U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
        Here’s how you know
    Goverment symbol**Official websites use .gov**
            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
        Lock symbol**Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
            A lock (
              A locked padlock
                 ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive
              information only on official, secure websites.
 Skip to main content JoinDonate
    About
    About
          About
        
About menu block one
  

        
        What We Do
                Our Impact
                Agency FAQs
About menu block two
  

        
        Our Team
                Careers
About menu block three
  

        
        Agency Overview
                            Budget and Performance Plans
                Disability and Accessibility
                Federal Register Notices
                Open Government
                Plain Writing
                Privacy Policy
                Strategic Plan

  

  
Serve
    Serve
          Serve
        
Serve menu block one
  

        
        AmeriCorps
                            AmeriCorps NCCC
                AmeriCorps State and National
                AmeriCorps VISTA
                AmeriCorps Seniors
                            AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent Program
                AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP
                AmeriCorps Seniors Senior Companion Program
Serve menu block two
  

        
        Volunteer
                            9/11 Day
                MLK Day
Serve menu block three
  

        
        Find Your Fit
                Serve FAQs

  

  
Partner
    Partner
          Partner
        
Partner menu block one
  

        
        How it Works
                            AmeriCorps NCCC
                AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent
                AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP
                AmeriCorps Seniors Senior Companion
                AmeriCorps State and National
                AmeriCorps VISTA
                Research and Evaluation
                Volunteer Generation Fund
Partner menu block two
  

        
        Partnerships
                Communities and Initiatives
                Funding Opportunities
Partner menu block three
  

        
        Partner FAQs

  

  
Members & Volunteers
    Members & Volunteers
          Members & Volunteers
        
Members & Volunteers menu block one
  

        
        Your Benefits
                Segal AmeriCorps Education Award
                Education Award FAQs
Members & Volunteers menu block two
  

        
        Alumni
                Members in VISTA
Members & Volunteers menu block three
  

        
        Member and Volunteer FAQs
                Safety and Security

  

  
Grantees & Sponsors
    Grantees & Sponsors
          Grantees & Sponsors
        
Grantee & Sponsors menu block one
  

        
        State Service Commissions
                State and National Direct Grantees
                State Subgrantees
                VISTA Sponsors
                Research and Evaluation Grantees
                Volunteer Generation Fund and Days of Service Grantees
Grantee & Sponsors menu block two
  

        
        RSVP Grantees
                Foster Grandparent Program Grantees
                Senior Companion Program Grantees
                Senior Demonstration Program Grantees
                NCCC Project Sponsors
Grantee & Sponsors menu block three
  

        
        Manage Your Grant
                Grantee and Sponsor FAQs

  

  
Newsroom
    Newsroom
          Newsroom
        
Newsroom menu block one
  

        
        News
                Blog
Newsroom menu block two
  

        
        Stories
                Events
Newsroom menu block three
  

        
        In the News
                Communication Resources



  
Contact
    Contact
    JoinDonate
search Breadcrumb

              Greater Twin Cities United Way, Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood: NdCAD-Sankofa
      Back
                The Sankofa reading program is a culturally-based literacy tutoring program for children of African-descent designed to close the achievement gap in reading skills. The program consists of comprehensive after-school tutoring with strong reading and cultural components. Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood (SPPN) partnered with Network for the Development of Children of African Descent (NdCAD) to deliver Sankofa to low-performing readers enrolled in kindergarten through third grade from 2013-2017 in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.

Study Goals

The goal of the study is to evaluate the NdCAD’s Sankofa program that was implemented in the SPPN area from spring 2013 through fall 2017.

Research Questions

This evaluation included an implementation evaluation and an impact evaluation. The research questions were:

**Implementation Questions:**

Is the Sankofa program being implemented as intended?
	Is the Sankofa program delivery consistent with the intended program structure?
	Has the Sankofa program achieved its intended implementation output and goals?
	What program services are received by the comparison groups?
	What are reasons why participants do not complete Sankofa?
	What is the average number of follow-ups (by NdCAD tutors and/or SPPN School Partnership Coordinators) before participants discontinue the program?**Impact Questions:**

