................................................8

Academic Engagement and Achievement Key Findings........................................................................... 8

Social and Emotional Skills Development Key Findings............................................................................ 9

Poetry Appreciation and Engagement Key Findings...............................................................................11

Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................13

Overview of Prior Research ....................................................................................................................14

The Evaluation of Poetry Out Loud.........................................................................................................17

Data Sources...........................................................................................................................................18

POL Evaluation School Sample................................................................................................................20

Methodology...........................................................................................................................................23

Report Overview.....................................................................................................................................24

Chapter 2: National Program Model and Implementation Variations Among Sample Schools.............26

Overview of the National Program Model..............................................................................................26

POL Implementation at Sample Schools................................................................................................. 30

Similarities to (and Variations on) the National Program Model ...........................................................36

Chapter 3: Findings..........................................................................................................................38

Academic Engagement and Achievement..............................................................................................38

Social-Emotional Development...............................................................................................................47

Poetry Appreciation and Engagement....................................................................................................56

Study Limitations ....................................................................................................................................69

Chapter 4: Conclusion ......................................................................................................................71

References.......................................................................................................................................79

Acknowledgements..........................................................................................................................81
7 

List of Exhibits

Exhibit I: POL Evaluation Study Selected Schools.......................................................................................22

Exhibit II: Poetry Out Loud Logic Model.....................................................................................................29

Exhibit III: Predicted Probabilities of Reporting Straight A's in English Language Arts..............................39

Exhibit IV: Predicted Probabilities of Reporting Straight A's in all Subjects...............................................43

Exhibit V: Standardized Assessment and GPA Percentile Ranks for POL Participants and Non-Participants

....................................................................................................................................................................44

Exhibit VI: Average Difference in Pre/Post Survey Growth Between POL Participants & Non-Participants

....................................................................................................................................................................45

Exhibit VII: Predicted Probability of having 4-Year College Aspirations.....................................................47

Exhibit VIII: Key Survey Findings for Differences from Pre- to Post-Survey...............................................48

Exhibit IX: Confidence in Group Discussions at Pre/Post...........................................................................51

Exhibit X: Confidence in Public Speaking at Pre/Post.................................................................................51

Exhibit XI: Predicted Probability of Volunteering or doing Community Service ........................................56

Exhibit XII: Key Survey Findings for Differences from Pre- to Post-Survey ................................................58

Exhibit XIII: Poetry Appreciation Mean Scores at Pre/Post........................................................................59
8 

Executive Summary

Poetry Out Loud (POL) is a national arts education program supported by the National Endowment for 

the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, and state arts agencies. POL encourages America’s youth to learn 

about great poetry through memorization and recitation, helping students master public speaking skills, 

build self-confidence, and learn about literary history.

In 2016, the Arts Endowment and the Poetry Foundation commissioned an efficacy study to better 

understand student-level outcomes associated with Poetry Out Loud when the program is implemented 

under optimal conditions. This study used mixed methods to understand the program’s influence on (1) 

academic engagement and performance; (2) social and emotional development; and (3) poetry 

appreciation and engagement. 

The following section presents key findings by each research domain. 

Academic Engagement and Achievement Key Findings

Survey data and administrative records showed that, overall, POL was positively associated with 

academic achievement outcomes in English Language Arts (ELA) and other subjects. Interviews with 

students shed light on how POL contributed to strong academic performance in ELA in particular. The 

students also described POL’s role in supporting learning across a range of other subjects.

• Students who participated in POL performed better on their standardized end-of-year

assessments, experienced a boost in their GPA, and were more likely to have strong aspirations to

attend college. An analysis of standardized assessment data revealed that participating in POL

increased students’ ranking by 2.82 percentile points in ELA and 10.90 percentile points in math.

Furthermore, analysis of administrative data showed that POL participants experienced a 0.13 boost

to their weighted GPAs. POL students were nearly twice as likely as non-participants to report fouryear college or graduate school aspirations.1

• POL participation helped to strengthen vocabulary development, reading comprehension, and

writing. Students explained that poetry lends itself especially well to vocabulary development, not

only because poems tend to have more words unfamiliar to the students relative to other reading

materials, but also because each word carries greater weight. Readers are compelled to slow down

and consider the definitions of each new word and its varied possibilities for meaning in the context

1 POL participants are more 1.7 times more likely than non-participants to have 4-year college or graduate school 

aspirations, when asked what level of education they aspired to complete after high school and controlling for 

mother's education, p<0.001.

I definitely think I learned new ways to approach reading and even writing. After having looked 

through hundreds of poems and hearing other people recite stuff ... I'm like, "This is a really nice 

way they phrased this, I can incorporate that into my writing.” - POL student 
9 

of a poetic line and in an entire poem. Stronger reading comprehension grew through a rigorous 

process of analyzing poetry, which one student described as “resistance training with analyzing.” 

Finally, many students and teachers said studying poetry affected students’ writing skills and 

inspired them to take new approaches to writing. 

• POL participation influenced student achievement in the humanities and social sciences. The most 

common connection students drew between poetry and a non-ELA subject was with history. Some 

students recognized how their study of poetry helped them engage more deeply and patiently with 

dense, primary sources in their history classes. A similar number of students saw connections 

between the skills they had developed through the study of poetry and their study of foreign 

languages. Some students explained that they used POL-related memorization skills and techniques 

when memorizing foreign vocabulary words. Students also identified connections to performing

arts-related subjects, such as choir and theater, and even to courses in the sciences. For some 

students, engaging in poems focused on the natural world enhanced their appreciation of nature. 

• POL participation helped boost overall school engagement. In interviews and focus groups, some 

students reported that their enjoyment of POL helped them become more engaged in school 

generally. To these students, poetry served as a “hook” for greater school engagement because they 

found more pleasure in it than in other subject areas. One student explained that her enjoyment of 

poetry (developed through POL participation) helped her build the mental stamina to persist in 

other areas. 

 

Social and Emotional Skills Development Key Findings

High school students often experience immense social-emotional growth in adolescence as they begin 

to develop their sense of self, engage more deeply with their community, and understand the world 

around them. POL participation supported student social-emotional development by influencing their

self-confidence and increasing their social awareness, empathy, engagement, and self-knowledge. It also 

contributed to greater extracurricular involvement, community service, and volunteering. 

• POL helped students explore their interests and achieve personal fulfillment. The opportunities 

afforded by POL to engage in different skills—such as critical thinking, memorization, public 

speaking, and performance—allowed students to explore their interests, learn new skills and 

strengthen existing ones, and develop the confidence to pursue their passions. Through reading and 

studying poetry in POL, students were able to explore the emotions, thoughts, and values that help 

shape their understanding of personal identity. POL helped break down high school pressures by 

encouraging introspection, self-awareness, and connections through poetry. 

• POL participation helped students develop self-confidence to speak up in group discussions and 

form connections with others. Program participants reported slightly greater confidence in group 

I have such a bad focus problem, but when I do something that I enjoy, like poetry, I really stick to it 

and put all my brain power into it. And I use that technique in other aspects of school and life. 

- POL student 
10

discussions than did non-participants.2 POL helped to open a line of communication between 

students who may not otherwise have formed connections.

Even just having to do that in front of the class, they break down some shyness so they might be more 

open to talking to [other] kids. And what I’ve really seen is, the audience empathy is amazing.... I think 

kids see the support of other kids. Because they don’t always see that. And so they sit down, and all those 

people are like, “Good job” or “You did it.” I think it does help the classroom culture in that unity, and 

taking a risk in front of a group where everyone is taking the same risk and then being supported. 

- POL teacher

• POL influenced students to take a more empathetic stance toward the world around them.

Interviewees explained how POL opened a window onto various types of thinking, perspectives, and

lived experiences. Reading and studying poetry in the program gave students the opportunity to

learn about different time periods in history, cultures, and points of view, broadening and

deepening their connection to the world beyond their lived experiences. In addition to

strengthening students’ social awareness, the POL program included opportunities for students to

develop empathy or take alternative perspectives. Several students found that reading and listening

to poetry helped them seek emotional connections to better understand others.

• POL participation influenced student engagement with the broader school and community

environment. Participants were more likely than non-participants to participate in two or more

extracurricular activities.3 While many student interviewees shared that they had participated in

extracurricular activities prior to POL, being in the program helped some students to deepen the

quality of their engagement in those other activities. Survey data also highlighted that students

participating in POL are 1.5 times more likely to engage in community service and volunteering,

compared to non-participants.4

2 Specifically, the difference between pre-test and post-test scores was on average 0.07 higher for POL participants 

versus non-participants for group discussion, p< 0.01.

3 POL participants were 1.6 times more likely to participate in two or more extracurricular activities p<0.001, 

controlling for mother’s education and college aspirations.

4

 Students participating in POL are 1.5 times more likely to engage in community service and volunteering, p<0.05, 

controlling for mother’s education and college aspirations.

I think I gained a lot of self-confidence doing [POL], because you’re up there and you’re exposing yourself 

to all these people. You’re showing them the real you, and the deeper part of you, and a lot of times 

that’s really hard, especially in high school to do that. But doing Poetry Out Loud, and when we do the 

competition for the school, people come who want to come. No one’s required to be there, so you know 

that the people who are there respect you and they hear what you’re saying. - POL student
11

Poetry Appreciation and Engagement Key Findings

In Poetry Out Loud, the teaching of poetry relies on several modes of performance and collaboration. 

Survey and interview data reveal that the shared work of memorizing poems, and practicing and 

performing them, improves students’ and teachers’ engagement with poetry and their appreciation of 

this distinctive literary form. Despite such benefits from POL participation, the genre remains 

challenging for many young readers.

• Students’ appreciation of poetry in many cases grew after participating in POL. Survey data

showed that attitudes toward poetry were significantly more positive for POL students who had

participated for at least two years, relative to non-participants.

5 POL students were also significantly

more likely to report that their teachers encouraged them to write their own poetry.6

• Students were not uniformly positive in their opinions about poetry. A number of students who

were interviewed and who participated in focus groups were open and articulate about their

frustrations with the genre or about the aspects of poetry they found challenging. The most

common complaint across the respondent group, including input from several teachers, was that

students sometimes find poetry difficult to understand. Most of the students interviewed explained

that they did not read poetry at all outside POL and school in general.

• Whether positive or negative, students’ strong feelings about poetry suggested high levels of

engagement. The overlap between what students liked and disliked about poetry suggests, first, the

ambivalence that often accompanies serious engagement in an art form or field. POL gave students

an opportunity to grapple with their ambivalences. Also, because of the many modes of

engagement available through POL (reading, analyzing, memorizing, reciting, and listening), POL

gave students a wide variety of ways to access the genre. Students disliked poetry because it was

difficult, but they liked the experience of having worked through the difficulty.

• POL created an avenue for teachers to connect with or learn about students in a different way.

Several teachers described POL as a program that allowed them to “see”—notice, learn about, and

understand—students with whom they had not connected prior to POL. Teachers also recognized

POL as a way to contribute outside one’s regular teaching load and to nurture their own creativity.

Several teachers indicated that participating in POL helped them contribute to the culture of the

school and to their students’ lives in ways that go beyond the classroom.

5 These students with two or more years of participation in POL scored, on average, 0.09 points higher on the Poetry 

Appreciation scale, p<0.01.

6 The change from pre- to post-survey responses between participants and non-participants was, on average, 0.13 

higher for students with more than one year of participation, p<0.05. 

I just think that poetry is so gorgeous that I have trouble contributing myself to that, because I feel 

like I'm not as ... not just ‘not as good’, but not as aware of myself. I don't know, I just feel like I can't 

do it justice, and I spend a lot of time reading poetry [in order to do] it justice, so I know. 

- POL student
12

• POL helped teachers grow more comfortable with poetry and celebrate poetry as an oral art form.

Recalling when they first had learned about POL and “the idea of making the performance of poetry

the focal point instead of reading it,” one teacher said, “I could never go back” and that “having

access to this large, very curated, beautiful anthology of poetry, is just a gold mine.” Similar to the

way the students responded to POL, teachers said poetry came alive for them through POL.

“I've always been passionate about poetry, so I think [the students] see that, but what I loved about [POL] 

the most ... is, even if I'm super passionate about something, I never saw the spark out of some kids. And I 

feel like [POL] gave them that spark.” - POL teacher
13

Chapter 1: Introduction

A national arts education program supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry 

Foundation, and state and jurisdictional arts agencies, Poetry Out Loud (POL) encourages the nation’s 

youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation, helping students master public 

speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history.7

The program launched in 2005 as a pilot program in just two cities. Now in its fourteenth year as a 

nationwide program, POL has grown to reach more than 3.8 million students and 60,000 teachers from 

16,000 schools in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.8

The major POL program partners, National Endowment for the Arts (Arts Endowment) and the Poetry 

Foundation, commissioned an efficacy study to better understand student-level outcomes associated 

with the Poetry Out Loud program implemented under optimal conditions. In December 2016, the Arts 

Endowment awarded Social Policy Research Associates (SPR) a contract to conduct the study over a 29-

month period spanning from December 2016 to April 2019.9

 

The current evaluation is the first since 2008. The prior evaluation focused on the reach, support, and 

engagement with POL by students and participating schools, providing compelling evidence that the 

program had continued to grow (over the course of its first three years) and reach increasingly diverse 

students, rural schools, and schools with and without existing strong arts programs. Additionally, the 

prior evaluation found that POL helped to facilitate both the engagement and retention of teachers by 

providing them resources to bolster existing curricula. 

With respect to student-level outcomes, the prior evaluation focused largely on poetry appreciation and 

engagement. By contrast, this new evaluation focused not only on assessing student outcomes in poetry 

appreciation and engagement, but also on outcomes in social and emotional development and in 

academics. The study used a rigorous quasi-experimental design combined with qualitative data 

collection and analysis of program implementation in ten sample schools. The sample was selected to 

meet criteria established by the POL program partners. It was large enough to power a strong statistical 

analysis, and it allowed the research team to collect rich qualitative data to contextualize the 

quantitative findings.

This final report presents results from this evaluation study. Data were collected and analyzed via site 

visits, a pre/post student survey, and student-level administrative record data. The research team also 

convened a Technical Review Group of educators and researchers at the design and analysis stages, for a 

total of three meetings; their input helped shape the study and the resulting report. A brief review of 

the literature and a description of the evaluation, including research questions, instruments, school 

sample selection, and methodology is presented in this introduction. 

7 Poetry Out Loud logic model

8 https://www.poetryoutloud.org/about-poetry-out-loud/

9 The Arts Endowment later approved a one-year no-cost extension to allow the research team to begin collecting 

data in Fall 2018 rather than Fall 2017, thus extending the project to April 2020. 
14

Overview of Prior Research

This report focuses on POL’s impact on three key research domains: (1) student academic engagement 

and performance; (2) student social and emotional development; and (3) student poetry appreciation 

and engagement. When examining existing research related to these three research domains, the 

literature shows a great deal of research focusing on the importance of English Language Arts (ELA) 

curricula for a variety of student outcomes. 

Common Core, the current set of national standards for ELA and math sponsored by the Council of Chief 

State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, is widely 

recognized for its reliance on a foundation of extensive scholarly research and evidence (Jerald, 2008). 

And yet, because poetry tends to be grouped with ELA at large, there is no deep research base that can 

tell us about the value of poetry programs like POL for student outcomes. Thus, there is a need for 

evaluation studies such as this one to increase evidence related to the impact of poetry on student 

outcomes. 

Because the body of empirical research on student outcomes associated with poetry in education is 

scant, the research team extended its literature review to account for student participation in arts 

programming generally, looking specifically at studies focused on outcomes similar to those of POL. The 

narrative below describes the existing research as it pertains to the evaluation’s three outcomes of 

interest.

Academic Engagement and Performance 

Existing studies related to the arts and academic engagement and performance largely found a positive 

link between arts participation and academic outcomes. For example, Vaughn and Winner (2000), who 

examined the relationship between number of years of arts participation and SAT scores, found that 

high school students who participated in more years of arts classes in school (including art, music, art 

history, dance, and theater) had higher math, verbal, and composite SAT scores. Given the new 

evaluation’s investigation into outcomes related to the performance aspect of POL, it is interesting to 

note that Vaughn and Winner found that participation in theater relative to other art forms had the 

highest correlation with SAT verbal scores. 

Catterall and colleagues’ 1999 examination of the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS) data 

also found that participation in the arts (inclusive of a variety of art forms) over a long time period

resulted in consistently higher academic outcomes by the 12th grade when compared to non-arts 

involved students. Like Vaughn and Winner, Catterall’s findings showed that sustained involvement in 

theater was linked to improvements in reading proficiency, gains in self-concept, and higher levels of 

empathy and tolerance. 

In a 2012 Arts Endowment report, Catterall et al. expanded their analysis, looking at data from four 

different longitudinal studies to examine the relationship between arts participation and academic 

outcomes, focusing specifically on youth from “economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds.” 

Catterall and colleagues found that arts-engaged youth from socially and economically disadvantaged 

backgrounds had stronger achievement outcomes than similarly disadvantaged youth who were not 

arts-engaged.

When examining the impact of arts participation on English Language Arts outcomes specifically, prior 

research shows a similar positive association. For example, a rare study that examined poetry
15

memorization and recitation—the core elements of POL—in a school setting (Athanases 2005) focused 

on a single 10th grade classroom where students selected a poem (written by someone other than 

themselves) to recite to their classmates at the end of the unit. Using ethnographic methods such as 

classroom observations, observation of poem recitation rehearsals, and student reflections, Athanases 

found that the students strengthened their ability in writing about poetry, and in using and applying 

concepts such as assessment of dramatic situation and subtext. While not generalizable, the methods 

are instructive and the findings of this study point to the potential power of the performance aspect of 

poetry and how it is connected to strong literacy practices.

Indeed, in their study of an elementary school that transformed its approach to literacy instruction,

Fisher and Frey (2007) named reading aloud as a literacy strategy that works, noting that hearing other

students perform and hearing themselves read are effective strategies for facilitating fluent reading 

skills. 

Furthermore, Koukis (2010) conducted a study of 19 under-performing ninth grade students, examining 

if, after a ten-week poetry reading and writing workshop in tracked English classes, they thought of 

themselves as more successful English students. The study also examined the extent to which students’ 

knowledge of poetry increased, poetry sections of standardized tests improved, and knowledge of 

poetry-related concepts improved. Findings indicated that students had a better understanding and 

knowledge of poetry after the workshops, and that their test scores on literacy concepts and terms 

improved. Focus groups and interviews also showed that students developed a clearer understanding of 

metaphor and other poetry terms. 

Additionally, Wiseman (2010, 2011) studied 22 eighth-grade students’ responses to a year-long poetry 

program conducted via weekly 45-minute workshops in students’ English classrooms and taught by a 

teaching artist from the community. Workshops focused on having the students write and read poetry 

and often included contemporary hip-hop and rap songs among the poems taught. Wiseman used

ethnographic and observational methods to document students’ experiences and responses to the 

program throughout the year. Findings included positive outcomes in areas aligned with POL’s goals, 

including improved reading comprehension specifically regarding poetry, comfort with poetic devices, 

analytical capacity, self-confidence regarding self-expression, and “creative manipulation of emotional 

and social topics while integrating and expanding students’ language” (Wiseman 2011, 76).

Social and Emotional Development

Given that this study focuses on understanding the relationship between POL participation and social 

and emotional development (e.g., self-concept, self-confidence, positive behavioral change), the 

research team reviewed literature relevant to arts and poetry’s connection to this domain. 

Overall, existing literature pointed to a positive relationship between arts participation and social and 

emotional development. While most empirical studies reviewed were small, one mixed-methods study 

conducted in England by Harland et al. (2000) was significantly large and focused on students at the high 

school level.10 This study included the administration of over 2,200 surveys to 11th graders at 22 schools, 

10 England and the United States have very different school systems; thus, while the team found the findings of 

interest, it remains circumspect about their broad applicability to the current study. 
16

qualitative case studies of five secondary schools noted for having strong arts reputations, and an 

examination of performance on national academic tests for 27,607 students in 152 schools.

In terms of social-emotional outcomes, relevant findings emerged from the case studies. School 

administrators reported that the arts contributed to a more positive school culture by encouraging a 

positive, cohesive atmosphere, while students reported that participation in arts classes provided 

opportunities to learn about social and cultural issues and contributed to their personal and social 

development. They also reported having enriched expressive skills and a greater sense of selfconfidence as a result of arts participation. 

Furthermore, Daykin et al. (2008) conducted a comprehensive review of research on the impact of 

performing arts participation on adolescent health and behavior. Some of the studies they highlight 

include a randomized control trial study by McArdle et al. (2002), which yielded some evidence of 

student-reported improvement in self-concept as well as teacher-reported improvements in behavior. 

This study, however, was focused on a very specific and younger target population (“at-risk” 11-yearolds). 

The research team leading the POL evaluation also found it important to contextualize findings in the 

broader literature on adolescent social and emotional development. Specifically, a study by Zimmerman 

and Iwanski (2014) aimed to understand differences in emotional regulation across age groups. Findings 

showed that one’s ability to regulate emotions such as fear, sadness, and anger declines throughout 

adolescence (particularly between ages 11-17) and then rises again in adulthood. 

Furthermore, Schonert-Reichl and Lawlor (2010) found that the effects of mindfulness curriculum on 

social and emotional learning were positive for pre-adolescents but largely mixed for early adolescents. 

The authors hypothesized that the increase in self-awareness in the early-adolescent phase may 

mitigate positive impacts of an intervention designed to enhance social and emotional awareness. 

Regarding students’ engagement with school, or the degree of attention, curiosity, and interest students 

demonstrate in school activities, using a sample of 1,148 students tracked from grades seven through 

eleven, Wang and Eccles (2012) found that school engagement decreased over time. They also reported 

that sense of belonging to the school and self-regulated learning decreased from seventh grade to 

eleventh grade. Thus, existing literature points to a potential decline in social and emotional growth 

during the adolescent years, which is an important backdrop for the social and emotional development 

domain explored in this study. 

Poetry Appreciation and Engagement

Similar to the other two domains, existing research, while scant, points to a positive relationship 

between arts education and poetry appreciation and engagement. Specifically, reading poetry out loud 

can lead to greater enjoyment of (and therefore engagement in) poetry and literature in general. A 

study by Crozer (2014) demonstrated that framing poetry curriculum and instruction as “play” for a 

sample of fourth, fifth and sixth grade students increased both student and teacher engagement with 

literature. Similarly, in a study by Ivey and Broaddus (2001), which included surveys and interviews of 

1,765 sixth grade students in 23 schools and follow-up interviews with 31 students, students reported 

strong enjoyment around reading poetry and plays out loud. 
17

Some literature suggests that poetry engagement can also be influenced by the platform or medium

used to teach poetry. Hughes (2009), for example, looked at how performance and the medium for 

teaching poetry influence outcomes. In particular, Hughes studied the performance aspect of digital new 

media—the way in which the creation and posting of content foregrounds the persona of the content 

creator/poster—as a mechanism for teaching and creating poetry. She collected data from a single 

classroom of 28 eleventh grade students in Ontario, Canada, using photographic and video 

documentation and semi-structured interviews. A key finding was that students were more excited and 

engaged with poetry after participating. 

While this research was focused on a poetry writing program and digital media, many of the same 

elements fostered via the medium are present in POL. For example, the performance aspect, the 

audience focus (students shared their poems with the class), and the collaborative ethos described by 

Hughes are aspects that are also present in POL. The study provides a compelling argument that

alternative modes of teaching poetry that draw on performance elements―elements key to the 

structure of POL—are key to increasing student engagement. 

As shown in this review of extant literature, the opportunity to study the impact of POL on student 

outcomes is not only relevant to understanding the importance of arts education in general and poetry 

in particular, but also fills a gap in the current research base. This report therefore endeavors to build 

from the literature and present new findings that contribute to public understanding of how programs 

such as POL impact academic achievement, social and emotional learning, and poetry appreciation.

The Evaluation of Poetry Out Loud

The purpose of this evaluation is to understand student-level outcomes associated with the 

implementation of POL in optimally implementing states.

11 The program sponsors and the research 

team hypothesized that the outcomes of POL would be more readily detectable in schools showing 

optimal fidelity of program implementation. 

Research Questions 

Specifically, the evaluation is designed to answer the following research questions, organized by the 

evaluation’s three key research domains: 

1. Student academic engagement and performance

Does student participation in POL correlate with increased academic engagement in English 

classes and/or in school more generally?

Are there other types of skill development correlated with POL participation?

2. Student social and emotional development

Do students experience increased self-confidence in their public speaking abilities, social skills, 

intellectual abilities or, in general, after participating in POL?

 

11 See subsequent section focused on the POL Evaluation School Sample for characteristics related to optimally 

implementing states.
18

Do students feel more secure, empowered, and/or articulate in expressing themselves after 

participating in POL?

Are students more likely to engage in civic activities during or after participation in POL?

Are students more likely to engage in extracurricular activities during or after participation in POL?

3. Student poetry appreciation and engagement

Does participating in POL correlate with students’ increasing their likelihood of reading or writing

poetry for pleasure?

Does POL promote the sharing of poems among students and, if so, by what means?

Do students talk about poetry or POL on social media networks after the participation versus

before?

Does POL participation correlate with any attitudinal changes toward poetry, academics, public

speaking/performing, or post-high school aspirations?

Data Sources

Each research question is underscored by a set of outcomes and indicators detailing how the question 

will be addressed. Matrices detailing these outcomes and indicators are found in Appendix A. (All 

appendices ultimately will be posted online. Meanwhile, they can be obtained by contacting the 

National Endowment for the Arts at research@arts.gov.) Furthermore, these matrices detail the data 

sources used to answer each question. The following quantitative and qualitative data were collected 

and analyzed to answer the research questions: 

1. Student Interviews: Student interviews were conducted on-site at each of the participating

schools. Interview questions were designed to address each of the three research domains as well

as the implementation of POL at each school. The student interview protocol detailing questions

asked during each interview can be found in Appendix B

2. Student Focus Groups: In addition to student interviews, focus groups were held at each

participating school. The student focus group protocol can be found in Appendix B.

3. Teacher Interviews: While teachers are not the explicit focus of the research questions, SPR

interviewed teachers at each of the participating schools to collect an alternative perspective on

how POL impacted students (as related to the three research domains), as well as further detail on

how POL was implemented at each school. The teacher interview protocol can be found in

Appendix B.

4. Administrator Interviews: Finally, an administrator from each school was interviewed on-site to

provide further insight into each of the three research domains and POL implementation. These

interviews in particular provided a higher level of understanding about how POL was viewed at

each school and how it fit in with the rest of the school’s academic and extracurricular curriculum.

The administrator protocol can be found in Appendix B.

5. Student survey: A comprehensive student survey was administered to all students at participating

schools during fall 2018 (pre) and spring 2019 (post). Survey administration was timed to

correspond with each school’s POL implementation schedule. Thus, the pre-survey took place prior

to POL implementation and the post-survey took place after the regional/state competitions
19

had been completed. In general, the survey questions addressed all three research domains, 

andwith the exception of the questions pertaining to the Poetry Appreciation and Engagement 

domain, all items and dimensions were drawn from previously validated instruments. The 

survey contained 145 items and 11 dimensions. For a complete description of the survey items 

and dimensions, please refer to Appendix D. 

6. Student administrative data: SPR collected a set of administrative data for all students at each

participating school for the 2018-19 school year. Appendix G details the full set of administrative

data received from each participating school. However, in general, this set of data contained

information on student academic achievement (standardized test scores, grade point averages,

and English Language Arts course grades) and student background characteristics. This

administrative data was obtained from school district maintained student information systems

that integrate data from multiple sources, including school attendance records, assessments, and

student demographics. Therefore, the administrative data were designed to address research

questions under the student academic engagement and performance domain.
20

POL Evaluation School Sample 

School Selection Criteria

As part of the POL evaluation, Social Policy Research Associates (SPR) undertook an effort to partner 

with ten schools to serve as the study sample. Because this evaluation was deemed an efficacy study, 

SPR sought to recruit schools that reflected the optimal conditions for program success. Thus, recruited 

schools were only from states that offered these conditions. The POL program partners’ criteria to 

determine whether states offer optimal conditions for POL12 were as follows: 

• An overall count of participating students exceeding 2,500;

• An overall count of participating schools exceeding 20;

• Presence of ancillary activities supporting state finals competitions, direct student exposure to a

working artist, and celebratory activities for students and families such as a welcome banquet or

reception;

• Formal teacher recognition at the state level;

• Opportunities for winning students to perform at local arts events throughout the state;

• Strong support for the POL program from executive leadership at the state arts agency;

• Workshops for teachers and/or students facilitated by the state arts agency;

• Matching or overmatching of POL grant money with funds from the state arts agency; and

• An annual program assessment.

According to the POL program partners, 18 states were identified as meeting optimal conditions for POL

implementation.

13 In addition to these criteria, the research team set three selection criteria that 

individual schools needed to meet to be included in the sample. These additional criteria were set to 

ensure that the quantitative data would have the required structure and statistical power needed to 

measure the impact of POL. Specific criteria were as follows: 

1) Schools have mandatory POL programming at the classroom level, with some but not all classrooms

participating14;

2) Schools meet the necessary conditions to implement the study, including having a minimum of 360

POL-participating students and about 360 non-participants15, allowing SPR to implement a

12 These optimal conditions identified by POL program partners included indicators of strong community outreach 

(e.g., overall count of participating students exceeding 2,500), effective program practices (e.g., formal teacher 

recognition), and robust state arts agency support (e.g., matching or overmatching of POL grant money).

13 These states are California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New 

Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.

14 Poetry Out Loud is implemented in schools and classrooms in generally one of two ways—requiring mandatory 

student participation or allowing students to voluntarily participate in the program. Mandatory participation means 

that a teacher requires his or her entire class(es) to participate in the Poetry Out Loud program. Some schools may 

additionally require grade-level participation or even schoolwide participation. In contrast, some schools may opt to 

have students voluntarily participate in the program. This means that students self-select to participate in Poetry 

Out Loud whether this is in the classroom or in an after-school club. Mandatory programming was selected as a 

study criterion to reduce or eliminate the bias associated with self-selection. The study team also included an option 

in its screening criteria for schools that had mandatory participation for entire grade levels, but ultimately did not 

screen any schools that had mandatory participation by grade-level. 
21

schoolwide online survey, and having the ability to provide student-level data for all students in the 

school; and 

3) Schools possess other features so as to achieve a good mix of school sites in terms of geography and 

student body composition.

School Selection Process

To reach potentially eligible schools, SPR communicated the selection criteria to eligible State Arts 

Agencies (SAAs) and requested a list of potential schools from SAAs in each optimally implementing 

state. Some SAAs supported SPR by preparing lists of potential schools to participate in the study. 

Specifically, SAAs either provided lists of schools or sent SPR’s contact information to the schools and 

asked schools to respond if they met the criteria and were willing to participate. The latter approach 

yielded a more limited result compared to the scenario of SAAs creating lists of potentially eligible 

schools and sending the lists directly to SPR. SPR received lists from the following states: California, 

Georgia, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, 

Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. SPR reviewed each state’s list, totaling 59 schools, and 

identified schools that matched the study criteria. 

SPR also followed up with schools that had failed to report information needed to determine eligibility; 

some schools responded, and others were nonresponsive. From this process, SPR created a list of 31 

eligible schools representing the following states (total schools in parentheses): Georgia (1), Mississippi 

(1), Nevada (1), Ohio (2), Texas (1), Washington (8), New Jersey (6), California (4), Pennsylvania (1), 

Massachusetts (6). One school in Virginia was later added to the list to address concerns with 

geographic diversity when other eligible schools in Texas, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Massachusetts 

were non-responsive. With support from the POL program partners, SPR then reached out to each 

school’s POL contact and principal to review the study’s details and ask for their participation. SPR 

successfully contacted POL liaisons at 28 of the 31 schools. 

Of the 28 schools, nine of the schools were either ultimately determined to be ineligible or declined to 

participate, and six schools had non-responsive school administrators. Of the 13 schools that agreed to 

participate, SPR then reached out to the corresponding school district to receive approval. For the 

purposes of the selection process, schools were considered confirmed sites in the study once SPR 

received a signed Data Sharing Agreement (DSA) from the district or an indication from the district that 

the DSA was in process. Of the 13 schools, ten districts agreed to participate and returned signed DSAs.

School Sample

As discussed, the nature of the selection criteria and process limited potential schools to a select group 

that possessed the resources and staff time to both optimally implement POL and assist with 

implementing the study. As a result, the group of participating schools came from five different states 

(CA, MA, OH, VA, WA) in primarily suburban regions. Exhibit I details the specific states, region-type, and 

racial/ethnic breakdown of the student population.

 15 The results of our power analyses utilizing 360 student participants and 360 non-participants per school yield 

minimum detectable effects (MDEs) of 1.37 for a sample of 3,600 (360 for each of the ten schools). The research 

team therefore determined that participating schools should have a minimum sample of 360 POL participants. 
22

Exhibit I: POL Evaluation Study Selected Schools16

State School 

Population

POL 

Participants

Urban/Suburban

/Rural

Racial/Ethnic Profile17

School A 2199 537 Suburb (Large)

86% White; 7% Hispanic; 1% Asian; 0.4% 

Black; 4% Multiracial; 0.2% American 

Indian/Alaskan Native

School B 2182 450 Suburb (Large)

77% White; 7% Asian; 7% Hispanic; 7% 

Multiracial; 1% Black; 0.4% American 

Indian/Alaskan Native

School C 1741 420 City (Small) 

68% White; 25% Hispanic; 3% Asian; 2% Black; 

2% Multiracial; 1% American Indian/Alaskan 

Native

School D 1143 670 Suburb (Large)

94% White; 3% Asian; 2% Hispanic; 1% Black; 

1% Multiracial; 0.2% American Indian/Alaskan 

Native

School E 1623 491 Suburb (Large)

82% White; 10% Multiracial; 6% Hispanic; 

0.1% Asian; 1% Black; 0.2% American 

Indian/Alaskan Native

School F 1500 1000 Suburb (Midsize)

74% Hispanic; 21% White; 2% Asian; 2% Black; 

1% Multiracial; 1% American Indian/Alaskan 

Native

School G 1834 1100 City (Small)

70% White; 10% Asian; 9% Hispanic; 2% Black; 

9% Multiracial; 0.3% American Indian/Alaskan 

Native

School H 1450 530 City (Small)

63% White; 26% Hispanic; 5% Asian; 5% 

Multiracial; 1% Black; 0.1% American 

Indian/Alaskan Native

School I 1766 400 Suburb (Large)

89% White; 6% Asian; 3% Multiracial; 1% 

Black; 1% Hispanic; 0.1% American 

Indian/Alaskan Native

School J 2606 >360 Suburb (Large)

34% Hispanic; 29% White; 23% Black; 7% 

Asian; 7% Multiracial; 0% American 

Indian/Alaska Native

 

16 Population, geographic distinction, and racial/ethnic profile according to Institute of Education Sciences, National 

Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data 

17 Racial/ethnic categories appear in descending order. 
23

Methodology

Given the mixed method nature of the evaluation design, the analytic methods were designed to 

complement one another, providing both depth and breadth to addressing the research questions. As 

described below, the methods included a quasi-experimental design involving a treatment group of 

students participating in POL and a comparison group of non-participating students from the same 

schools. The quantitative design included two components: 

a. Survey analysis: A correlational study intended to analyze the difference in pre/post growth 

between POL participants and non-participants. 

b. Administrative data analysis: A causal study intended to measure the impact of POL 

participation on student academic achievement. 

These quantitative analyses were coupled with qualitative on-site data collection to help understand 

POL program implementation and the counterfactual (i.e., the experiences of those in the comparison 

group).18 This design allowed the research team to analyze all outcomes of interest. It also helped 

provide insight into the factors affecting those outcomes and to identify how outcomes had changed 

after implementation of the program.

19

Qualitative Data Analysis

Between December 2018 and March 2019, a total of 22 teachers, 38 students, and ten school 

administrators participated in interviews during the data collection phase. In addition, SPR facilitated 

nine student focus groups that included between 3-8 POL participants (n=46) to ensure that a strong 

student voice was incorporated in the evaluation of the program. All interviews and focus groups were 

audio recorded and later transcribed for coding using Nvivo, a qualitative data analysis software. The 

first round of qualitative analysis lifted general themes around the implementation of POL at each 

school and the influence of POL on academic engagement and achievement, social and emotional 

development, and poetry appreciation and engagement. SPR also conducted a second round of analysis 

to further refine these themes and highlight the most salient findings from these three domains.

Survey Analysis

The pre-survey took place between September 7 and November 19, 2018; the post-survey took place 

between March 29 and May 19, 2019. A total of 3,707 out of 9,745 students across the ten participating 

schools took both the pre-survey and the post-survey, representing a 38% response rate. Within this 

sample, 56% (n=2088) had participated in POL, 38% (n=1395) had not participated in POL, and 6% 

(n=224) were not sure if they had participated in POL. Means and standard deviations were calculated 

for each item and each dimension in the survey for (1) all respondents; (2) POL participants; and (3) POL 

 

18 A detailed understanding of the counter-factual—the programming that the comparison group, students not 

participating in POL receive—is important, but the scope of the study precluded site visits long enough to observe 

non-participating classrooms and interview non-participating teachers and students. Thus analyses of any 

differences between treatment and comparison groups will focus on the pre/post survey, which both participating 

and non-participating students took. 

19 All study procedures were reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget, reference number 

3135-0139. 
24

non-participants.20 Following these summary statistics, the correlational study utilized multiple linear 

regressions to analyze all survey dimensions and key questions within dimensions to compare difference 

from pre-test to post-test between POL participants and non-participants, controlling for key student 

characteristics. 

As discussed in the findings section and alluded to in the literature review, it is common to see a decline 

from pre-test to post-test when conducting surveys of student attitudes across a single school year. 

Therefore, the coefficient of interest for the multiple linear regressions, in most cases, reflected the 

extent to which POL participants’ decline from pre to post was less than non-participants’ decline from 

pre to post. Furthermore, multiple logistic regressions were conducted for individual questions with 

binary outcome variables (e.g. planning to go to college or not). This analysis illustrated key differences 

in growth along the three research domains between POL participants and non-participants. A complete 

description of the survey sample size, response rate, and statistical models can be found in Appendices

D-F. (All appendices are posted online accompanying this report.)

Administrative Data Analysis

The administrative dataset contained 14,216 students across all ten schools. Among these students 

6,020 participated in POL during the 2018-19 school year and 8,196 did not. While the survey analysis 

was a correlational study, the administrative data analysis was designed to be causal. Because 

randomization was not possible in this context, the research team employed a quasi-experimental 

design to demonstrate causality. Specifically, the research team used a propensity score matching 

design to simulate a randomized treatment and control group. Student standardized test scores and the 

weighted GPA were used as the outcome variables to address the academic engagement and 

performance research questions. A detailed description of the administrative data sample and 

propensity score matching method can be found in Appendix G. 

Report Overview

The proceeding chapters aim to tell a comprehensive story of the impact of Poetry Out Loud on student 

outcomes. Therefore, quantitative findings are weaved through complementary qualitative findings to 

provide detail and context when necessary. Technical details regarding the quantitative approach and 

findings can be found in the Appendices D-G. 

The report begins with an overview of the Poetry Out Loud program model and goals, then delves into 

how this model was implemented at each of the participating schools. Key differences in 

implementation among participating schools are highlighted throughout this chapter. 

After a detailed review of program implementation, the report explains key findings related to each of 

the domains. Specifically, findings in the academic achievement and engagement domain are presented 

first and include results from the propensity score matching analysis as well as complementary survey 

and qualitative findings. Findings focused on the social and emotional development domain follow, 

which show key insights from the survey as well as supportive findings from site visits. Next, the chapter 

illustrates key impacts as they relate to poetry appreciation and engagement. Similar to the prior 

 

20 To ensure maximum sample size, respondents that did not know if they had participated in POL were grouped 

with the non-participants.
25

domain, both survey and qualitative data are married in this section to explain POL’s impact on student 

poetry appreciation and engagement. Lastly, in order to capture all the nuances from the qualitative 

data analysis, the findings chapter concludes with additional important considerations that fall outside 

the three core domains.

The report concludes with recommendations and considerations for programmatic improvements, as 

well as needed data collection and analysis for continued study of POL. This final chapter aims to 

synthesize key takeaways from the report and elevate thoughtful insights for both practitioners and 

researchers.
26

Chapter 2: National Program Model and 

Implementation Variations Among Sample 

Schools

This chapter begins by outlining the POL National Program Model to provide insight into the key 

activities, anticipated outcomes, and goals of POL programming. Given that the evaluation was designed 

to be an efficacy study, understanding the program model is integral for interpreting subsequent 

findings. Following this overview, the chapter highlights key implementation characteristics observed 

across the school sample and concludes by highlighting key takeaways in how POL was implemented. 

This final section is intended to provide important findings related to the ways in which schools 

implement POL, as well as critical context for the remainder of the report.

Overview of the National Program Model

Poetry Out Loud was first implemented in 2005 and has evolved and expanded in both scale and 

curriculum. While implementation of the POL program may vary, the general program model begins at 

the classroom level, when participating students select a poem from an anthology of over 1,100 poems 

produced and revised annually by the Arts Endowment and the Poetry Foundation. Students then 

typically engage with that poem for a protracted length of time,21 focused on exploration, analysis and 

memorization, with their efforts ultimately resulting in recitation of the poems in a classroom 

competition. 