Do children who participate in Sankofa exhibit:
	Increased reading performance as identified by pre-post program scores on the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA)?
		Greater levels of social emotional development such as confidence in reading after the nine-week program?
		Greater rates of literacy growth after completing Sankofa, compared with their growth before program participation, according to FastBridge Learning reading measures?
	How do children who complete Sankofa perform on third-grade reading proficiency measures?
	Do children who complete Sankofa perform better on third-grade reading proficiency measures than similar children in Saint Paul Public Schools?
	Do African-centered and African-theme texts change participants’ attitudes about reading?
	How does having (African/African American) tutors change parent involvement in improving child’s literacy?Findings

The evaluation found the following:

The preliminary impact evaluation design found 90 percent of Sankofa participants increased their reading performance on the DRA II by at least one reading level over the course of the program:
	The percent of students below the soft-target grade-appropriate reading level likewise decreased for all grades (K-3).
		These findings from the preliminary evidence design lacked a comparison group and suffered from limited internal validity (as the increase could have been caused by external factors or normative growth).
	The moderate evidence impact evaluation design found a significant effect of Sankofa on growth in reading for the Decodable Words assessment using an ITS design (moderate level of evidence design), but not for the Letter Sounds or Sight Word assessments. However, this effect for Decodable Words was not significant after correcting for multiple comparisons (suggesting this finding could have been obtained by chance) and it was not corroborated by the multiple imputation pooled analysis.
	For the exploratory matched-comparison design:
	In Years 1 and 2, there were no effects of Sankofa on MCA-Reading scores.
		In Years 3 and 4, a significant difference was found.
		On average, Sankofa participants were expected to score 7.25 points lower on the MCA than the non-Sankofa SPPS comparison.For more information, download the full report and report brief.

      Full report
      

      Full Report
            GTCUW SPPN Sankofa_SankofaFinalReport_092418_508.pdf
                  GTCUW SPPN Sankofa Brief_Rr1021_20180829_CNCS_Report_Brief_GTCUW_Sankofa....pdf
        Further information
    



      Program/Intervention
                        Network for the Development of Children of African Descent's (NdCAD) Sankofa Program
  

      Implementing Organization
                        Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood (SPPN)
  

      Intermediary(s)
                        Greater Twin Cities United Way
  

      AmeriCorps Program(s)
            Social Innovation Fund
  

      Age(s) Studied
            0-5 (Early childhood)
                  6-12 (Childhood)
  

      Level of Evidence
            Preliminary
  

      Researcher/Evaluator
                        Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) at the University of Minnesota
  

      Published Year
                        2018
  

      Study Site Location (State)
            Minnesota Back to main content Sign up to hear about our latest news, events, and opportunities.
  Sign up for our newsletter
    Footer about
  

        
        About
                            What We Do
                Our Impact
                Our Team
                Careers
                Agency OverviewFooter serve
  

        
        Serve
                            AmeriCorps
                AmeriCorps Seniors
                Volunteer
                Find Your FitFooter partner
  

        
        Partner
                            How it Works
                Funding OpportunitiesFooter Members & Volunteers
  

        
        Members & Volunteers
                            Your Benefits
                Segal AmeriCorps Education Award
                Alumni
                Safety and SecurityFooter grantees & sponsors
  

        
        Grantees & Sponsors
                            eGrants
                History Checks
                LitmosFooter newsroom
  

        
        Newsroom
                            News
                Blog
                Stories
                Events
                In the News
                Communication Resources
      Bringing Americans together to serve communities

Follow us
  
  1-800-942-2677
            
    help@americorps.gov
    USA.gov / Office of Inspector General / FOIA and Privacy Act / Federal Register notices / No FEAR Act/ Employee Whistleblower Rights / Contractor and Grantee Whistleblower Rights / Office of Special Counsel / STOCK Act / Fraud Alert

Accessibility / Privacy policy / Site map / Donate / Join

**AmeriCorps.gov**
An official website of AmeriCorps. Produced and published at taxpayer expense. 
 You are leaving AmeriCorps.gov
 The website you’re going to is not part of the AmeriCorps domain and may not be under AmeriCorps’ control. Its privacy and security practices and policies may differ from AmeriCorps’. AmeriCorps is not responsible for the link, nor does it endorse the content of the third-party website. Click on the continue button to proceed to the external website; otherwise click cancel to stay on AmeriCorps.gov.
 Cancel Continue