Throughout this process, teachers provide instruction and support students’ engagement and recitation 

of their selected poems. The Arts Endowment and the Poetry Foundation offer a Teacher Guide and 

other resources on the Poetry Out Loud website (poetryoutloud.org)to outline how teachers can 

implement POL in their schools and classrooms. Within this Teacher’s Guide, the Arts Endowment and 

the Poetry Foundation suggest that teachers help prepare students for the classroom competition via a 

four-step process: 

1. Explore: Students browse poems on the online anthology and discover new poets by reading 

one new poem at the start of each class period. 

2. Understand: Students select poems to memorize and discuss them in class. Furthermore, 

students are provided with tips to memorize their poems, such as “Rewrite your poem by hand 

several times. Each time, try to write more and more of it from memory.”

3. Recite: Teachers model poetry recitation and engage students in a discussion of best practices 

and habits to avoid when reciting poetry. Additionally, teachers allow class time for students to 

practice reciting their poems.

 

21 The Poetry Out Loud 2019-2020 Teacher’s Guide presents a sample class schedule extending three weeks.
27

4. Write: Students engage in creative writing activities to complement their Poetry Out Loud 

activity.22

Classroom winners advance to a schoolwide competition, where competitors recite two or three poems 

each for a panel of judges. School winners advance to a regional and/or state competition, and 

ultimately to the National Finals, where competitors must recite three poems. Awards and placements 

are determined by judges’ scores based on Poetry Out Loud evaluation criteria, including accuracy, 

physical presence, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, evidence of understanding, and 

overall performance. 

Each winner at the state level receives a $200 award and an all-expenses-paid trip with an adult 

chaperone to Washington, DC to compete for the national championship. The state winner’s school 

receives $500 for the purchase of poetry materials; some schools also benefit from increased visibility, 

as these competitions are often broadcasted. The first runner-up in each state receives $100, with $200 

for their school. At the National Finals, a total of $50,000 in awards and school stipends is awarded 

annually. 

The POL program model reflects thoughtful efforts by the Poetry Foundation and the Arts Endowment 

to provide a vehicle for enacting the program’s mission and achieving a larger set of goals connected to 

poetry study. These goals and the strategies for achieving those goals, are well-articulated in POL’s logic 

model, which is described in the next section.

The Poetry Out Loud Logic Model

The mission of the Poetry Foundation, co-creator of Poetry Out Loud, is to elevate the visibility and 

influence of poetry in our culture, and to “discover and celebrate the best poetry and place it before the 

largest possible audience.” The POL logic model articulates how the program works to meet the Poetry 

Foundation’s mission as well as other, more youth-development centered goals focused on academic 

outcomes and social-emotional wellbeing. These goals, as described in the program mission statement, 

involve “encourag[ing] the nation’s youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and 

recitation, helping students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary 

history.” As an early task in the evaluation, SPR worked closely with members of the POL team23 to 

update the POL logic model (shared as Exhibit II) in order to update and more succinctly articulate the 

program’s mission, its goals, and the strategies and resources that work in support of these goals. 

The POL mission provides conceptual grounding for the elements of the logic model listed beneath it. 

The core elements of the logic model include: the inputs provided by POL to support effective 

programming; contextual factors with the potential to affect POL implementation and outcomes;, key 

strategies in program implementation; the anticipated outcomes that POL program partners 

hypothesize will result; and the key areas of impact that program staff ultimately hope to achieve 

through POL. Below, these impact areas are described in detail:

 

22 The Poetry Out Loud website offers a number of lesson plans to help teachers integrate creative writing with the 

POL process: https://www.poetryoutloud.org/teachers-organizers/lesson-plans/. 

23 This team includes key staff from both the Arts Endowment and the Poetry Foundation
28

• Inputs. Given the national scope of the program, POL leverages the resources and expertise of 

key partners in an effort to ensure consistent, high quality programming across states. The 

National Endowment for the Arts provides funding for program resources and support for state 

arts agencies to implement the program. It also funds the administration of the national POL 

competition through an agreement with Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, a regional arts agency. 

The Poetry Foundation supports poetry engagement generally and the teaching of poetry in 

particular by providing teachers and students with easily accessible materials to increase 

exposure to poetry and support poetry study. These materials include the POL website, app, 

teaching tools, curriculum, and easy access to a robust (and ever-growing) online anthology of 

poems. The Poetry Foundation also funds contest prizes and travel to and accommodation for 

state champions attending the National Finals. State arts agencies (SAAs) support program 

participation and increased visibility of the program by publicizing the program, recruiting 

teachers and schools for participation, and conducting the state-level competitions.

• Strategies. POL encompasses an array of strategies that leverage the resources noted above in 

service of program goals. These strategies include, but are not limited to, providing easy access 

to a wide array of poetry from diverse authors, supporting effective instruction by providing 

educators with strong teaching tools and tested curricula, and, through the competition, 

creating opportunities for performance that elevate the visibility of the program and its 

participants.

• Impact and Outcomes. The Poetry Foundation and the Arts Endowment believe that, when 

implemented effectively, the POL program can have a positive impact in four key domains: 

student academic performance, the social and emotional health of students, teacher knowledge 

and confidence in teaching poetry, and awareness and appreciation of poetry and arts 

programming. Tied to these domains are specific hypothesized outcomes (e.g. increased 

analytical skills and proficiency in English Language Arts, increased confidence, and increased 

poetry exposure) that serve as indicators of progress towards the program’s desired impacts.

• Contextual Factors. While POL has a strong program model that is designed to equip teachers 

and students to explore and effectively engage in poetry, the Poetry Foundation and Arts 

Endowment recognize that any number of external factors can affect POL implementation and 

outcomes. These factors range from teacher experience (generally and with POL or poetry in 

general), differing levels of financial support (e.g. some states are able to provide supplemental 

funding to augment the effort), socioeconomic factors that can impact learning in general, etc.

The POL logic model is intended to outline the impact of Poetry Out Loud on students and teachers in 

the event of ideal program implementation. Thus, as mentioned, this study was designed to be an 

efficacy study to include schools that were optimally implementing POL to see if this intended impact 

was realized. However, as noted under the Contextual Factors heading, it is unlikely that all schools 

(even among those that are optimally implementing POL) are implementing POL in the same way. 

Therefore, the proceeding sections will outline how schools in this study sample implemented POL and 

summarizes how these implementation methods may be similar to and/or different from the National 

Model.
29

Exhibit II: Poetry Out Loud Logic Model
30

POL Implementation at Sample Schools

While the prior section provided a high-level overview of how POL is meant to be implemented, this 

section provides further detail into how POL was implemented at the ten schools participating in the 

study. This description is categorized by core areas of POL implementation: (1) starting and maintaining 

a school-based POL program; (2) program participation; (3) classroom implementation; and (4) 

competitions.

1. Starting and Maintaining a School-Based POL program

A variety of teachers championed POL at the sample schools. These teachers were typically English 

Language Arts teachers, but occasionally, other teachers focused in humanities or arts such as theater or 

communications implemented POL. These teachers had varying years of teaching experience and 

varying years of experience implementing POL.24 Teachers who were responsible for bringing the 

program to the school in the first place (true of several of the teachers we interviewed) had heard about 

it through their county department of education website, at a professional conference, or from another 

teacher at a different school. Most of the teachers interviewed explained that it was the enthusiasm of 

other teachers at their school and a pre-existing enthusiasm for poetry that led them to participate in 

the first place. Principals interviewed identified POL as a passion project for the teachers that brought 

the program to the school and for those that participated in it, often year after year.

While teachers are typically the organizing force behind POL at the sample schools, they often receive 

support from school and district administrators. During site visit interviews, school principals often 

referred to themselves as “cheerleaders” for the teachers running POL. At one school in the sample, POL 

is featured by school administrators with other school programs in a slide presentation offered for new 

students and their parents at freshman orientation at the beginning of every school year. Administrators 

also help coordinate the logistics around scheduling space for the school competition. District 

administrators also support POL: at one school in the sample, the school district offers a workshop 

about POL as a way to encourage participation.

2. Program Participation 

Across the 10 schools in the sample, not all English Language Arts 

teachers in the school chose to bring POL into their classrooms, 

which meant that some but not all students at the school 

participated in POL. As noted previously, teachers decide whether to 

bring POL to their classrooms. The points below outline how 

program participation was implemented across the school sample.

• Courses and grades participating in POL. All ten schools had participating English or Literature 

classrooms across the grade spectrum – that is ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth-grade classes 

participated in POL. Of the 58 classes that participated in POL in the sample, there was close to an 

even split in participation between Honors or AP classes (27 classes, or 47%) and classes that were 

not in an advanced track (31 classes, or 53%). In a few schools, POL was offered in drama, 

 

24 Mandatory school-wide participation does occur but the study team selected only schools with mandatory 

classroom-level participation in order to ensure a comparison group for the quasi-experimental design.

There's always a way to do it. 

There's always a way to 

include more poetry if you 

are open to it. - POL Teacher
31

communications, “bridge to college,” creative writing, and general humanities classes. Teachers 

interviewed for the study shared that they participated because they enjoyed POL, were often 

passionate about poetry, found that many of their students enjoyed participating, and felt that POL 

added value to their teaching, their classrooms, and for their students. 

• Student participation requirements. While all POL classes in the school sample required program 

participation from all students in the class, some teachers elected to make participation in the 

classroom competition voluntary. Some offered extra credit to students who chose to participate

rather than enforce it as a required component of the curriculum. One teacher who made the 

competition voluntary said that very few students ended up deciding to participate. Some teachers 

recognized that, for some of their students, requiring them to participate in the competition may 

not be the best choice. Some shared that in those instances, they altered the rules of the 

competition—for example, they might have allowed a student to recite to them one-on-one after 

school (rather than in front of the class). In at least one case a student with a learning disability was 

exempted from having to memorize the poem. These slight alterations to the program guidelines 

enabled more students to reap the benefits of participation.

• Student attitudes toward participation. Both students and teachers pointed out that there were 

always many students who were not enthusiastic about the competition and did not take it 

seriously, which indicates that while POL was transformative for many (as described later in this 

report), there were many others for whom it was more or less just another school requirement. 

However, a number of students and teachers valued the mandatory nature of participation in the 

classroom competition because it challenged students to be vulnerable and open up emotionally, 

which would have been difficult to do if others did not have to go through it or were not as

invested in the same way. The theme of everyone being in the same situation came up numerous 

times in the interviews, especially with students, many of whom expressed appreciation for the fact 

that everyone in the class had to recite a poem in front of the others. This often resulted in an 

empathetic environment in the classroom that students and teachers appreciated and that often 

carried into the rest of the year. Teachers and students interviewed pointed out that giving

everyone a chance to participate can lead to surprise discoveries, both on the part of students who 

realize that they love or are gifted at memorization and recitation, and on the part of teachers, for 

whom POL makes some previously “invisible” students visible to them.

• Teacher non-participation. As noted previously, not all English Language Arts teachers participated 

in POL. While the research team did not interview non-participating teachers, participating 

teachers were asked why they thought some teachers do not participate. Most teachers 

interviewed across the sample said that teachers typically do not participate in POL because they 

are managing already tight timelines and full curricular requirements in their classes and feel that 

POL does not “fit.” Conversely, a few teachers mentioned that there is a perception among some 

teachers that POL is “too hard” for lower-level English classes. Some teachers thought decisions not 

to participate were influenced by the timing of the schoolwide competitions. Schoolwide 

competitions have to be completed in time for state competitions which themselves must occur 

before the national competition in February or March, because the school competition often falls 

at final exam time. Several teachers from different schools in the sample suggested that POL 

requires a lot of trust between students and their teacher, and that can be intimidating for some 
32

teachers. Finally, several teachers commented that poetry itself can be intimidating for teachers 

and that some do not see the value in it for the students’ futures.

3. Classroom Implementation

While POL programs in the sample adhere to the core 

components of the POL program, there was quite a bit of 

variation in the way POL was implemented within 

classrooms. These areas of variation are highlighted below.

• Program dosage. The majority of teachers interviewed 

indicated that POL is offered over the course of two to 

four weeks, often interspersed with other activities. In 

a few classrooms, POL provided the only vehicle for 

poetry exposure over the course of the school year. 

Students from one school shared that POL was limited 

to just one week of school; noting that within that 

week the students would choose a poem from the 

anthology on the website, memorize the poem, and perform it in front of the class, but were not 

given opportunities to analyze or discuss the poems, nor was POL integrated into any other aspects 

of their class. On the other hand, SPR interviewed several teachers who employed a deeper 

approach. These teachers shared that they spend a month on POL and also teach a separate poetry 

unit that could last another month, with poetry interspersed throughout the year among the other 

literature the students are reading. Many teachers indicated that they bring in poetry to support 

other units, such as reading poems from the Black Arts Movement while reading the novel Native 

Son, or coupling Shakespeare sonnets with a reading of a Shakespeare play. 

• Use of POL tools to support instruction. Most of the teachers described using the lesson plans and 

instructional tools prepared by the Arts Endowment and the Poetry Foundation for introducing and 

teaching POL. For example, several teachers shared that they use different analytical or “glossing” 

tools, often based on acronyms – such as TP CASTT, an 

acronym which stands for Title (predict what the poem will 

be about), Paraphrase, Connotation, Attitude/Tone, Shifts, 

Title (interpreted after having read the poem), and Theme. 

Multiple teachers described assigning the tone maps – 

guides to noticing and describing tonal shifts in poems – 

that are part of the lesson planning materials provided by 

the Arts Endowment and the Poetry Foundation. Many 

teachers said they had used several of the curricular 

materials when they were new teachers or new to POL, but 

that, over time, they began to develop their own tools and 

ways of doing things and now might use one or two of the 

POL lesson plans (the tone map was particularly popular), combined with more of their own tools or 

those that had been shared with them by other POL teachers. One teacher explained that the 

teachers in her department maintain a shared folder with a range of instructional tools, including 

tools for teaching POL, which they use to share tools with each other.

I'm so in love with this program 

because my first year that I taught 

here, I read a poem every day and then 

I kept handing the baton to students to 

have them read a poem every day. And 

we got so invested in the poems we 

really had to stay focused to get back 

to what we were doing. So now I've 

learned, I try as many different ways 

every year to involve poetry [and] we 

do poetry with everything we study. 

There's always a connection. 

 -POL teacher

I let them explore the history of 

POL, what are the benefits, 

according to past contestants? 

What are the possible monetary 

incentives to be a part of this 

whole thing? And just the lifelong 

benefits of being somebody who 

can unpack poems and use that as 

a way to enrich our experience. 

- POL teacher
33

• Introduction to poetry and POL. Some teachers spent time at the beginning of the POL “unit” 

showing videos of previous champions and talking with students more generally about poetry as an 

art form and why participating in such a poetry-specific program and competition might be of 

interest and value to them. Several teachers described the importance of introducing POL early, so 

that students had time to get used to the idea that they would be memorizing and performing a 

poem for the class. Students then had time to explore the anthology and not make, in the words of 

one teacher, “a hysterical choice” at the last minute. One teacher described the opening activities of 

POL as “poetry therapy, because they all hate poetry. It's like 99 [out of 100] – you'll have the one 

outlier, but most of them just hate poetry.” Thus, a big part of introducing POL is softening the 

students’ learned resistance to poetry and lowering anxiety levels about performing in front of their 

peers. Another teacher, describing moments of insight and performance triumph for students 

despite the aforementioned resistance and anxiety said, “it might not be all the kids, but I think it's 

worth it even if a few kids have those moments.” 

• Poetry selection. Many teachers give students time with the anthology to explore possible poems 

that they might want to memorize. One teacher described doing this on a Friday afternoon, putting 

on music, and for half an hour letting students (who in this school all had laptops) use their laptops 

to explore the anthology and pick poems. Some teachers require students to select several poems 

and go through exercises with each of them in order to get to know the poems better and 

understand which of those several will be the best one for them to memorize. For example, one 

teacher requires the students to read through and annotate ten poems – marking the poems with 

literary terms such as symbolism, alliteration, motif – and then looking up any words they do not 

understand. Another teacher requires short “explication essays” about each of several poems under 

consideration. A few teachers did not provide any specifications for students other than that they 

had to choose one or more poems from the anthology. However, some teachers had more 

structured guidelines. For example, a few teachers had line minimums; one teacher prohibited 

Robert Frost’s “Fire and Ice” (a nine-line poem with very short lines). Some teachers had a relatively 

low line minimum but one allowed students to earn extra credit by selecting and reciting a poem of 

at least twenty-four lines. 

• Poetry analysis. Some teachers combine the “analysis” step with showing more videos – either from 

the POL website or found on YouTube – of people reciting poems. One teacher shows three videos 

of three different people reciting the same poem so that students can see how dramatically 

different poems can sound depending on the interpretive and performance choices that have been 

made by the performer. Some have students copy out their poem by hand and then illustrate or 

otherwise mark important words or phrases or rhythms in the poem. One teacher described taking a 

more biographical approach, instructing the students to look up their poet on the internet and 

answer some questions, such as Who is your poet? Find their name, what does Wikipedia say about 

them? The years that they were [alive]? How many poems were they known for? Is this the only 

poem that they are known for? Were they known for doing other things? And this was just 

something that they did in their spare time because they didn't have phones and didn't have 

PlayStation. Who was this person?
34

• Poetry memorization and recitation. Teachers used a variety of 

methods to help students memorize their poems and practice 

poetry recitation. All the teachers described spending at least 

some time in class having the students practice reciting their 

poems in pairs – often a sequence of pairs, such as instructing 

students to find a partner, recite poems or portions of poems to 

each other, then find another partner, three times over – or in 

front of a small group, and often, finally, in front of the whole 

class (but before the competition). Overall, teachers offered a 

wide array of strategies to support poetry understanding and 

recitation. Many teachers and students said how difficult it is to 

effectively perform a poem when one does not fully understand 

it or connect with it and gave examples of seeing poems 

performed when it was clear that the performer did not 

understand the poem. On the other hand, many described how incredible a performed poem can be 

when the performer has fully understood and internalized the poem and made it personal. 

• Preparation for classroom competition. Teachers employed a number of strategies to help their 

students prepare for their classroom competition. A number of teachers talked about students’ 

anxiety about performing in front of the class and different approaches they took to helping 

mitigate anxiety. These approaches typically involved having students do lower-threshold tasks in 

front of the class – everything from saying tongue-twisters and doing dance moves to reading (from 

a paper) part or all of their poem aloud. A couple of teachers noted that they offered to provide 

afterschool coaching to students 

who really wanted to excel (or 

who were struggling with anxiety 

about performing). Some 

teachers performed poems for 

their classes and had the 

students score them using the 

POL scoring rubric. Others had 

students watch videos of poems 

being performed and asked them 

to score the performance using 

the rubric. One teacher said, 

“teenagers are so critical, but 

forcing them to be critical with 

attention to a rubric” is a 

learning experience for them and 

helps them be better performers 

and judges.

4. Competitions

In general, there are four to five competitions in the POL lifecycle – classroom, school, regional (for 

some areas only), state, and national. For every participating school in the study sample, there were

When performing a poem, 

I'm taking my experiences, 

and I'm merging it with the 

experiences that the author 

had, and what the author is 

intending to say. So it makes 

... It forces you into a place 

where you have to connect it 

to your own life, into your 

own world. You can't half do 

it.

- POL student

Preparing Outside the Classroom

In one unusual example of classroom competition 

preparation, a teacher required the class to attend an open 

mic night at a local bookstore and participate in it, reciting 

the poems that they were memorizing for the classroom 

competition. Several students who had participated in that 

activity described it as “a wake-up call” (meaning they 

realized how much harder they needed to work on their 

poem in order to do well) and also how it enhanced the 

feeling that “there’s no weird awkward stigma because we’re 

all the same boat together,” thereby lowering students’ 

performance anxiety somewhat and encouraging more class 

camaraderie than might otherwise be there, given that, as 

one student put it, “most English is done alone, you know, by 

a reading light.”
35

always classroom competitions and a schoolwide competition. The study noted key similarities and 

variations in the way the competitions were implemented, as described below.

• Classroom competition format. Depending on the context and teacher preferences, classroom 

competitions were presented to students in a variety of ways. At one school, a teacher reframed 

the competition as a speech exercise where students recited their poem in front of the class. In 

another, the classroom competition had two rounds. The first was required for all students while 

the second (involving a second poem) was for extra credit. One teacher had two of their classes 

compete against each other.

• Classroom competition judging. While all classroom competitions required students to recite a 

poem in front of the class, a mix of approaches were used for judging the competitions. In many 

cases, teachers used the POL scoring rubric to score each student and awarded winner status to 

one, two, or three students with the highest scores. In other cases, teachers used a second score 

sheet for accuracy. One teacher described using the accuracy score from the rubric as the 

predominant method and did not use the “overall performance” indicator. However, in other 

cases, the teacher gave each recitation a “grade,” but the class voted for the winners (typically 

using the POL scoring rubric). Some teachers took the class vote into account but combined it with 

their own assessment. In one case, a teacher recruited winners from previous years’ classroom 

competitions to judge the current year’s competition. 

• Advancing to the schoolwide competition. Across all schools, one or more winners of the 

classroom competition would advance to the schoolwide competition, where they competed 

before judges against other classroom winners for the opportunity to go on to regionals or the 

state competition. Classroom winners were sometimes offered additional preparation assistance 

by teachers. A few teachers noted that they invited classroom winners to practice their classroomwinning poems (and second poems for the school competition) in front of the class in the days 

leading up to the school competition. 

• Schoolwide competition format. School competitions typically occurred in an auditorium or other 

performance space on campus and included announcements about the POL competition (which is 

often open to parents and community members). Additionally, competition winners were 

sometimes featured in the school newsletter or emails. One school in the sample provided funds 

for the purchase of prizes for school competition winners and runners-up. Students who advanced 

to the schoolwide competition typically used the poem they memorized for the classroom 

competition and added one more poem, as the school competition requires students to recite two 

poems. 

• Student perspectives on the schoolwide competition. The school competition was not typically 

required for winners of classroom competitions; rather, it was seen as an opportunity. A few 

students and teachers explained that some classroom winners declined the opportunity to 

compete at the school level. However, for most classroom winners, competing at the school level 

was part of the reward for having won the classroom competition. Some students saw the 

schoolwide competition as an accomplishment and an honor, with the accompanying excitement 

that, if they won the school competition, they would move on to compete at the regional or state 

level. 
36

• Regional and statewide competitions. In some of the schools in the sample, there was a regional 

competition among the schools in a particular geographic area of the state. Regional winners 

advanced to the state competition. A few schools in the sample had a student from a previous 

school year participate in the statewide competition, one of whom won and went on to participate 

in the national competition. In general, there was a lot of excitement generated around these 

students – they were celebrated at the school level and by individual teachers offering POL. 

Overall, students, teachers, and principals who were interviewed for the study highlighted the 

competition aspect of POL as unique in arts programming. One teacher said, of students who 

participated in the schoolwide competition, “they glow afterwards because it's such a good event and 

it's a big deal at our school, and for a poetry performance, lots of people come to watch it. They get the 

feel of that glow. They know they've been a part of something special.” 

Similarities to (and Variations on) the National Program Model

As discussed, the Arts Endowment and the Poetry Foundation provide a guide for teachers outlining 

suggested ways to implement Poetry Out Loud in individual schools. The previous discussion of 

implementation within each of the schools in the study reveals ways in which this implementation 

aligned with or differed from the national guidance, as described below.

• Teacher role and support. The POL Teacher’s Guide suggests that participating schools identify 

one or two teachers to coordinate POL and recruit fellow teachers to participate. Schools within 

the study sample mirrored this approach. In each school, one or two teachers coordinate POL – 

typically sending out an announcement and information about the program early in the year, to 

allow teachers to decide whether to participate. In some cases, the lead teacher or teachers put 

POL on the agenda for departmental planning meetings held early in the school year. Many 

teachers have already participated in previous years, so they know what to expect and are only 

deciding whether to participate. Teachers new to the school or who have never participated in 

POL before may have questions about how the program operates and lead teachers answer 

those questions. However, a strong teacher role did not always guarantee widespread support 

for POL. In a few cases, POL was not valued as highly by the school at large. One teacher noted 

that the district had expressed some questions about the program’s value. But in most cases, 

POL teachers indicated that they felt well-supported by the district and the school 

administration. For example, at one school, the school budgeted for the POL lead teacher to 

receive a small stipend for coordinating the program. Thus, while schools are aligned with the 

teacher-driven nature of POL programming, as acknowledged in the context component of the 

POL logic model, support for teachers and the program varied. 

• Use of instructional materials. The Arts Endowment and the Poetry Foundation encourages the 

use of free instructional materials made available on the POL website, noting that these 

materials are intended to complement and not replace other ELA content. Schools in this study 

used these materials, with teachers citing specific lesson plans and strategies found on the POL 

website. This observation implies that the instructional materials provided by the Arts 

Endowment and the Poetry Foundation do support teachers in implementing POL programming 

in ways that deepen student engagement and analysis with poetry, as intended in the logic 

model.
37

• Introducing students to poetry. While participating teachers had different guidelines for 

selecting a poem (e.g., line minimums and number of poems), all teachers utilized the POL 

anthology for poem selection and most teachers showed the video performances available on 

the POL website and YouTube. Thus, the Arts Endowment and Poetry Foundation’s intention for 

the anthology and videos to serve as accessibility points for student introduction to poetry is 

indeed occurring in the schools included in this study. Furthermore, as suggested by the 

Teacher’s Guide, students need time to explore potential poems, either through class time or 

homework. Several teachers echoed this guidance and acknowledged that poetry can be 

intimidating for students and setting aside class time for students to explore poems at their 

leisure helped with the introduction process. Furthermore, as described earlier, the POL 

Teacher’s Guide encourages teachers to model poetry recitation. While not all teachers engaged 

in this process, some teachers used this approach to help students think through their own 

recitation performance. 

• Judging the competitions. The Arts Endowment and the Poetry Foundation provide scoring 

rubrics (both a “Contest Evaluation Sheet” and an “Accuracy Score Sheet”) for judges to utilize in 

scoring individual performances. As described, teachers most commonly used the Contest 

Evaluation Sheet; however, there was variation in how much weight was put on the overall 

performance versus accuracy (when the Accuracy Score Sheet was used). In many ways, 

teachers seemed to implement the judging structure that they felt was most appropriate for 

their school/classroom. And, in some cases, this meant that these teachers deviated from the 

national suggestions.

• Publicizing POL. Several schools mentioned inviting parents and community members to the 

schoolwide competition, as well as promoting schoolwide competition winners in the 

newspaper. These strategies mirror the tips on publicizing POL offered in the POL Teacher’s 

Guide. However, there was little mention of using social media or the POL hashtags.

As shown throughout this chapter, teachers implemented POL in alignment with the POL National 

Program Model and logic model while adapting POL guidelines and suggestions for their school and 

community contexts. This alignment provides a strong foundation for evaluating the impact of POL on 

student academic achievement and engagement, social and emotional development, and poetry 

appreciation, as discussed in the following chapters.
38

Chapter 3: Findings

This chapter provides an overview of student outcomes connected with Poetry Out Loud participation in 

the ten study schools. The chapter is organized by the three student impact areas in the logic model: (1) 

academic engagement and achievement, (2) social-emotional development, and (3) poetry appreciation 

and engagement. Within these three impact areas, the outcomes are organized by their corresponding 

research question. These outcomes were assessed using both qualitative and quantitative data, 

including student and teacher interviews, student focus groups, student surveys, and student 

administrative data; findings from each of these data sources will be presented throughout the sections 

below, followed by a discussion of limitations regarding survey instruments, methodology, sampling, 

and differences between POL participants and non-participants. 

While a fuller set of limitations are outlined at the end of this chapter, there is one important limitation 

to consider prior to reading the survey findings, which is an inherent limitation to measuring student 

attitudes during a single school year. The survey was administered during the fall (pre-POL) and spring 

(post-POL) of the 2018-2019 school year. Therefore, student responses could have been influenced by 

factors associated with the cadence of the school year, such as higher levels of stress associated with 

end-of-year testing, which would have a negative effect on post-test findings. In fact, prior research 

indicates that measures of social-emotional learning decline during a school year (Wang and Eccles 

2012).Given that the timing of survey administration was consistent for both POL participants and nonparticipants, this phenomenon does not bias the results, but rather limits the research team’s ability to 

report growth.

Academic Engagement and Achievement

The POL program provides a unique learning experience for students by combining a traditional 

(although often deemphasized) element of English Language Arts (ELA) – the study of poetry as a literary 

form – with an artistic performance component. Recognizing that the dynamic study of poetry can not 

only strengthen student performance in ELA, but support students in developing skills and attitudes that 

transcend subject matter, this section explores POL’s influence on student academic engagement and 

achievement in ELA, in connection to other subjects, and on student engagement in school.

Does student participation in POL correlate with increased academic skills and capabilities in 

English Language Arts? 

“Chekhov used to say, the essence of poetry is everything that’s unnecessary is taken away and the 

essence is left. When you are able to write that way, it improves all of your writing, it improves all of your 

reading. And so I might be biased, but I see a direct link in how they interact with the text. The more 

intimate the knowledge they have with a poem, it enables them to interact with other texts with more 

clarity, with more understanding.” –POL Teacher

While POL is typically just a small component of the ELA curriculum at study schools, survey and 

administrative data show a connection between POL participation and stronger grades and test scores in 

ELA. Interviewees provided insight into the ways in which POL strengthens specific ELA skills, including 

reading comprehension and analytical thinking, vocabulary development, and writing. The points below 

outline the connection between POL participation and student outcomes in ELA. 
39

• The survey of students in the study schools demonstrated a connection between POL 

participation and grades in English Language Arts. In particular, participating in POL for multiple 

years appeared to have a compounding effect on self-reported grades in ELA. Students who 

participated in POL for at least two years were 1.2 times more likely to report earning straight As 

in English Language Arts than their non-participating peers (predicted probabilities are shown in 

Exhibit III).

25 Participating in POL for just one year was also associated with higher self-reported 

grades, but the difference is not statistically significant.26,27

Exhibit III: Predicted Probabilities of Reporting Straight A's in English Language Arts

Non-Participant 41%

Note: This survey dimension reflects an 8-point scale of Mostly A’s to Mostly D’s.

* Denotes a statistically significant finding; p<=0.05

Source: Poetry Out Loud Survey

Furthermore, students who participated in POL also performed better on their ELA 

standardized end-of-year assessments. Specifically, using a propensity score matching design, 

findings showed that, on average, participants’ percentile ranks on their respective 2018-19 ELA 

standardized test were 2.82 percentile points higher than if they had not participated in Poetry 

Out Loud. For example, if a student would have scored better than half of their peers (50th

percentile) in the absence of POL, participating in POL resulted in a score in the 53rd percentile, 

approximately (see Exhibit V for a summary of administrative data findings and Appendix G for a 

detailed description of the analysis).28 29

 

25 Adjusted to control for underlying differences between participants and non-participants in mother’s education 

and enrollment in an honors ELA course; p=0.021

26 P=0.156

27 See Appendix F, Exhibit 1F-IV for the item and corresponding analysis asking students about self-reported straight 

A’s in ELA and detailed results by years of participation.

28 Percentile ranks were used for standardized tests as a way to create a common metric across different

standardized tests. The rank represents the percentage of students that an individual student scored higher than 

(within specific schools).

29 P=0.009

52%

59%*

One-Year Participant

Two or More Years Participant
40

• When asked whether studying poetry had helped improve their work in English class, students 

were most likely to report a greater ability to understand and analyze other works of 

literature. Students and teachers explained that because of poetry’s depth and density, studying 

its meaning was “like resistance training with 

analyzing.” One teacher explained, “if you’re 

critically reading and can deconstruct a rough poem, 

then when you’re reading a textbook, I almost feel 

like it’s just easy peasy, you know?” While 

interviewees agreed that poetry’s complexity make 

it more challenging than other literary forms, at the 

same time it can be more accessible for deep 

analysis because of its short form; students can slow down and take their time and build 

analytical stamina. POL in particular provides students with the time needed to immerse 

themselves in the meaning of a single poem and analyze it from every angle. In other words, 

POL gives teachers and students permission to focus on depth over breadth.

In addition, interviewees focused on the analytical tools they learned in their study of poetry 

that can be applied to other forms of literature. For many students, poetry helped them 

understand the elements of literary style – such as tone, mood, theme, and metaphor – more 

deeply, which they also utilized when reading novels, short stories, and plays. Studying poetry 

also seemed to have an effect on the lens with which students approach literature. For example, 

some students explained that because poetry was such a personal experience to the author and 

the reader, poetry helped them appreciate both the author’s point of view and their own 

connection to the words in a written work more deeply. Reading in this way has helped students 

appreciate the nuance of language and how the same text can have multiple meanings. One 

student emphasized that studying poetry and participating in POL especially helped her see 

“how writing can be alive in your own mind” and made her “a more thoughtful person when 

approaching literature.” 

• Students also described ways in which studying poems had expanded their vocabulary.

Students explained that poetry lends itself especially well to vocabulary development, not only 

because poems tend to have more unknown words 

than other forms, but also because each word 

carries more weight, so they are forced to slow 

down and figure out the definition of each new 

word. One student actually found it easier to learn 

new words through poems than other forms, 

because lines of poetry evoke stronger “feelings” in 

addition to traditional context clues. Another 

student explained that poetry brings words to life, 

which leads to a deeper understanding of their 

meaning. Particularly during the POL competition, 

students were motivated to have a strong 

understanding of the meaning of each word because it increased the chances of a compelling 

performance. 

• Many students and teachers described how studying poetry affected their writing skills and 

inspired them to take new approaches to writing. When reading poems, students are exposed 

I definitely think I learned new ways 

to approach reading and even 

writing. After having looked through 

hundreds of poems and hearing other 

people recite stuff... I'm like, "This is a 

really nice way they phrased this, I 

can incorporate that into my writing.”

- 11th grade student 

I think that the way that Poetry Out 

Loud forces them to keep looking at a 

single poem...is a tremendous help to 

attacking any piece of literature. 

- POL Teacher
41

to new possibilities of how words can be used and brought together to express ideas and 

emotions. One teacher described how her students take more risks in their writing after 

interacting with poems, employing new methods to improve the flow of their writing or convey 

meaning. One student explained that in poetry, a common approach is to “show and not tell” 

(i.e. helping the reader experience the emotion of an event rather than just explaining what 

happened), and that their teacher has encouraged students to try this technique in their own 

writing.

Some students explained that reading poetry made them realize they could “write from the 

heart,” which had helped them develop their voice and confidence as a writer. Other students 

had a contrasting perspective; they felt that reading poetry had caused them to become more 

intentional in how they structured their writing, the literary devices they employ, and their word 

selection, because they see the connection between these choices and the quality of written 

work. One student explained that poetry taught her the importance of how words sound when 

you string them together, which she wanted to incorporate into her writing. 

One student summarized how he felt POL had helped his writing and his grades in English in the 

following way: “I feel like even as simple as poetry may seem, it's so complex too. And all of a 

sudden when you learn a new style of writing, all those skills that you have from poetry, can flip 

right back into that style that you just learned and all of the sudden you become a master at it. 

And it's like, I don't remember the last time I've had a bad grade in English. Because like, all of 

that just integrates, I'm just writing my heart out because it's so easy for me to do that now.” – 

11th grade student

Does student participation in POL correlate with increased academic skills in and connection to 

other subjects? 

While students and teachers in the sample most frequently drew a connection between POL 

participation and ELA skills, many students and teachers also described ways in which engaging with the 

analysis and performance of poetry has influenced their skills and capabilities in other subjects. 

Students described how the skills they developed through POL – including analytical skills, 

memorization, communication and presentation (oral and written), reading comprehension, abstract 

and critical thinking, creativity, and persistence – had benefitted them in other classes, as these skills 

applied across subject matters. Examples of how studying poetry bolstered student performance and 

engagement in non-ELA subjects are described below.

• The most common connection students drew between poetry and a non-ELA subject was with

history. For some students, they recognized how their study of poetry was helping them engage 

more deeply and patiently with dense, primary sources in their history classes. Other students 

explained that reading historical poems influenced their enjoyment of and engagement with 

history and had helped it “click.” Reading poems written in different time periods deepened 

their understanding of that historical context because they could better appreciate what real 

individuals in that setting were feeling:

“There's a huge crossover there, I mean like it's really cool to be studying the 1860s and 

then come across Thoreau and Emerson. Because when you learn history, you learn the 

facts and you learn what the emotions that people were having were. [The teacher is] 

like, "Oh, like the Federalists felt this way," or whatever. But then when you read the 
42

poetry... like there's a whole other thing to it, and that's really, really cool.” - 12th grade 

student

• Students saw connections between the skills they had developed through the study of poetry 

and their study of foreign languages. Some students explained that they now use the 

memorization skills and techniques they gained through the POL competition in memorizing 

foreign vocabulary words. Others focused on how “decoding” the meaning of unknown words – 

by looking for context clues or understanding root words – was mutually-reinforced through the 

study of foreign language and poetry. In addition, some students have started reading poems 

written in their original languages, which has helped them appreciate the nuance of language in 

general – how the meaning of similar words can be subtly different, and the way in which they 

are arranged can impact meaning and emotion. One student described how reading a poem by 

Pablo Neruda in its original Spanish and then in English caused her to realize, “Wow, the 

translation that I read really impacted the way that I received that last line,” and described the 

experience as both interesting and sad because it made her appreciate how much is lost in 

translation. 

• Several students reported that participation in POL has influenced their stage presence and 

performance skills in choir and theater classes. Particularly in choir, several students explained 

that the lyrics in songs are poetic and having the experience of engaging with poetry deepens 

their engagement with the lyrics and helps them sing with more emotion. As one student 

explained, “now I look at all the songs, and they’re similar to poetry, so I try to analyze the songs 

and I actually care about the lyrics.” Similarly, in theater, students felt that participating in POL 

provided valuable experience performing and connecting with an audience.

• A few students and teachers drew connections between poetry and science. For some 

students, engaging in poems that focus on the beauty of the natural world increased their own 

appreciation of nature. This appreciation made at least one student feel more curious about 

“how it all works” scientifically. One teacher underscored this idea that poetry can inspire a 

curiosity of the world around us and a desire to engage with the physical world more deeply. 

• Survey responses also demonstrated a relationship between participation in POL and 

academic achievement across subjects, as measured by students’ self-report of their grades. In 

fact, participants were 40% more likely to report straight A’s in all subjects than non-participants

(predicted probabilities are shown in Exhibit IV).

30 Participating in POL for multiple years was 

associated with an even higher likelihood of reporting straight A’s; this compounding effect was 

statistically significant.31 32

 

30 Controlling for mother’s education; p<0.001

31 p<0.01

32 See Appendix F, Exhibit 1F-II for the item and corresponding analysis asking students about self-reported straight 

A’s in all subjects and detailed results by years of participation.
43

Exhibit IV: Predicted Probabilities of Reporting Straight As in all Subjects

 

Non-Participant 35%

Note: This survey dimension reflects an 8-point scale of Mostly A’s to Mostly D’s.

* Denotes a statistically significant finding; p<=0.05

Source: Poetry Out Loud Survey

• These survey findings listed above are further corroborated by administrative student data, 

which show that participating in POL results in statistically significantly higher grade point 

averages (GPAs). Specifically, SPR’s propensity score matching analysis showed that students 

who participated in POL experienced a 0.13-point boost to their weighted GPA due to their 

participation in POL, as shown in Exhibit V.

33

• While no interviewed students explicitly reported a connection between studying poetry and 

math, POL participation resulted in a statistically significant boost to math standardized 

assessment scores. SPR’s propensity score matching analysis showed that the percentile rank 

for students who participated in POL was 10.90 percentile points higher for their respective 

2018-19 math standardized assessments due to their participation in POL, as shown in Exhibit 

V.34 One possible explanation for this relationship, offered by members of the Technical Review 

Group, is that students are better equipped to closely and accurately read lengthy, complicated 

math problems after having strengthened these close reading skills through POL.35 

33 P<0.001

34 p<0.001

35 See Appendix G, Exhibits G-VI, G-VII, and G-VIII for propensity score matching results using GPA, ELA percentile 

rank, and math percentile rank. 

49%*

54%*

One-Year Participant

Two or More Years Participant
44

Exhibit V: Standardized Assessment and GPA Percentile Ranks for POL Participants and NonParticipants

POL 2018-19 

Participants

POL 2018-19 

Non - 

Participants

Average 

Treatment Effect 

on the Treated 

(ATT)***

2018-19 ELA Standardized Test 

Percentile Rank** 34.88 28.66 2.82*

2018-19 Math Standardized 

Test Percentile Rank 38.58 25.10 10.90*

2018-19 GPA 3.29 3.01 0.13*

* denotes statistically significant impact at 95% confidence level

**Note: Percentile ranks were used for standardized tests as a way to create a common metric across different standardized 

tests. The rank represents the percentage of students that an individual student scored higher than (within specific schools). 

***Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATT) represents the difference between what POL students achieved and what 

they would have achieved in the absence of POL. 

Source: District administrative data, School Year (SY) 2018-2019. 

Does student participation in POL correlate with increased engagement in school more generally? 

In addition to strengthened academic skills and enhanced interest in certain subjects, interviews, focus 

groups, and survey data indicated that POL influenced students’ engagement in school and future 

aspirations. Exhibit VI below provides a snapshot of survey findings related to engagement and shows 

that the effect of POL on these indicators is mostly positive, though only statistically significant on the 

dimension of “Behavioral Engagement in English Language Arts.” Specifically, data in Exhibit VI illustrate 

the difference in pre/post growth between POL participants and non-participants for the following 

dimensions: Affective Learning,36 Behavioral Engagement in School,37 and Behavioral Engagement in 

ELA.38 More detailed findings on these key indicators, including qualitative findings, are described 

below. 

 

36 Affective Learning (overall) was measured using the Student Engagement in Schools Questionnaire (SESQ) 

instrument (see Appendix D, Exhibit D-VI); see coefficient estimates for Affective Learning as the dependent variable 

by participation and years of participation in Appendix F, Exhibits F-1 and F-II.

37 Behavioral Engagement in School (overall) was measured using the Student Engagement in Schools Questionnaire

(SESQ) instrument (see Appendix D, Exhibit D-VII); see coefficient estimates with Behavioral Engagement as the 

dependent variable by participation and years of participation in Appendix F, Exhibit F-III and F-IV.

38 Behavioral Engagement in ELA (overall) was measured using Chicago Public Schools Five Essentials Survey of 

Students (CPS5) instrument (see Appendix D, Exhibit D-IX); see coefficient estimates with ELA Engagement as the 

dependent variable by participation and years of participation in Appendix F, Exhibits F-V and F-VI.
45

Exhibit VI: Average Difference in Pre/Post Survey Growth Between POL Participants and NonParticipants

Difference between All 

Participants and NonParticipants

Difference between 1-

year Participants and 

Non-Participants

Difference between 2+ 

years Participants and 

Non-Participants

Affective Learning 0.02 0.02 0.02

Behavioral Engagement 

in School

0.004 0.02 0.02

Behavioral Engagement 

in English Language Arts

0.06* 0.08* -0.0003

* Denotes statistically significant impact at 95% confidence level

Note: These numbers represent the average difference in pre/post change between POL participants and non-participants for 

dimensions means on a scale of 1-5. 

Source: Poetry Out Loud Survey 

• Qualitative findings indicate that for some students, POL can influence affective learning, 

which measures students’ enjoyment and interest in learning across all subjects. In 

interviews, some students explained that poetry serves as a “hook” for increased school 

engagement because they simply find more pleasure in it than they have in other subject areas. 

As one student said, “when you’re doing something that you really like, it helps you power 

through the other stuff.” The survey findings show that pre/post change for the affective 

learning dimension was on average .02 higher for POL participants; however, this finding was 

not statistically significant.39 40 

• POL also appears to affect behavioral engagement, reflecting how hard students try in 

school. One student explained that her enjoyment of poetry is what helped her build the 

mental stamina to persist in other areas: “I have such a bad focus problem, but when I do 

something that I enjoy, like poetry, I really stick to it and put all my brain power into it. And I 

use that technique in other aspects of school and life.”

Several teachers and students explained how they had witnessed POL “draw in” historically 

unengaged students. One teacher described how POL had revealed many “diamonds in the 

rough” over the years – that is, students who had the talents and skills to be successful but had 

been unable to find an avenue to express them in traditional academic activities – as described 

by a teacher’s story of one state finalist:

 

39 p=0.267

40 For analysis details, please refer to Appendix F Exhibit F-II. 
46

“I remember my own student [Name]. He was a state finalist. But he's ... he's from [town 

name]. Very gang-riddled, and he’s a rough-and-tumble guy and he picked a poem and 

the first day we recite, and it's kind of optional. There were a couple of his buddies were 

like go, you should go....He got up there and he recited ‘I Find No Peace’ and you could 

hear a pin drop in that room because he was perfect. He took really risky pauses and 

that's the one I cried. I was speechless. I didn't even know what to say. And he went on 

to be a finalist. He was phenomenal. Like that's kind of ... When you think about this 

program, we would have never seen that in any of my other assignments. It just kind of 

was magical...it ignited him.” - POL teacher

A student from a different school also shared her experience watching POL increase 

engagement among her peers: 

“When POL comes, I feel like a lot of students who are typically unengaged or quiet and 

reserved become kind of hyper-focused and it kind of draws them in. And, I feel like 

there’s more class involvement from people that you wouldn’t necessarily assume would 

be involved.” - POL focus group student 

These vignettes illustrate what the research team heard from several teachers and students: 

that poetry provided an academic niche for some students, which helped them build confidence 

and experience success within school in a way that they previously had not. Survey findings also 

suggest that POL had a significant influence on behavioral engagement in ELA specifically. On a 

measure of engagement in ELA, the difference in pre/post shows that POL participants scored 

on average .06 points higher on a scale of 1-5, than their non-participating peers.41,42 For 

behavioral engagement overall, survey results showed that the pre/post difference between 

POL participants and non-participants was more or less the same (0.004) and not statistically 

significant.43,44

• POL participants are more 1.7 times more likely than non-participants to have 4-year college 

or graduate school aspirations, when asked what level of education they aspired to complete 

after high school (predicted probabilities are displayed in Exhibit VII).

45 

 

41 P<0.05 

42 For analysis details, please refer to Appendix F Exhibit F-VI

43 p=0.816

44 For analysis details, please refer to Appendix F Exhibit F-IV

45 Controlling for mother's education; p<0.001
47

Exhibit VII: Predicted Probability of Having 4-Year College Aspirations

88%*

81%*

70%

2 Years or More

1 Year

Non-Participant

Note: The College Aspirations survey item reflects a 7-point scale of planning to complete graduate or professional 

school to not planning to complete high school, including undecided.

* Denotes a statistically significant finding; p<=0.05

Source: Poetry Out Loud Survey 

Overall, POL appears to be positively associated with academic outcomes as measured by survey and 

administrative data sources. While these quantitative findings provide valuable insight into POL’s 

contribution to academic learning, the qualitative findings allow us to uncover the mechanisms by which 

these positive outcomes operate. In particular, the close reading of a single text – prioritizing depth over 

breadth – provides students the space to strengthen skills like reading comprehension, analysis, and 

vocabulary development, while greater exposure to poetry has inspired students to take new 

approaches to their writing. These skills gained through the study of poetry extend to subjects beyond 

ELA, such as history, foreign language, performing arts, and even science and math. Students who 

discover a passion for poetry can draw connections between what they learn through their study of 

poetry and the content and skills required in their other classes. In some cases, POL can even ignite 

student interest in learning and engagement in school overall, particularly for historically less engaged 

students. 

Social-Emotional Development

Adolescence is a period wherein youth, when given encouragement and opportunity, can discover their 

unique traits, explore new activities, develop new skills, and form interpersonal relationships. High 

school students often experience immense social-emotional growth in adolescence as they begin to 

develop their sense of self, engage more deeply with their community, and understand the world 

around them. This section focuses on key findings from the POL pre/post survey, interviews, and focus 

groups that illustrate the benefits of POL participation on students’ social-emotional development.

Quantitative findings from the POL pre/post survey can be found in Exhibit VIII below as well as 

Appendix F (see appendix posted online accompanying this report). Data in Exhibit VIII illustrate the 

difference in pre/post growth between POL participants and non-participants for the following 
48

 

dimensions: Group Discussions,46 Speech,47 Public Speaking,48 Reliance,49 and Leadership 

Development.50 Furthermore, Exhibit VIII shows differences in growth between non-participants and: (1) 

all POL participants; (2) POL one-year participants; and (3) POL participants with more than one year of 

experience. 

Exhibit VIII: Key Survey Findings for Differences from Pre- to Post-Survey

 Difference in 

Pre/Post Growth 

between All 

Participants and 

Non-Participants

Difference in 

Pre/Post Growth 

between 1-Year 

Participants and 

Non-Participants

Difference in 

Pre/Post Growth 

between 2+ years 

Participants and 

Non-Participants 

Group Discussions 0.07* 0.09* 0.04

Speech 0.002 0.02 -0.05

Public Speaking 0.02 0.03 0.002

Reliance 0.01 0.01 0.02

Leadership Development -0.10 -0.14* -0.004

* Denotes statistically significant difference between participants and non-participants at 95% confidence level.

Note: The numbers represent the average difference in pre/post change between POL participants and non-participants 

for dimensions means on a scale of 1-5.

 

Do students feel more empowered and self-confident in their public speaking abilities, intellectual 

abilities, or in general after participating in POL? 

Opportunities to develop self-awareness and self-confidence in adolescence can be important for 

helping youth explore their sense of identity, determine areas for future development, and bolster their 

confidence to engage in new activities and be open to new experiences. Findings showed that POL 

46 Group Discussion (overall) was measured using the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA) 

instrument (see Appendix D, Exhibit D-XV); see coefficient estimates in Appendix F, Exhibits F-IX and F-X.

47 Speech (overall) was measured using the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA) instrument

(see Appendix D, Exhibit D-XVI); see coefficient estimates in Appendix F, Exhibits F-XI and XII.

48 Public Speaking (overall) was measured using the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA) 

instrument (see Appendix D, Exhibit D-XVII); see coefficient estimates in Appendix F, Exhibits F-XIII and F-XIV.

49 Reliance (overall) was measured using the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) instrument (see Appendix D, 

Exhibit D-XVIII); see coefficient estimates in Appendix F, Exhibits F-XV and F-XVI.

50 Leadership Development (overall) was measured using the California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS) instrument (see 

Appendix D, Exhibit D-XXI); see coefficient estimates in Appendix F, Exhibits F-XVII and F-XVIII.
49

supported students in their journey towards building self-awareness and self-confidence in the following 

areas:

• Several students shared through interviews that their participation in POL helped them 

discover and tap into unique abilities and intelligences. Specifically, the opportunities to 

engage in different skills - such as critical thinking, memorization, public speaking, and 

performance - in the program allowed students to explore their interests, learn new skills and 

strengthen existing ones, and develop the 

confidence to pursue their passions. While poetry 

is often perceived as complex and less straight 

forward than other forms of literature, POL helped 

interviewed students gain confidence with 

understanding poetry. And, as explained by one 

teacher, “when students feel confident that they 

have the ability to understand something and to 

express [themselves], it makes it easier for them to 

interact in classroom discussion and they make 

better editors of each other’s work and they just 

feel braver, more courageous about interacting.” 

While the speech domain in the survey did not yield statistically significant differences between 

participants and non-participants (as shown in Exhibit VIII),51 qualitative data showed that the 

in-class and schoolwide competitions created space for students to develop or uncover 

memorization, public speaking, and performance skills. Some students spoke about how their 

ease of memorizing poems gave them the confidence to challenge themselves in reciting longer 

or more complex poems. Others shared that 

performing poetry helped them recognize their 

talent of performing for an audience, which 

fostered their confidence to participate again in 

POL and continue honing their skills. More 

importantly, it gave students with different 

strengths a “chance to shine in a way that they 

haven’t been able to shine in other ways.” 

• Through reading and studying poetry in POL, 

students explored emotions, thoughts, and values 

that helped shape their understanding of 

themselves as individuals. Adolescence can be a 

challenging period for youth as they become more 

self-aware and explore different facets of their 

identity while also balancing the desire of 

acceptance among their peers and social circles

 

51 The average difference in pre and post-test results between participant and non-participants for the speech 

domain was 0.002, p=0.952.

I had a student who is on an IEP 

[Individualized Education Program]. He 

really didn’t think he was going to be 

capable of memorizing it and I was like, 

let’s take it step by step. He gave one 

of the best performances and it made 

his day. He was like, ‘I was top three.’ I 

emailed his parents and they were just 

so excited because they could see the 

excitement when he came home too.”

- POL teacher

I think it’s important to have poetry as 

a unit in high school, to have it focused 

on as much as possible because I think 

vulnerability and emphasis on being in 

touch with your emotions isn’t 

something that’s super celebrated in 

high school. We’re almost, kind of like, 

pulling out our cool cards, but poetry, 

performing in front of your peers too, 

and being graded on the theme of

emotion that you can convey to a 

group of peers is a really good skill to 

have and also pushes kids outside of 

their comfort zones in a really cool and 

healthy way.

- 12th Grade POL Student
50

(U.S. Department of Health & Human Services 2018). There is pressure to put on a façade and 

act a certain way to live up to social pressures in high school. POL helped break down those 

pressures by encouraging introspection, self-awareness, and connection through poetry. For 

example, the process of identifying a poem to memorize on the POL website created an 

opportunity for students to explore poems that they could connect with in various ways, such as 

emotions, points of view, cultures, and life experiences. A 12th grade POL participant shared, 

“There’s the element of I let myself be who I am, and I think that studying poetry makes me get 

more experience with a bunch of different emotions, and Poetry Out Loud in particular has 

taught me to allow myself to feel those things and allow myself to express those things.” 

• While average responses did go down for both 

participants and non-participants (as explained in 

the introduction to this chapter), survey data 

showed a statistically significant difference 

between POL participants and non-participants 

in confidence related to group discussions and 

public speaking. Specifically, the difference 

between pre-test and post-test scores was on 

average 0.07 higher for POL participants versus 

non-participants for group discussion; the 

average responses corresponding to this finding 

shown in Exhibit IX.

52 Furthermore, the difference 

between pre-test and post-tests scores for the 

public speaking domain was on average 0.02 

higher for POL participants, but this was not 

statistically significant (see corresponding Exhibit X). While many POL participants identified 

public speaking as a challenging component of the program, the in-class and schoolwide 

competitions created a unique and supportive space for them to overcome their fear, share 

aspects of themselves through poetry, and tap into their emotions in their performances to 

connect with others. Student interviewees explained that performing poetry helped them learn 

that what they have to say is important. In a student focus group, an 11th grade participant 

reflected: 

“I really like the ‘out loud’ part of poetry because, I get it’s super hard and I know a lot of 

people struggle with it ... but I think it gives you confidence as you do it more and I think like 

honestly in life, there’s a lot of times when you’re going to have to stand up and voice your 

opinion or be vulnerable and say things that maybe not everybody’s going to agree with or 

just that might be hard to say, or just express your ideas in front of people so I think starting 

now, in high school, to be able to get up and be in front of people and be vulnerable ... and 

practice that and get more confidence is really helpful and beneficial.” 

 

52 P< 0.01

I think I gained a lot of self-confidence 

doing [POL], because you’re up there 

and you’re exposing yourself to all these 

people. You’re showing them the real 

you, and the deeper part of you, and a 

lot of times that’s really hard, especially 

in high school to do that. But doing 

Poetry Out Loud, and when we do the 

competition for the school, people come 

who want to come. No one’s required to 

be there, so you know that the people 

who are there respect you and they hear 

what you’re saying.

- 10th Grade POL student
51

Moreover, students came to understand that they had an ability to captivate the attention of 

people in the audience through their words, emotion, and physical presence, which helped 

reduce decline of their self-confidence and encouraged them to continue participating in POL 

beyond the current academic year.

Exhibit IX: Differences in Mean Confidence in Group Discussions at Pre/Post

3.33 3.30 3.18 3.11

Pre Post Participant Non-Participant

Note: The Confidence in Group Discussions survey dimension contains 4 items and reflects a scale of 1-5: (1) Strongly Disagree; (2) Disagree; (3) 

Neither Disagree nor Agree; (4) Agree; (5) Strongly Agree

Exhibit X: Differences in Mean Confidence in Public Speaking at Pre/Post

2.78 2.76 2.60 2.59

1

2

3

4

Pre Post Participant Non-Participant

Do students feel more self-confident in their 

social skills after 

participating in POL? 

5

Another essential area of social-emotional development during adolescence is the strengthening of 

social awareness, empathy, and interpersonal connections. Understanding the feelings and perspectives 

of other people is important for building positive social skills and interpersonal relationships. Poetry has 

the potential to expose youth to the diversity in the world and to help foster a better understanding of 

others who are different. 

Note: The Confidence in Public Speaking survey dimension contains 4 items and reflects a scale of 1-5: (1) Strongly Disagree; (2) Disagree; (3) 

Neither Disagree nor Agree; (4) Agree; (5) Strongly Agree
52

• Interviewees said POL provided a window into 

various types of thinking, perspectives, and lived 

experiences through poetry that helped bolster 

social awareness. Reading and studying poetry in 

the program gave students the opportunity to 

learn about different time periods in history, 

cultures, experiences, and points of view that

helped expand their understanding of and deepen 

their connection to the world that is beyond the 

environment that they live in. A couple of POL 

teachers pointed out that there has been “more 

diversity than there was ten years ago in the 

anthology” on the POL website and noted this 

contribution to not only expanding the view of 

their students but also their own. Furthermore, it also helped students connect with a broader 

community of people with similar experiences despite being from a different part of the world 

or era. One 12th grade interviewee explained: 

“I think it really helps people become more in touch with how they view the world, how they 

view people in the world. A lot of poetry is based on social interaction, and about

interactions with things or with how they see what’s around them so it’s eye opening 

because you’re getting these experiences from people who lived, in many cases, in different 

time periods than you, in different ages, in different places ... and we’re also similar. Culture 

is very diverse, but many of the things you’ll find trace back to the same place which is 

something that you can take, and then take that understanding and bring it into other forms 

of art.” 

Additionally, students shared in interviews that 

hearing other POL participants perform different 

types of poems exposed them to varying 

interpretations and perspectives, which helped 

them learn to appreciate diversity. 

• In addition to strengthening students’ social 

awareness, the POL program included 

opportunities for students to develop social 

perspective taking or empathy. While not a large 

effect or statistically significant, the survey data 

corresponding to measures of empathy showed a 

slight positive change for POL participants 

compared with non-participating peers. 

Specifically, the average change between pre and post-test for the reliance dimension was 0.01 

higher for POL participants (see Exhibit VIII).53,54 However, interview data revealed that several 

 

53 The reliance dimension includes measures tied to self-awareness, empathy, and self-efficacy. 

I think it’s really powerful and [opens] 

your eyes to experiences you’ve never 

had and just kind of broadening your 

scope. So for example, [one of my] 

poems for the school competition was 

called Eulogy for Blue. It was eulogy for 

a dog. I’ve never owned a dog or 

experienced any of that, but I could

really connect with what the author 

was saying and how they were talking 

about that experience.

- 12th Grade POL student

We just read “Boy Breaking Glass” ... it 

was pretty abstract and I didn’t really 

understand what it was about at first, 

but then we dissected it as a class, and 

I mean it was essentially about racism 

and what it’s like growing up as a black 

child. Through [our] classroom 

discussion, I just gained so many things 

that I wouldn’t have ever even thought 

of ... just a lot of insights. It really 

opens your eyes to different 

perspectives on life.

- 11th Grade POL student
53

students found that reading and listening to poetry helped them think about situations from 

different perspectives than their own and seek emotional connection to better understand 

others. As one 9th grade student reflected, “In a documentary that we watched about poetry 

slam, [they followed] a poetry slam team from a high school in Chicago, which is very far from 

my personal life. They recited a poem that was about a drive by shooting, and I can’t relate to 

that personally. That has never happened to me or someone that I know, but the way that they 

[expressed] emotion ... you can relate to feeling sad or feeling angry or guilty. I feel like it 

definitely [gave me] more understanding and more empathy. I feel like it’s a good way to relate 

to other people and other experiences.”

Some teachers also noted instances in their classrooms where they observed students 

empathizing and connecting to other people’s lived experiences through poetry. One teacher 

shared, “[There is a poem] about the coyote, the immigration one. They used the word coyote in 

that piece and so somebody didn’t know what that meant and then the kids that had 

experiences with relatives crossing the border talked about personal stories about their family 

members that came across and didn’t have water. Some coyotes were good to them and some, I 

guess, take their money. It was really kind of an eye-opening first-hand account from some of 

these kids. I think there [were] real moments that happen where there [was] some real empathy 

built and they [understood].” 

• Students who participated in POL connected with 

each other through their shared experience in the 

program. This in turn helped open a line of 

communication between students who may not 

have otherwise formed connections. For example, 

studying poetry in class created opportunities for 

students to talk about the poems they selected to 

memorize and share what it meant to them. One 

POL teacher mentioned setting time aside during 

class for students to practice reciting their poem 

and purposefully pairing students together who 

typically do not interact to encourage 

communication and relationship building. In 

addition, the program helped teachers connect 

with students in a different way that helped 

strengthen relationships so that students feel 

more comfortable turning to teachers for support. One teacher described: 

“There have been times with freshmen and seniors that, as the teacher-student relationships 

[has] gone, just hasn't made that connection and then all of a sudden I bring in Poetry Out 

Loud and then I'll go up there and I'll read a poem for them, show them some poetry, or put 

on a rap song for them. They suddenly see me as more than just this obstacle for a grade. 

54 p=0.445

It definitely gave me a reason to like 

school. Not many people like high 

school. There are people, they like it 

because their friends are here but 

people like me, sophomore year I didn’t 

have many friends. I only moved here. 

Everyone here in this small town grew 

up together. It’s like, I moved here from 

far away and I don’t have a lot of 

friends that I grew up with. I didn’t 

have that many friends and this thing, 

poetry is my thing and it’s like you 

make connections. It definitely made 

me really look forward to something 

for school.

- 11th Grade POL student

 
54

They can see that I'm trying to relate with them and show them something that they could 

enjoy themselves and that seems to be helpful. Some of them have been able to open up and 

actually share their poetry with me that they've written or poems that they've liked. Then 

they start asking, ‘Hey, can you share that spoken word YouTube video with me? I have one I 

think you'll really like. Can you show it [to] the class?’ They get to connect in a way that they 

haven't before.”

Are students more likely to engage in extracurricular activities and civic activities during or after 

participation in POL? 

High school brings new opportunities for students to explore different interests. As found in the

qualitative findings, POL helped introduce some students to the arts and build skills that could be 

applied to other activities. The following points below highlight the specific ways that POL fostered 

engagement in extracurricular activities and civic participation. 

• Data from an individual survey question that asked about students’ extracurricular involvement 

revealed that POL participants were 1.6 times more likely than non-participants to participate 

in two or more extracurricular activities (see Appendix F, Exhibit 1F-VII for more information on 

this individual survey item).

55 While many student interviewees shared that they participated in 

extracurricular activities prior to POL, for some, 

being in the program helped to deepen the quality 

of their engagement in some of those activities. 

For instance, one 10th grade student drew the 

connection between the effective communication 

skills she learned in POL and how she applied it to 

her role as a commander in the U.S. Army Junior 

Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC). Another 

student noted, “Poetry Out Loud has helped me 

[be a part of] the school magazine, because we do 

a lot of critiquing of poems. The more you read, 

the more you know what to look for, and what can 

be changed and things like that.” Some students also explained that their participation in POL 

helped with being in front of an audience, public speaking, and performance in certain 

extracurricular activities, such as theater, choir, band, and sports. An 11th grade student shared: 

“I realized that I really needed to get over my fear of being in front of people. I definitely 

want to start something where I would be in front of people and I joined gymnastics this past 

year for the school. It was something I’m new at so it’s like, I’m not at the same level as 

other people. Similar to Poetry Out Loud, I wasn’t at the same level as all the people who 

have had four years of experience and it’s their senior year. I’m always going to be one year 

behind the people who I’m competing against. It definitely helped me to go put that mindset 

 

55 p<0.001; controlling for mother’s education and college aspirations

Becoming a pastor means I need to 

increase my public speaking, which has 

helped me a ton, especially doing the 

Poetry Out Loud stuff. I preached my 

first sermon and it was nerve wracking 

but as I continued to progress with 

poetry, which is why I connect with this 

so well, because when I’m preaching a 

sermon, I need to be speaking truth, 

but also beauty.

- 11th Grade POL Student
55

into gymnastics where it’s like, I am not at the same level as all my peers but I can still do 

this. I can get over my fear of being in front of people and competing in front of people.” 

Furthermore, several students also explained that they view the POL schoolwide competition itself 

as an extracurricular activity, especially if their teacher does not implement the program in their 

classroom. Student and teacher interviewees spoke about the opportunities for students to 

continue participating in the competition aspect of POL throughout their high school career. For 

example, teachers invited students from other classes to participate in their in-class competition to 

qualify for the schoolwide competition. One of the school sites held schoolwide auditions for the 

recitation and performance component to engage more students in POL. 

• Responses to an individual survey item also highlighted that students participating in POL are 

1.5 times more likely than non-participants to engage in community service and volunteering 

compared to non-participants; predicted probabilities are shown in Exhibit XI.

56,57 Qualitative 

data on the interview did not provide clear insight on this finding, perhaps due to the difference 

between how the survey question and interviewees defined civic participation (see Appendix F 

Exhibit 1F-IX for the individual survey item analysis and Appendix B for the interview question 

about civic participation). While the survey looked at students’ self-reported volunteering or 

community service participation, interviewees talked about civic participation as attending 

events or engaging in activities in the community, such as open mic nights. Many students 

mentioned that their busy schedules do not allow them to participate in community activities, 

but a few interviewees said that they were aware of arts-related events in their community that 

they would consider attending if they had more free time. Interestingly, survey data related to 

civic participation (Leadership Development dimension) revealed that the average difference 

between pre- and post-test was 0.14 lower for POL one-year participants as compared with nonparticipants. These survey questions (as outlined in the leadership dimension explicated in 

Appendix D Exhibit D-XXI) ask about students’ ability to engage with community issues (e.g., 

ability to organize a petition or contact an elected official about a problem). This survey 

dimension may not be well-aligned with student contexts or how students think about or 

participate in civic engagement.

 

56 p=0.5; controlling for mother’s education and college aspirations

57 Odds-ratio estimates for participation in volunteering or community service by participation or years of 

participation presented in Appendix F, Exhibit 1F-IX and 1F-X 
56

Exhibit XI: Predicted Probability of Volunteering or Doing Community Service

65%

51%

40%

2 Years or More

1 Year

Non-Participant

* Denotes statistically significant difference between participants and non-participants at 95% confidence level.

Note: The After-School Activities survey question is a yes/no question asking about participation in community service. 

Social-emotional learning opportunities in adolescence are crucial for supporting the healthy 

development of youth as they transition from childhood to adulthood. Arts education programs can not 

only support academic success, but also create space for high school students to explore their identities, 

expand their worldview, and develop a sense of belonging. Findings from this study point toward POL 

participation as being positively associated with gains in the social-emotional development domain 

among participants. Reading and studying poetry provides students opportunities to explore their own 

emotions, values, and thoughts as they begin to establish their identities. It also allows them to learn 

about and better understand the diverse world beyond the communities where they live. Furthermore, 

poetry memorization and recitation can be an avenue for students to uncover skills that make them 

unique, face their fear of public speaking, and feel empowered that their voice matters. High school can 

be a difficult time for youth as they learn to navigate social pressures and seek a sense of belonging, but 

the shared experience amongst participants in the program can help build connections between 

students and promote deeper engagement in school. 

Poetry Appreciation and Engagement 

POL is a program that foregrounds student memorization and recitation of poems performed in 

competitions. As profiled in the Implementation chapter, in order to help students select and memorize 

their poems, teachers provide classroom instruction designed to help students understand poetry 

through close attention, discussion, and performance practice. The study hypothesized, based on a 

review of the existing research, that there would be a positive relationship between POL participation 

and poetry appreciation and engagement. Specifically, that reading and reciting poetry out loud would 

lead to greater enjoyment of (and therefore engagement in) poetry and literature in general, and 

possibly to other activities such as reading, writing, and sharing poetry for pleasure. Literature discussed 

in our earlier review suggests that modes of teaching poetry that draw on performance and 
57

collaborative elements―such as, in POL’s case, the frame of the competition and the shared work 

students do to memorize their poems and practice performing them ―are likely to increase student 

(and teacher) engagement and appreciation (Crozer 2014, Hughes 2009, Ivey and Broaddus 2001). In 

this section, quantitative findings are presented from the survey and qualitative findings from the 

interviews and focus groups about poetry appreciation and engagement. 

As discussed in the limitations section following the main findings, student interview and focus group 

participants were all POL participants and had been selected by teachers and thus represent only a small 

respondent group who were more likely to – and did – offer predominantly positive feedback. However, 

using the survey data, which offers a more balanced respondent base of participants and nonparticipants, and looking at Poetry Appreciation as an entire domain, the research team found that it is 

the only one of the three domains in which POL participants increased (in this domain, their 

appreciation for poetry) from pre to post while non-participants decreased (see Exhibit XIII). 

Exhibit XII below provides a snapshot of survey findings related to two dimensions: poetry 

appreciation58 and the sharing of poetry on social media;59 individual items within the poetry 

appreciation dimension were also analyzed, as noted in italics in Exhibit XII. The exhibit shows that the 

effect of POL on these indicators is small but mostly positive, and statistically significant with more years 

of participation in the areas of poetry appreciation as a whole, as well as – within the poetry 

appreciation scale – the indicators ease of reading poetry, reading poetry in one’s spare time, reciting 

poetry, and reporting teacher encouragement to write poetry. 

 

58 Poetry Appreciation (overall) was measured using items adapted specifically for this study (see Appendix D, Exhibit 

D-XXIII) 

59 Poetry sharing on social media (overall) was measured using items adapted specifically for this study (see 

Appendix D, Exhibit D-XXV) 
58

Exhibit XII: Key Survey Findings for Poetry Appreciation and Poetry Sharing on Social Media

Difference in 

Pre/Post Growth 

between All 

Participants and 

Non-Participants

Difference in 

Pre/Post Growth 

between 1-Year 

Participants and 

Non-Participants

Difference in 

Pre/Post Growth 

between 2+ years 

Participants and 

Non-Participants 

Poetry Appreciation 0.04 0.01 0.09*

 Ease of Reading Poetry 0.03 -0.01 0.12*

 Reading Poetry in Spare 

 Time 0.02 0.01 0.10*

 Memorizing Poetry 0.11 0.07 0.20*

 Reciting Poetry 0.09* 0.04 0.18*

 Writing Poetry Outside of 

 School -0.10 -0.04 0.01

 Teacher support with 

 understanding poetry 0.09* 0.10* 0.10

 Teacher encouragement to 

 write poetry 0.04 -0.01 0.13*

Poetry Sharing on Social 

Media -0.01 -0.02 0.014 

* Denotes statistically significant difference between participants and non-participants at 95% confidence level.

N

 

ote: The numbers represent the average difference in pre/post change between POL participants and non-participants 

for dimensions means on a scale of 1-5. The italicized phrases represent individual items, whereas bolded phrases 

re present dimensions.

 

Does POL participation correlate with attitudinal changes toward poetry? 

Students who participated in interviews and focus groups, all of whom had participated in POL for at 

least one year and often multiple years, described a range of attitudes about poetry after having 

participated in POL. In order to contextualize the findings, an overview of students’ pre-POL experiences 

with poetry, drawn from the student interviews and focus groups, is presented first. 
59

Exhibit XIII: Poetry Appreciation Mean Scores at Pre/Post 

2.30 2.40 2.28 2.24

1

2

3

4

Pre Post

Participant Non-Participant

5

Prior to participation in POL, most students had limited exposure to poetry. Many pointed to the cursory 

nature of previous study. Ninth and tenth graders referred to their elementary and junior high or middle 

school experiences, where the study of poetry tended to be more cursory or focused on one particular 

genre, such as haiku or limerick. Older students, eleventh and twelfth graders, had often been 

participating in POL since ninth or tenth grade and suggested that, in POL’s absence, their English 

Language Arts curricula was thin on poetry, except in rare cases where an ELA class dedicated to poetry 

was available or in some AP classes where students had participated in a longer poetry unit in order to 

prepare for the AP exam. As one student put it, “We haven't really covered a lot [of poetry] since I've 

been here. None of my classes have done [poetry]. I feel like the closest we've gotten is to annotating a 

couple poems. Never really focusing on anything other than, ‘What does this mean?’ Really not much 

more. [Not] ‘Why does the author put this word before this word? Why this line before that line?’ It's 

not very in-depth in my opinion.”

• Students’ appreciation for poetry in many cases grew and never declined after participating in 

POL. Students expressed a variety of views about their engagement with and appreciation of 

poetry over time, as it relates to their participation in POL. Student responses ranged from 

already appreciating poetry before participating in POL and continuing to do so after; having 

always appreciated it but now appreciating it in new ways; and previously being ambivalent 

about poetry but now more appreciative. Further, almost every teacher interviewed had a story 

about one or more students who had a transformative experience through POL, or who was 

transformed in the teacher’s view because of their performance. Most teachers also 

acknowledged that the experience of participating in POL does not typically result in a dramatic 

change for all students; however, several explained that POL did have benefits for all students, 

including that it gives all students a window into why poetry might be so difficult (as many 

students indicated), and how close attention to a few poems, memorization, and recitation 

might help them grow their analytical capacities and be more invested in working harder with 

difficult texts of all sorts. As one teacher put it, “I always say, we're hard to figure out! We can't 

tell what somebody's like by just looking at them. And so, you have to reread a person just like 

we reread poetry over and over again to get it.” Teachers also pointed to the change in 

Note: The Poetry Appreciation survey dimension contains 18 items and reflects a scale of 1-5: (1) Strongly Disagree; (2) Disagree; (3) 

Neither Disagree nor Agree; (4) Agree; (5) Strongly Agree
60

classroom dynamic after POL – that is, after the students had gone through this competitive, 

performance process together. Complementing earlier findings around student confidence with 

group discussions, teachers said classes were often more open with each other, supportive, and 

more likely to work together as a class through discussion and group activities after having gone 

through POL together.

The qualitative data is further supported by survey findings; for the Poetry Appreciation 

dimension, the pre/post difference between participant and non-participant attitudes toward 

poetry was significantly higher for POL students who had participated for at least two years. 

Specifically, difference in pre/post shows 

that POL students with more than one year 

of participation scored on average 0.09 

points higher on the Poetry Appreciation 

scale than their non-participating peers

(average responses are shown in Exhibit 

XIII).

60 POL one-year participants were on 

average 0.01 points higher than nonparticipants; however, this difference was 

not statistically significant.61

• Students who were interviewed and who 

participated in focus groups were not 

uniformly positive in their opinions about 

poetry. A number were open and articulate 

about their frustrations with the genre or 

about the aspects of poetry that they found 

challenging. The most common frustration 

across the respondent group, and including 

input from several teachers, was that 

students sometimes find poetry too inaccessible. Or, as one student put it, “Ugh, I don't know if 

my brain can handle this.” The inaccessibility can come from arcane language, from the 

apparent lack of a clear narrative structure, because of unusual syntax, metric or stanzaic 

organization, or from vocabulary that readers do not understand. A number of students 

reported having many experiences of being “lost” while reading a poem, of becoming frustrated 

or overwhelmed. However, a number of students attributed to POL a sense of breaking through 

the difficulty. As one student put it, “Before Poetry Out Loud, I never realized how structured 

[poetry] was [...] I had never really known how to properly speak it. Or the rhythm and stuff like 

that, it was kind of all new to me...” A teacher echoed this in more direct terms, “I think that one 

of the things that happens [after students participate in POL], is students who really delve into 

[poetry] aren't afraid of poetry, it takes down that barrier.” 

The other aspect of POL that had a salutary effect on students’ frustrations with poetry is that 

the POL anthology includes a wide array of poems, diverse in terms of the historical periods 

 

60 P<0.01 

61 p=0.675

[W]hen you've got 30 people in the room 

listening to 30 different poems [as you do 

with POL], I think there's an awareness of 

what poetry can be that has not been 

achieved by any English class previously. 

Because we tend to have the anthologized 

pieces of poetry and the standard questions 

and the multiple choice answers. And just the 

fact that you can hear 30 poems in a day and 

not have to answer a bunch of questions 

about them, but actually just be asked which 

ones you enjoyed and to write about how you 

connect with them. I feel like it has an 

opening kind of effect on students who might 

have been turned off in the past.” 

- POL teacher
61

represented, stylistic approaches, and identities of the poets represented. For some, having 

access to poems that were more contemporary was a big help. As one student put it, “I do think 

[poetry’s inaccessibility] is a bit [improved] though with more contemporary poetry. Where it is 

just people speaking in the language of the people instead of [in a] high class Lords in upscale 

London way.” Other students pointed to finding poets in the anthology who wrote about 

experiences that they recognized – including related to racial, ethnic, and cultural identities, or 

gender and sexual orientation. In short, POL introduced students to a much wider array of poets 

and poems than they had ever had before. “That was really what made Poetry Out Loud so 

special,” said one student, “is hearing all those different poems because we don't really get to 

see that anywhere else.” 

• Students’ strong feelings about poetry, positive and negative, indicated high engagement. The 

overlap between what students liked and disliked about poetry suggests, first, the ambivalence 

that often accompanies serious engagement in an art form or field. Students disliked poetry 

because it was difficult, but they liked the experience of having worked through difficulty. One 

student said, “that's my biggest complaint about 

poetry – it can be hard to understand, but when you 

get it, it feels really good.” It also suggests that 

different students were drawn to (and frustrated by) 

different aspects of or approaches to poetry. POL gave 

students an opportunity to grapple with their 

ambivalences and because of the multiple modes of 

engagement (reading, analyzing, memorizing, reciting, 

listening), gave students a wide variety of ways to 

engage. In addition, many students appreciated that 

poetry is open to interpretation – they found freedom 

in that and embraced that freedom, especially because 

it was often preceded by classroom experiences where 

they had been taught that there was “one right 

answer” or that the only analytical work to do with a poem was to “figure out what the author 

meant.” After POL, especially in light of the interpretive choices they realized they could make 

when performing their poems for the competitions, many embraced the freedom to bring their 

own experiences and ideas to their interpretations. Students also liked the rhythm, music, and 

fluidity in the words and the structures of the poems. Their insights grew from the intensity of 

attention that they brought to the study of their poems in order to prepare for the POL 

competition and from the experience of actually reciting poems and listening to poems being 

recited by their classmates. Numerous students also spoke about poetry as a vehicle for 

communicating emotion, and that drawing on their own emotional experience allowed them to 

connect to poems that they were memorizing or hearing.

Does participating in POL correlate with students’ increasing their likelihood of reading or writing 

poetry for pleasure? 

Both the survey findings and the interviews indicated that participating in POL – especially for more than 

one year – is associated with a stronger likelihood of reading or writing poetry for pleasure. Though not 

common, students who did read and/or write for pleasure described reading and writing as ways to 

understand and express themselves and ideas about the world – their own ideas and experiences, and 

the ideas and experiences of others. In addition, some students suggested that the motivation to write 

I think connecting to a poem, or 

even writing one of your own, is so 

awesome. It gives you such a really 

good feeling. Even if the poem has 

a really deep, sad meaning, it's 

really cool to show that to other 

people. And it makes you more 

aware of your life and the things 

that you don't really notice that 

kind of go by unnoticed. 

11th grade student
62

was connected to reading. One student said, “when I read poetry, I discover a lot of different structures, 

so writing schemes and things like that that poets use and so sometimes I'll, if I'm feeling really 

ambitious, [I think], ‘oh I really want to do that,’ so I'll work on that for a little bit and it's just kind of like 

a work in progress.” Thus, while limited, for those students who did read and write for pleasure, 

students’ reading and writing practices were closely interconnected. 

• Most of the students interviewed explained that they did not read poetry at all outside POL 

and school generally. A few said that they did or that they had friends who wrote poetry (which 

they would read). Those students that read poetry often attributed the fact that they did to 

family members who were interested in poetry and had passed that on to the student, or 

memories of reading poetry as a child that had carried into the present in the form of reading 

habits, albeit sporadic or casual. These qualitative findings resonate with the survey findings. 

When asked if students read poetry in their spare 

time, student responses at post-survey indicated 

that students largely disagree with that statement.62

However, when looking at change in attitudes 

toward reading poetry in one’s spare time from 

pre/post, the survey showed that the average 

change for POL students that had participated for 

more than one year was 0.10 higher than nonparticipants.63 For students that only participated in 

POL for one year, the difference from pre to post 

was on average 0.01 higher than non-participants; 

however, this was not statistically significant.64

Thus, overall, students were not strongly engaging 

with reading poetry in their spare time. Yet, multiple 

years of POL participation is associated with an 

increase in reading poetry in one’s spare time. 

Further, while not many students read poetry outside of school, a number of students and 

teachers made the connection between poetry and music, suggesting that contemporary 

vernacular art forms such as rap, hip-hop, pop, and country music were “poetry set to music,” 

an insight that often came directly from the experience of students participating in POL. Thus, 

for these students, reading poetry became a lot like listening to music, as it involved 

appreciating poems as words that provided their own “music” in the form of devices such as 

assonance and rhythm. Several POL teachers had made this connection between poetry and 

music explicit when introducing and teaching POL and assigned students to create “playlists” for 

the poems they were memorizing or other texts the class was reading. 

 

 

62 Average 1.68

63 p<0.05

64 p=0.754

“There was this poem, [...] and [the 

poet] used the word porpoised as a 

verb, as the past tense of porpoise. It 

wasn’t grammatically sound [...] but 

it drew to mind, just like the 

movement of porpoises, doing 

porpoise stuff. I think he was talking 

about his dog. [...] But I just thought 

that was super cool that he did that 

and it inspired me to incorporate 

some of those, like something along 

that line into my own work.”

- 12th grade student
63

• About half of the students interviewed said that 

they had some experience writing poetry outside 

of school; the other half said that they did not have 

any experience writing poetry outside of school. Of 

those that said they had some experience writing 

poetry outside of school, a few wrote frequently, 

but most described writing very occasionally or 

recalled having written poetry in the past. In one 

instance, focus group members described that their 

school had started a Slam Poetry Club; one of the 

members said that they were working on a group 

piece, writing a poem collaboratively. When asked if 

students wrote poetry in their spare time, student responses at post-survey indicated that 

students largely disagreed with that statement.65 When looking at change in attitudes toward 

writing poetry in one's spare time from pre to post, the survey showed no statistically significant 

results in changes for POL students that had participated for one year, or for POL students that 

had participated for more than one year. That said, interviewed students who wrote their own 

poetry often attributed their writing to having participated in POL, or, in the case of those 

students who had been writing for years, attributed to POL changes to their writing, new ideas 

they tried out, and risks they took. Even when students described why they did not write their 

own poetry, occasionally it was connected to their exposure to reading poetry, either through 

school generally or specifically through POL. Some students who realize how exacting a good 

poem is to write suggested that having studied poetry has raised their standards. “It's not 

exactly my favorite activity 'cause, again, I have to sound out all the syllables, and I have to pay 

attention to everything,” one student said. 

Further exploration of engagement: student appreciation of poetry as unique among the language 

arts 

As a way to think more deeply about student engagement 

with poetry and its relationship to POL, the research team 

asked students in interviews and focus groups – all of whom 

were POL participants – to think about what poetry is, how 

it differs from other language arts, and to assess its value 

generally and for themselves. While not explicitly about 

POL, these questions were asked in a setting explicitly 

identified with POL and to POL participants, and thus 

students’ responses are assumed to be connected to 

students’ experiences of poetry through POL. Findings are 

presented below about students’ perceptions of and 

experiences with poetry, along with survey findings about 

student POL participant and non-participant attitudes 

toward poetry memorization and recitation.

 

65 Average 1.76 

“I just think that poetry is so gorgeous 

that I have trouble contributing 

myself to that, because I feel like I'm 

not as ... not just not as good, but like 

not as aware of myself. I don't know, I 

just feel like I can't do it justice, and I 

spend a lot of time reading poetry 

that does it justice, so I know.” 

- 12th grade student

“Poetry has a lot of boundaries to me, 

but to me it's also a box with the top 

part missing, like it blew off or 

something. There's all these limits 

that you have to look at, and then the 

top is totally gone, it can be 

interpreted in so many different 

ways, that there's no top at all, 

there's no end to it.” 

- 11th grade student
64

• Poetry is different from other kinds of writing. As a way to gauge the way POL may have 

influenced students’ engagement with and appreciation of poetry, the research team asked POL 

participants to talk with us about what poetry is, why it might be valuable, “how it works,” and 

how it might be different from other kinds of language arts or writing. Students understood that 

poetry is different from other kinds of language and they offered a host of reasons why. One 

student said, “It's not straight speech,” and another, “with the big words and the rhythm and 

the whole sound of it, it kinda curves around a bit,” recalling Emily Dickinson’s famous line Tell 

all the truth but tell it slant – and the next, less-remembered line, Success in Circuit lies.

66

• Poetry is more condensed than other kinds of writing. “Simply put,” said one student, “it’s a lot 

shorter than other writing styles.” Interviewed students identified (and often appreciated) one 

key aspect of poetry, which is that it tends to be shorter than other kinds of writing. What 

comes with a shorter form is also that poetry tends to be more condensed than other kinds of 

writing – that is, it is not just shorter because it has less information to convey, but rather 

because the words and the form they appear in are doing more work than something else that 

might be as short as a poem, such as a grocery list. As one student put it, “If you read a ten-page 

essay on depression versus if you read an Emily Dickinson poem that's that long [indicates short 

space with thumb and forefinger], you can get equal or greater meaning from that poem.” 

Students had other ways of talking about this condensed quality. Some connected it to the fact 

that, as one student put it, “there's more emphasis on the art of the word.” Most of all, as one 

student put it, and many students and teachers referred to, “you read it again and again and 

again. You get more and more from it each time.”

• Poetry is more expressive and offers more freedom than other kinds of writing; it can also 

produce more of an emotional response in its readers. The POL-participating students talked 

about poetry’s suitability for the expression of feelings and ideas, both personal and broadly 

shared by many people, and feelings, experiences, and ideas that are complex or difficult to 

articulate in ordinary language. Referring to being able to connect to poems not written by 

oneself, including through performance, one student said, “it's not necessarily [that] it has to be 

your own words. It could be words of another poet but making it your own is why poetry is such 

a beautiful way of releasing all the things that have been bottled up inside.” Another aspect of 

the expressive capacity of poetry is that it can be a safe way to communicate experience. 

“[W]ith poetry you can express [a feeling or experience] and those who don't understand aren't 

gonna understand. They can't judge you for it, because they don't get what you're saying.” And, 

implicitly, those who do “get what you’re saying” – because they share personal experience or 

background or are likeminded – will understand. In addition to being a medium suitable for 

expressing emotions and ideas, the students also suggested that poetry is more likely to provoke 

an emotional response than other kinds of writing. Several suggested that poetry has a closer 

relationship to art forms such as dance or painting than to nonfiction or fiction writing. “It’s art,”

said one student, “. . . it makes you feel things.” 

 

66 Poem #1263, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56824/tell-all-the-truth-but-tell-it-slant-1263
65

• Poetry is more constructed than other kinds of writing. Simultaneous to its capacity for 

expression, students were aware, and attributed that awareness often to POL – to the way that 

poetry is constructed. That is, that poetry, perhaps more than other types of writing, relies on 

the deliberate arrangement of words and on the sounds made by those words – on the “flow,” 

as one student put it. Another student said, “with poetry [...] you have more to consider about 

how the words sound with each other and how you want it to be read, how you want to put the 

lines than with other types of writing like nonfiction or fiction...” Students also identified that 

poetry has access to a wide array of formal constraints such as meter and rhyme scheme; 

literary devices such as metaphor, simile, and analogy; and that the sound of the words, the 

rhythm, the space on the page, and the line breaks can all be as important as the topic or 

content. One student said, “For poetry I have to think all the time, especially [that] everything, 

like a period in a line, could mean something, or like a space, like double spacing could provide 

tension and you wouldn't see that in a book [of prose].”

• Poetry allows for more interpretation than other kinds of writing. Many students pointed to 

the open quality of poetry – that it can hold different interpretations. One student said, “[I]t's 

not so direct. You can take it how you want to take it. Everyone sees it differently depending on 

what they are going through and what they know and who you are as a person just changes the 

way you interpret things.” Several students and teachers referred to this quality of 

interpretability as it emerges through the POL competition. One student described surprise and 

new possibilities opening up upon seeing a video of a former POL champion performing a poem 

that, on paper, read as a very sad poem but that the performer had completely reinterpreted, 

adding unexpected humor through tone, gesture, and facial expression. Several suggested that 

poetry needs readers to interpret it; that the poem alone (without any readers or interpreters) is 

only partially realized. Performing the poem was one way to bring the poem fully to life, through 

one’s interpretation of it. “[T]he only way poetry works if it’s read and understood,” said one 

student. When asked if students enjoy memorizing poetry, student responses at post survey 

indicated that students largely disagree with that statement.

67 However, when looking at 

change in attitudes toward enjoying memorizing poetry from pre to post, the survey showed 

that the average change for POL participants was 0.11 higher than non-participants.68 Thus, 

some POL participation as well as multiple years of POL participation is associated with an 

increase in enjoying memorizing poetry in one’s spare time.

• Poetry is meant to be read aloud and heard. Most core to POL was the way that students had 

come to understand poetry as an oral and social art form – meant to be read or recited aloud 

and to be heard by others. One student referred to this aspect of poetry by referring to POL’s 

full name, “[POL] really opens the doors for how you express yourself as a young person. And it 

allows you the option of experiencing art off the page. That's what Poetry Out Loud is all about. 

It's out loud, it's a different way of conveying emotion, whereas on the page it might seem 

difficult.” Another student said, about participating in the competition, “It was a lot different 

 

67 Average 1.88

68 p <0.05
66

and for the first time ever, I listened to someone read something and it actually stuck with me 

versus like just hearing words come at me. And it was, it was really powerful. I had a lot of fun 

just listening to everyone, everyone had their own twist when they got up there [to perform]....” 

When asked if students enjoy reciting poetry, student responses at post-survey indicated that 

students largely disagreed with that statement.

69 However, when looking at change in attitudes 

toward enjoying reciting poetry from pre-survey to post-survey, the survey showed that the 

average change for POL participants was 0.09 higher than non-participants, demonstrating that 

POL participation is associated with a slight increase in enjoying reciting poetry in one’s spare 

time.70

Does POL promote the sharing of poems among students and, if so, by what means? 

One of the study’s research questions was whether participation in POL leads to students sharing poetry 

with each other, especially via social media – which, like reading and writing for pleasure – would be an 

indication of the integration of poetry into students’ lives beyond the classroom. Both the survey and 

the interviews indicated that students are not doing much sharing of poetry with each other, either on 

social media or in general. 

Neither POL participants nor non-participants reported sharing poetry via social media. From the survey, 

the difference between POL participant and non-participant responses to the “sharing poetry via social 

media” item on the social media scale was not significant. 

Qualitative findings about students’ use of social media as a platform for discovering or sharing poetry 

mirrored the survey findings. That is, students interviewed reported limited use of social media for 

reading poetry or sharing (posting) their own or others’ poems. The majority of students interviewed did 

not use social media to share poems, either their own or those of other people. A few did, and of those, 

more posted the work of other people than their own poems. Students made distinctions about types of 

social media posting behavior. A few students said that they might put quotes from poems or songs in 

their Instagram bio, and one said that he had put a poem in an Instagram story that disappears after 24 

hours, in contrast to Instagram posts, which are archived. Several students explained that they used to 

post their own work on social media when they were younger but no longer did. 

More common than sharing poetry was reading poetry 

posted by other people. Those that did mentioned doing so 

casually or in passing – reading a poem if it came across 

their feed rather than actively seeking it out using keyword 

search functions (though a few did that, either to look for 

poetry generally or to search for specific genres of poetry or 

poets with particular identities or affiliated with particular 

causes.) Platforms mentioned by students included 

Instagram (the most common), YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, Amino, Pinterest, and Tumblr. Several 

students also mentioned contributing poetry to or reading online literary magazines – online magazines 

are not considered social media, but they are online platforms. 

 

69 Average 1.95

70 p< 0.05

Sometimes poems will pop up in my

YouTube feed of some people reciting 

[poetry], [and] I'm gonna watch it. 

[But] I don't avidly look for them.

- 10th grade student
67

For students who indicated that they did not post or read poetry on social media at all, their reasons 

were that they were not big users of social media regardless of the content, that they were not 

interested enough in poetry to search for it or share it on these platforms, or that poetry was more of a 

personal interest that they pursued in private, through writing poems in their journal, for instance. In 

one case, a student suggested that it was “out of fashion to post things like [poetry],” pointing to the 

influence of peers and perceptions of peer judgment, which a number of students referred to over the 

course of the interviews. Interestingly, when referring to the judgments of peers, students were often 

contrasting their everyday experience of high school to the experience of POL – which nearly all 

interview and focus group respondents reported to be supportive and non-judgmental. 

Neither POL participants nor non-participants reported sharing poems with peers. Similar to the survey 

item about sharing poems on social media, the difference between participant and non-participant 

sharing of poems with peers (whatever the method) was not significant. A few students suggested that 

they did share poems with each other or look for poetry in other media, including through online 

journals, or in person through slam poetry or open mic events. 

Does a teacher or a school’s participation in POL correlate with greater incorporation of poetry in 

classroom/school instruction? 

Although not the focus of the study, the research team did interview two teachers per school at each of 

the ten schools in the sample. Among the questions asked were whether and how POL has had an effect 

on them. Teachers described a number of ways that teaching POL has influenced them and their 

teaching. 

• POL was a way to encourage student creativity and 

improve analytic abilities. Many of the teachers 

interviewed described poetry as a wonderful way to 

make space for student creativity and help them 

learn how to engage in a deep way with poems and 

with texts in general. The student survey bore this 

out; when looking at change in attitudes toward 

feeling that teachers help students understand 

poetry from pre/post, the survey showed that the 

average change for POL students that had 

participated for more than one year was 0.09 higher than non-participants.71 For students that 

only participated in POL for one year, the difference from pre to post was on average 0.10 

higher than non-participants.72 The research team also saw significance in the area of students 

writing their own poetry for students who had multiple years of POL participation. Specifically, 

the average change from pre to post between participants and non-participants for the survey 

item asking student if their teacher encouraged them to write poetry was .13 higher for 

students with more than one year of participation. Although POL is not a program that 73

 

71 p< 0.05

72 p< 0.05

73 p< 0.05

“I've always been passionate about 

poetry, so I think [the students] see 

that, but what I loved about [POL] the 

most [...] is, even if I'm super 

passionate about something, I never 

saw the spark out of some kids. And I 

feel like [POL] gave them that spark.”

- POL teacher
68

involves student writing, the findings discussed above point to a deep interrelationship between 

reading and writing, perhaps further amplified through multiple years of participation in POL.

• POL allowed teachers to connect with or learn about students in a different way. Several 

teachers described POL as a program that allowed them to “see” – notice, learn about, and 

understand – students that they had not really connected with before POL. “One of the girls 

who I'm not real close to picked a [sports] poem and I know she's an athlete. [...] When she got 

done with her poem I was like, whoa. Like she just killed it and she's kind of a weaker student. 

She just went up there and it gave me a different perspective of her.” This aspect of POL helping 

make students who had previously not stood out very much – due to shyness, unremarkable 

academic performance, or simply because they are in a large class where teachers struggle to 

connect with all the students – “visible” to their teachers was a highlight for a number of the 

teachers. This finding mirrors what many principals and teachers said about the value of POL 

being in the way that it allows students to find a place and “shine” who have not previously 

found such a place in the school, either academically or via extracurricular activities.

• POL allowed teachers to become more comfortable with poetry and to celebrate it as an oral 

art form. Recalling when they first learned about POL and “the idea of making the performance

of poetry the focal point instead of reading it,” one teacher said, “I could never go back” and that 

“having access to this large, very curated, beautiful anthology of poetry, is just a gold mine.” 

Another said, “For me it's like painting – and this is what Poetry Out Loud has revealed to me – 

poetry is like a painting, like a gesture, but it's in words and sounds. I think that's how Poetry 

Out Loud has changed me and my approach to teaching” – that, before POL, the study of poetry 

in the classroom was “very peripheral [compared to other aspects of the curriculum], very 

academic, dry.” Similar, in fact, to the way the students responded to POL, teachers, too, felt 

that poetry came alive for them through POL. 

• POL offered teachers a way to contribute outside their regular teaching loads and to nurture 

their own creativity. Several teachers indicated that participating in POL was a way to 

contribute to the culture of the school and to their students’ lives in ways that go beyond the 

classroom. They enjoyed the sense that POL connected them to a larger community, including 

other students, teachers, and poets passionate about poetry. A majority of the teachers 

interviewed identified as being passionate about poetry – for some, that passion had motivated 

their participation in POL in the first place, while for others, poetry had transformed for them 

through participating in POL. One teacher said, "That's one thing when I was first new to Poetry 

Out Loud, I remember thinking, I'm learning ... I'm reading so many more poems than I would 

without being involved in this. Like, I personally have been exposed to so many different poets." 

For these teachers, in addition to seeing great benefits for their students from POL, POL 

represented a way to engage more deeply with poetry, and to participate in the cultural life of 

the school and community. 

Overall, the findings point to a positive relationship between participating in POL and engagement in 

and appreciation of poetry. While activities such as reading and writing poetry for pleasure and sharing 

poetry on social media did not emerge as dominant behaviors, students nonetheless were appreciative 

of poetry, as indicated by a small but significant increase in appreciation among students who engaged 

with POL over multiple years, compared with non-POL participating peers.. In interviews and focus 
69

groups, students were extraordinarily thoughtful about poetry as a literary art form, especially the way 

in which it comes alive during recitation, a core element of POL. In ways that connect to the findings 

about academic engagement and achievement and social-emotional development, students appreciated 

poetry for how it helps them understand and express their ideas and feelings about themselves and the 

world, a finding mirrored by teachers as they reflected about POL’s influence on poetry engagement 

practices among students and teachers alike. 

Study Limitations

When conducting a study in an observational setting (as opposed to experimental setting) that involves 

multiple survey dimensions and multiple sites, limitations to the data and its interpretations naturally 

occur. Therefore, a set of limitations and considerations for interpreting the data presented is discussed 

below. 

• Nature of an efficacy study. The first consideration to keep in mind is that the findings apply to 

schools that have been optimally implementing POL and may not be representative of all 

schools and students that interact with the program. As discussed in the introduction, this study 

was designed to be an efficacy study in order to understand the impact of POL when the 

program is implemented optimally. Thus, given the range of implementation styles across all 

schools participating in POL, findings cannot be applied to the general population of 

participating schools.

• Qualitative data sample. It is also important to consider that even within optimallyimplementing schools, POL affects students differently. Each student is at a unique point on the 

spectrum of “readiness” to engage deeply in creative self-expression. Overall, students selected 

for interviews had exceled in POL, while student focus groups tended to be more representative 

of the average students’ experience. Therefore, the interview findings highlight may not be 

representative of all students who participate in POL, but rather provide a window into the 

experiences of students who were more deeply affected by their participation. 

• Quantitative methodology. As outlined in Chapter 1, the quantitative methodology involves 

comparing the outcomes of POL participants and non-participants as measured by survey 

responses and administrative data (which includes standardized test scores and grade point 

averages). For both data sources, the research team used the most rigorous method available to 

understand POL’s unique influence on these outcomes. For the survey analysis, this meant 

conducting a correlational analysis, which compared changes in responses between POL 

participants and non-participants, controlling for important background characteristics. For the 

administrative data, the research team was able to utilize a more rigorous quasi-experimental 

design (QED) and propensity-score matching to measure the effect POL had on those who 

participated.

• Existing differences between POL participants and non-participants. While the selected 

research methods get as close to eliminating measurable bias as possible, there were still small 

differences between treatment and comparison groups in background characteristics (see 

Appendix G). In addition, there may be important unmeasured differences between the two 

groups that result in a biased estimate of the true impact of POL. For example, students who did 

not participate in POL were assigned to a teacher that elected not to teach the curriculum. 
70

Therefore, if choosing to teach POL is associated with higher pre-existing comfort with or 

enthusiasm for poetry, or greater capacity to adopt a new program, the positive outcomes 

among POL participants may be due in part to these pre-existing teacher characteristics.

• Measuring student attitudes during a single school year. As noted at the beginning of the 

chapter, another factor to consider is that the pre/post surveys were administered at the 

beginning and end of a single school year (fall and spring). Therefore, student responses could 

have been influenced by factors associated with the cadence of the school year, such as higher 

levels of stress associated with end-of-year testing, which would have a negative effect on posttest findings. In fact, prior research indicates that measures of social-emotional learning decline 

during a school year (Wang and Eccles 2012). Given that the timing of survey administration was 

consistent for both POL participants and non-participants, this phenomenon does not bias the

results, but rather limits the research team’s ability to report growth.

• Interpreting p-values and survey dimensions. Throughout the findings section, footnotes are 

included for all quantitative outcomes with the p-value to give the reader a sense for the 

significance and magnitude of the quantitative findings. The p-value is the probability that there 

is no real effect of POL on the outcome of interest. Therefore, small p-values (<0.05) indicate 

that the effect of POL on that outcome is significant. The standard deviation is also included for 

each dimension in Appendix F. When the standard deviation is very small, even small differences 

between POL participants and non-participants are substantially important. This is because the 

standard deviation provides a sense for how widely outcomes vary overall; if outcomes do not 

vary widely (e.g., the vast majority of students rate a survey item the same), then even small 

differences between POL participants and non-participants are substantively important.74

Furthermore, the Survey Methodology section in the Appendix D provides detailed information 

for each of the survey dimension, including items, scales, and psychometric properties. 

• Measurement error in outcome variables. Finally, student grades are included as an outcome of 

interest to understand how participation in POL may influence students’ engagement and 

achievement in school generally. However, grading standards can vary by individual teachers 

within schools, so these estimates could also be biased if grading standards vary systematically 

between POL and non-POL teachers.

These limitations lend further context to SPR’s interpretations of the study data. While the limitations 

raise important points, the study’s methodology yielded rigorous and thought-provoking findings, as has 

been described throughout this chapter. The main findings coupled with the limitations produce a 

unique set of considerations for teachers and administrators, the Arts Endowment and the Poetry 

Foundation, and the research community. The following chapter outlines these considerations. 

 

74 Furthermore, survey results throughout the findings chapter can be interpreted in terms of effect sizes. The 

Standard deviations provide additional context for understanding the magnitude of effect sizes. 
71

Chapter 4: Conclusion

The primary focus of this report has been to assess the extent to which POL, when optimally 

implemented, can achieve positive academic, social-emotional, and poetry-specific outcomes for 

students. The findings confirm that, when optimally implemented, POL programs can have a positive 

impact on students’ academic skills and performance, social and emotional health, and poetry 

awareness and appreciation. Specifically, quantitative findings showed POL’s significant impact on 

higher standardized test scores for both ELA and math, as well as weighted GPA. Furthermore, survey 

findings showed significant associations between POL participation and confidence in group discussions, 

participation in volunteer and/or community service activities, and poetry appreciation. Qualitative 

findings lent greater nuance and detail to the quantitative findings by highlighting the ways in which 

students’ POL experiences supported greater engagement in key academic subjects, a deeper 

understanding of one’s self, and stronger connections to poetry.

However, the evaluation also yielded other findings beyond testing the outcomes explicitly stated in the 

POL logic model and reported in the previous chapter. Below are shared these additional findings and 

their implications for people and groups who seek to implement or strengthen POL programs in the 

future.

Other Noteworthy Findings

POL benefits that were not explicitly stated as outcomes in the POL logic model, but which emerged 

from data in this study, are:

• POL can have a positive influence on school culture. Multiple principals in the study expressed 

the importance, to them as school leaders, that the school engaged every single student in an 

extracurricular activity. One principal said, “one of my goals for the school is that every student 

is involved in something, whether it's a club, an activity or a sport.” The principals noted that 

sports are often a more visible aspect of school-wide activities (i.e. activities that engage the 

whole school, where students engage either as participants or spectators/supporters), but that 

POL provides another vehicle for school-wide student engagement, which creates more avenues 

for self-expression and connection for more students. One school principal noted that POL 

participation “crosses a wide social path” across the school, “from kids that may not be super 

engaged in school to people who are going off to the most elite colleges in the country.”

• POL competitions can enhance school reputations 

and serve as a community-builder. The research team

learned from students and teachers that the 

competition can help build community at the 

classroom level, but some principals in the study 

shared that it can also build community at the school 

and local community level as well. Some principals 

shared that POL carries with it a certain level of cachet 

which they feel enhances their school’s reputation, 

which then encourages broader support from parents 

and community members. At some schools, parents 

“Any time you can feature students in 

a venue where they get to show 

something they’re passionate about 

and you get the parents in, then 

that’s great PR for the kids. It’s great 

PR for the parents. It’s great PR for 

the school. And it just really adds 

value...” - POL school principal
72

and community members not only promote the competition but they also actively participate by 

serving as judges. In addition, several schools in the sample invite former students, those who 

have won or excelled in POL in the past, to return as judges. This inclusion of school alumni into 

POL is another means by which several schools in the sample created stronger bonds between 

the school and the community. 

• POL participation can have positive effects on a range of academic subjects beyond English 

Language Arts. While the research team hypothesized positive effects of POL participation on 

school engagement generally and academic performance in English Language Arts specifically, it 

was somewhat surprising to see such a positive connection between POL participation and a 

host of other subjects, such as math, science, and foreign language study. It was interesting to 

learn from students about the ways in which they have been applying the skills they learned 

through POL to other subjects, and to understand that they were applying these skills 

intentionally. Students often benefit academically from arts participation in ways they don’t 

often realize (e.g. performing better in math as a result of music study). That the students in this 

study could specifically articulate the ways in which they intentionally apply skills they learned 

through POL to other subjects underscores the tangible benefits of participation that POL may 

wish to promote.

• POL encourages creative risk taking. Qualitative data from both students and teachers indicate 

that participation in POL encourages students to take creative risks, both in performance and in 

their writing. Given the findings around greater levels of confidence in public speaking and 

group discussions for POL students, the increased comfort in taking risks in performances is not 

surprising. However, reports by teachers that students were also taking more risks in their 

writing as a result of participation in POL were intriguing. According to these teachers, the 

willingness to take creative risks strengthened student writings, as students grew bolder around 

trying different techniques that they learned from other writers. 

• Participation in POL can help forge stronger connections between teachers and students. In 

the exploration of social-emotional outcomes related to POL participation, survey questions 

were focused on healthy interpersonal connections between students. Interviews with teachers, 

however, revealed that POL also helped in developing stronger connections between students 

and teachers. Teachers cited a number of reasons for this, from the poetry itself serving as 

vehicles for connections with students, to the ways in which student performances challenged 

assumptions teachers had about some of their students, to a growing sense of trust across some 

teachers and students as a result of some teachers’ willingness to also make themselves 

vulnerable by reciting poetry in front of the students.

• Deep engagement with a literary text for the purposes of memorizing and reciting it is a 

valuable activity for high school-aged youth that supports their development as humans.

Many teachers that the research team interviewed pointed to an outcome that is broader than 

any of the three specific domains of inquiry in this study, though closest to the social-emotional, 

and that is that POL helps students become more fully developed human beings. One teacher 

said, “reading and interpreting poetry and reciting and bringing it to life is one of the ways that 

you can find nuance in life.” Another, reflecting on how POL helps make students into more 
73

participatory members of their community, said, “I think the kids are going to have an ethic of 

valuing poetry when they go out there or valuing the arts in general. They're more likely to go to 

an artistic performance in the community. I really believe that we are preparing them for a 

lifetime of arts, not just in a career, but just as human beings” participating in human culture. 

Also, during SPR’s school recruitment process, researchers learned about challenges schools faced when

implementing POL. For example, some schools shared that it can be difficult to adopt or fully implement 

POL at their schools because fitting it into already overloaded teaching schedules feels too challenging. 

Administrators at schools that serve populations experiencing significant achievement gaps indicated 

that addressing achievement barriers and meeting the needs of their students rendered implementation 

of programs a low priority. Conversely, some administrators at schools with high achievement rates also 

shared that adopting or fully implementing POL can be difficult because the demands of testing and AP 

requirements seem to leave little room for “extra” programming. Given that POL has been implemented 

in some AP programs in this study, the challenge may be rooted in the perception of POL as “extra” or 

just in knowing how to integrate it well and in ways that serve the larger purpose of learning and critical 

thinking as well as the achievement of strong AP test scores.

• Creating a culture of support for POL is critical to the success of the program and its 

participants. Nurturing a schoolwide culture that actively supports POL can help to ensure the 

success of the program. One principal described it as “part of the fabric of what we do.” 

Multiple principals made a connection between supporting POL and cultivating a school culture 

that supports the arts generally, noting that being in a school that embraces the arts makes it 

easier to incorporate the program into their curriculum and to engage students in the program, 

because it makes it “less of a leap.” Examples of ways in which schools can create a culture of 

support for POL are included in the Arts Endowment and Poetry Foundation’s Teacher Guide 

“Publicity Tips.” Furthermore, schools could include POL in orientation materials or offer small 

prizes for winners, fundraised through parents.

• Teacher interest and enthusiasm is a key ingredient for successful implementation. As 

mentioned previously, teacher interest and enthusiasm were the driving force behind the 

implementation and sustainability of POL in the sample schools. Moreover, it seems that 

teachers in the study who were able to devote a substantial amount of time to it and who also 

actively engaged with poetry were able to articulate more benefits for themselves and for their 

students. Specifically, teachers may want to consider spending several weeks specifically on POL 

and poetry as well as integrate it into their curriculum throughout the school year. Furthermore, 

teachers could engage with poetry through performing a poem in front of their students or 

bringing them to outside poetry performance venues. Having a school environment that 

Implications for Future POL Programming and Research 

Through the entire course of this evaluation the researchers learned a great deal about the benefits and 

challenges associated with implementing and participating in POL programs. Below are considerations 

for POL stakeholders—schools, program funders, and researchers and evaluators. 

Considerations for School Administrators and Teachers 

Interviews with school administrators, teachers, and students revealed ways in which POL’s ability to 

impact student outcomes are influenced by administrators and teachers. Key lessons learned are:
74

supports this level of engagement, as described in the previous bullet, is helpful – including 

providing lead teachers with a small stipend, professional development support for attending 

the statewide competition or arts education conferences, access to quality substitute teaching 

during performances, or additional planning periods to support POL coordination at school.

• Being flexible and willing to adapt program components to meet student needs can help 

ensure inclusivity. While the competition is an important aspect of the POL program, it can also 

be a source of anxiety or stress for some students. While learning to manage stress is an 

important part of healthy development, certain stresses may be too overwhelming for some 

students, particularly students with learning disabilities or social-emotional challenges. Being 

able to creatively adapt certain program requirements (e.g. having a student perform for a 

teacher and not for an entire class) can help the student receive the benefits of the work (e.g. 

memorization mastery, opportunity for creative expression, performance-related confidence, 

etc.) without causing undue stress or harm. Furthermore, the variety of implementation 

modalities presented by the schools in the study highlighted that creativity around POL 

programming made participation more accessible. For example, giving extra credit for reciting a 

longer poem, letting students not in a POL-participating class participate by joining class 

competitions, or making POL an after-school program. One school even set aside designated 

school time for students in non-POL classes to practice their POL recitation. Overall, while 

implementation variety may not be ideal for measuring impact, this creativity fostered greater 

student participation.

• The range of teaching tools offered through POL provide useful pedagogical supports to help 

teachers teach poetry confidently and effectively. Teachers often share that poetry is a difficult 

subject to teach—some find it so daunting that they avoid teaching it. The teachers who were

interviewed named a number of resources offered through the POL website that proved useful 

to them in their efforts to engage students in poetry in general, to teach students how to 

critically analyze poetry, and to generate interpretive ideas and consider performance choices. 

Teaching guides and videos of past performances were cited as especially helpful, as was the 

robust online anthology of poems. Interviewees especially appreciated the diversity of poetry 

and poets represented in the anthology and encourage its continued growth and diversification.

Considerations for the Arts Endowment and Poetry Foundation 

The study design and data collection process highlighted ways in which POL’s funders—the Arts 

Endowment and the Poetry Foundation—can augment current reporting practices to support ongoing 

learning and a deeper understanding of POL’s influence on students, teachers, and schools. Based on 

these insights, the research team recommends the following funder actions, many of which are ongoing: 

• Implementing ongoing data collection systems for participating schools. Currently, the existing 

data collected from POL-participating schools is not systematic or consistent. Creating a simple 

and targeted data collection system to track participation, implementation, and attitudes may 

support the Arts Endowment’s and Poetry Foundation’s ability to understand the scale of POL 

participation and make programmatic shifts in response to evolving school contexts. For 

example, a brief form could be sent to all participating schools asking about numbers of 

participating classes and students, participating grades and courses, implementation of key POL 

features (e.g. details about school-wide competitions, teacher use of teaching resources, etc.), 
75

teacher comfort with teaching poetry, and open-ended response areas for teachers to express 

any concerns or request topical or methodological teaching resources. Also, while a slightly 

larger lift, the pre/post survey used for this study could be condensed to include the questions 

deemed essential by the Arts Endowment and the Poetry Foundation and administered to a 

sample of schools every year to create a longitudinal dataset on student perceptions. These data 

collection efforts can provide an ongoing picture of POL’s scope and influence to support 

ongoing program refinements so that student outcomes from POL are maximized. 

• Creating access to poetry relevant to diverse communities. As detailed in the findings chapter, 

POL participants often draw upon their own experiences to engage with and perform poems. 

Thus, ensuring that the POL poetry anthology contains material that can reflect multiple 

cultural, linguistic, and racial/ethnic backgrounds is an important component for increasing POL 

participation and engagement. This consideration is further supported by comments from 

Technical Review Group members regarding teaching poetry to diverse students. The members’ 

comments point out that not only do the poems need to reflect multiple backgrounds, but the 

teaching pedagogy should also be appropriate for students from different cultural, 

socioeconomic, linguistic, and racial/ethnic backgrounds. 

• Offering resources that make teaching poetry and POL appropriate for and accessible to every 

student. While some teachers shared that they do find the resources offered by the Arts 

Endowment and the Poetry Foundation to be helpful, there is still a perception among some 

teachers (as discussed earlier) that teaching poetry can feel intimidating and that poetry and 

POL may be “too hard” for introductory level classes. Yet the value of poetry engagement is not 

limited to just those with a certain perceived level of aptitude--everyone can benefit from it. 

There are a number of things the Arts Endowment and Poetry Foundation could do to reduce 

the level of intimidation that comes with the idea of teaching or learning poetry. First, they may 

want to ensure that resources include strengths-based language emphasizing that POL is for all 

students. They may also want to consider creating new teaching resources that allow teachers 

and students to access poetry from multiple sources and that feels accessible to those with 

varying poetry knowledge and comfort. For example, there could be more resources that use 

engaging media, perhaps through continuing to post videos of winning performances and 

adding a teaching element that includes thought-provoking questions for students and teachers 

to help identify strengths of the analytic and performance choices of the winning students. They 

could also augment POL teaching resources to include accommodation suggestions for students 

with IEP or 504 plans75, or offering resources specifically for English language learner 

classrooms. Thus, as the Arts Endowment and Poetry Foundation continue to expand the pool of 

resources offered to teachers, these new resources could be centered on supporting teachers 

who may feel challenged around teaching poetry in general, and those who could use more 

support in teaching poetry to a wide range of students.

 

75 An IEP is an Individualized Education Plan that confirms that a student has an identified disability, as recognized 

under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and needs specialized instruction to close the gap 

between the student’s academic achievement and those of the student’s age peers. A 504 plan is for students who 

have a disability but do not qualify for education services under IDEA.
76

• Making the case for poetry at a national level. Given the national shift toward No Child Left 

Behind and standardized assessments-based accountability, there has been a decline in the 

national emphasis toward teaching and performing poetry across all academic levels (Weaven 

and Clark 2014). Findings from this study clearly point to the value of engaging students in 

poetry, thus presenting an opportunity for the Arts Endowment and the Poetry Foundation to 

emphasize the academic and social and emotional benefits of poetry programming. Specifically, 

the Arts Endowment and the Poetry Foundation may consider asking teachers to contribute 

videos about what they enjoy about the program and how they think students are benefitting. 

Demystifying poetry and its influence on student outcomes may help mitigate the decreased 

national emphasis on K-12 poetry engagement.

Considerations for the Research Field

This study presented an opportunity to contribute to the arts education literature through a rigorous 

mixed-methods approach, including a quasi-experimental design. As discussed, there are relatively few 

studies in the arts education context that use an impact study design. Findings from this study therefore 

offer a unique contribution to the field of arts education. Moreover, this study opens up other avenues 

of research and reveals considerations for conducting research in an arts education context. Future 

opportunities include:

• Understanding impacts at different levels of implementation. As discussed in the introduction, 

the schools participating in this study were included because they represented schools that 

were “optimally implementing” POL. However, even within the school sample there were

variations in how schools implemented POL in terms of duration, participating courses, and 

competitions (as discussed in Chapter #2). While this study points to the ways in which schools 

differed in implementation, the quantitative analysis does not address how impacts may vary by 

different key implementation factors such as number weeks of POL programming, use of 

teaching resources, or competition participation requirements. These additional analyses could 

shed additional light on the programming intensity required to impact student outcomes and 

which implementation features are most critical.

• Understanding impacts across a range of school and teacher contexts. The efficacy study 

design, in addition to challenges the research team experienced in recruiting schools with more 

diverse populations (e.g. non-responsiveness or unwillingness to participate), yielded a school 

sample that primarily consisted of suburban schools with a predominantly Caucasian student 

population. Thus, this study points to impacts for a specific school context, leaving opportunity 

for future studies to explore POL impacts in contexts centered on urban or rural schools, or 

schools with predominantly African American or Latinx/Hispanic schools. Furthermore, the data 

collected in this study did not quantify teacher experience and enthusiasm for teaching poetry 

and link that data to student outcomes. Participating in POL may be strongly influenced by the 

quality of teaching. This could be explored through systematic data collection on teachers and 

linking that information to student outcomes. Given this study’s qualitative findings regarding

teacher influence and the importance of poems to connect with students’ lived experiences, 

conducting a follow up study in a variety of school and teacher contexts would be a meaningful 

addition to the findings in this study. 
77

• Considering the burden on schools that may feel “over-researched.” While conducting school 

recruitment, the study team attempted to recruit a school from an urban school district with a 

diverse student population. This school felt unable to participate because of the other research 

agendas currently present at their school. Thus, future researchers in the area of arts education 

may want to consider the burden of data collection and research involvement asked of schools 

that are often targeted for research studies, as well as consider the ways in which the research 

could be brought back to benefit the school and surrounding community. Minimizing burden 

and maximizing utility for schools and communities may help recruit schools that reflect a 

broader range of contexts.

• Understanding longitudinal impacts. This study collected data focused on the 2018-19 school 

year, so the quantitative data was only able to speak to the impact of POL over the course of 

one year; however, our survey findings suggested that, for some domains, impacts may be 

greater with more years of POL participation. Therefore, an important follow up to this study 

would be to understand the longitudinal impact of POL on student outcomes. Such findings 

would not only add to the arts education research base, but it may also encourage more 

teachers to participate in POL, knowing that consistent programming holds a significant benefit 

for students. Possible research designs that would support understanding longitudinal impacts 

could include following a cohort of students from a small number of schools or following a subgroup of students such as state or national champions for two, three or more years. Such 

studies could continue the mixed-method approach applied in the current study or could focus 

more exclusively on qualitative data collection through interviews with students, exploring, for 

example, the extent to which POL participants continue to engage in poetry or apply the skills 

they learned through POL in their current contexts. 

• Developing arts education-specific measures. Apart from the Poetry Appreciation dimension, 

survey questions in all other dimensions were from previously validated instruments. While 

these dimensions reflect psychometric validity, it can be argued that the outcomes from an arts 

education program such as POL represent a unique construct that cannot be pulled “off the 

shelf” from an existing measure. While construction and validation of a new arts education 

instrument was outside the scope of this study, it points to an opportunity for educators and 

researchers to potentially create new measures that are better aligned with anticipated 

outcomes of an arts education program such as Poetry Out Loud. For example, the Leadership 

dimension used for this study, while psychometrically valid, may not have truly reflected the 

civic engagement and leadership skills cultivated by arts education in general and poetry 

education in particular. Conducting a rigorous construct development process around arts 

education would yield measures that may be more useful and appropriate for studies such as 

this. 

• Addressing the multiple purposes of arts-based research. The timing for this study was ideal, in 

that it built off of an implementation study conducted in prior years. Thus, POL was at a point of 

readiness to pause and reflect about what stakeholders felt was the power of POL and how they 

thought that participation benefitted students. A quasi-experimental design therefore aligned 

with the lifecycle of the program and allowed the study to provide evidence that may resonate 

with policymakers and decisionmakers. However, another consideration, given that POL is 

situated in the arts, was ensuring that this study was also able to tell the story and impact of 
78

POL from a creative and deductive perspective. The study’s qualitative data not only 

triangulated the quantitative findings, but it also allowed this study to address dual purposes of 

evaluating the arts via pre-defined outcomes and evaluating the arts for “art’s sake.” Future 

research conducted in similar contexts may want to reflect on not only the program’s readiness 

for an impact study design, but also the purpose for the study and to what extent the design 

aligns with that purpose.

Parting thoughts

The findings from this evaluation point to the strong benefits of participating in the POL program and of 

engagement with poetry in general. While it was gratifying to see the affirmation of hypothesized 

outcomes through analysis of quantitative data, even more revealing and enlightening were the 

reflections shared by teachers and students about how poetry study and performance has affected 

them personally as well as academically Together, the quantitative and qualitative study results

underscore the value of poetry in the lives. They reinforce the importance of poetry in high school 

curricula. 

Promoting the power of poetry and advocating for greater inclusion of poetry into the curriculum can 

feel like an uphill battle, particularly given the context of schooling, wherein certain subject areas are 

consistently framed as more “important” or “valuable” (e.g. STEM), and “success” is too often framed 

and measured within such narrow parameters (i.e. high grade point averages and test scores). Yet 

teachers and students in the sample schools report that one of the core benefits of studying poetry is 

that it encourages students to approach learning in ways that are in direct contrast to the fast-paced, 

testing-oriented achievement culture. They spoke of the value of being able to slow down, to focus, to 

analyze something in-depth, and to find joy in the process of discovery. Moreover, many teachers 

pointed out that the value of the arts, and poetry and POL in particular, is that they open students up to 

the richness of experience, to their own capacity to interpret what they are seeing and experiencing in 

their lives, and with a growing awareness of and empathy for other people and their experiences and 

that, ultimately, poetry and the arts help students become “more fully human.”
79

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Acknowledgements

Social Policy Research Associates (SPR) would like to express deep gratitude to the National Endowment 

for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation for their partnership on this study. SPR also thanks the following 

groups that that played a pivotal role with collecting the data needed for this study:

• The teacher liaisons that worked closely with the SPR team to coordinate data collection and 

site visits at each participating school. 

• The school administrators, teachers, and students that donated their time to be interviewed for 

this study.

• The school district staff that worked with SPR to provide the administrative data required for 

this study.

• The state arts agencies that shared information about participating schools. 

Furthermore, SPR would like to thank the members of the study’s Technical Review Group for their 

thoughtful participation, insights, and recommendations. These members include:

• Dr. Sarah Bainter Cunningham, Associate Provost for Research and Strategic Partnerships at the 

Rhode Island School of Design

• Philip de Sa e Silva, Educator at St. Paul Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota

• Derek Fenner, Educator at Alameda County of Education, California

• Dr. Perman Gochyyev, Quantitative Researcher at the University of California, Berkeley

• Jonathan Herman, Chief Executive Officer at National Guild for Community Arts Education

• Andrea Santos, Educator at Logan High School in Logan, West Virginia 

• EJ Walls, Educator at Youth Speaks

SPR would also like to acknowledge Aimee Espiritu and Dr. Jamal Abedi for their early contributions to 

the Technical Review Group.

Lastly, SPR would like to thank the following colleagues who contributed to this study: Dr. Renatta 

DeFever, Shelley Kuang, Caitlin Grey, and Mahika Rangnekar.