A-STOP
Wise as Serpents Curriculum
EVALUATION REPORT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Brief Program Description
In the late 1980's, Reverend Alvin Erickson, at that time Director of the Grassroots Ministry Alliance, became concerned that young people were being targeted for commercial sexual exploitation. He decided to take an active role in educating communities about these dangers to young people, and to give young people skills to protect themselves. In 1990 he founded the organization that became the Alliance for Speaking Truths on Prostitution (A-STOP). Their mission was to encourage leaders as they work to prevent commercial sexual exploitation and bring honor and accountability to all relationships.
In 1998 the Aid Association for Lutherans gave A-STOP a matching grant to create the "Wise as Serpents" curriculum. These materials are being evaluated in this report. "Wise as Serpents" was intended as a tool for Christian education teachers to help junior high-school age youth become aware of and resist the dangers of commercial sexual exploitation, and help them to use their Christian faith as both a guide and a source of strength as they face these dangers. It is intended for use primarily in Bible study, Sunday school or Confirmation classes. To their knowledge this curriculum was the first of its kind.
In Al Erickson's ten years of experience helping young people in the Upper Midwest to avoid and escape prostitution and other forms of commercial sexual exploitation, he has seen a steady increase in the prevalence and acceptance of this kind of exploitation. However, as the attached paper by Anne Rasmusson describes (see Appendix 10), research on the prevalence of and trends associated with these problems is very difficult to conduct due to the sensitive and often illegal nature of the topic. Existing research findings are scant and often inconclusive. If educators, outreach workers and others striving to prevent commercial sexual exploitation are to thoroughly understand the extent to which this is occurring, and to be aware of current trends in how, where, and when young people are targeted, more research needs to be conducted. Of vital importance would be the use of creative research techniques to find people involved in commercial sexual exploitation.
Research Results
Five research instruments were used to evaluate the curriculum. Findings from each of these instruments is given below.
Student Knowledge and Values Questionnaire
Five churches agreed to assist in the evaluation of Wise as Serpents by asking students who had participated in the course to fill out a self-administered questionnaire about the student's faith and knowledge about prostitution. This was designed to be a pre- and post- test, but a total of only ten students completed the questionnaire both before and after the course. Therefore, analysis focuses on the 64 students who completed the questionnaire after the course.
A large majority of students answered seven basic questions about prostitution correctly. In response to value questions, students agreed overwhelmingly that they had confidence in their own worth. Almost all young people agreed that they are valued children of God, and that God loves them even when they feel they are not worthy. All but five youth agreed that they would deserve help if they had been abused or were thinking of running away.
A large majority of students also agreed that prayer is important for wisdom and guidance, and 84 percent said their faith in God influences their choices. All students agreed that they do not want to harm others and themselves by being a customer of commercial sexual exploitation.
A majority of students said they are aware of how adults might try to recruit young people into prostitution (82%), and they know who to go to for help and support with concerns in their life (79%).
Student Evaluation Questionnaire
Six churches sent Student Evaluation Questionnaires, which their students had completed, to staff at A-STOP. The figure below shows what students reported most often that they learned from the Wise as Serpents course.
Frequency of Student Responses to the Open-ended Question "What did you learn from this course?" (N=96)
Thirty-seven percent of students gave the overall course a rating of 4 or 5 (the highest ratings on this five-point scale). However, 83 percent of students said they think what they learned will be helpful to them. This may indicate that students were not very comfortable with the course, although they learned from it. The figure on the next page shows how students think what they learned from the course will be helpful to them.
Frequency of Student Responses to the Open-ended Question "Do you think that what you learned will be useful? If yes, how will it be helpful?" (N=71)
The Wise as Serpents video seems to have had a great impact on students. Students rated the Wise as Serpents video highest among all materials. Over half of students gave the video a rating of 4 or 5 on a five-point scale. The people in the video describing their personal experiences seem to have successfully communicated that the threat of involvement in prostitution is real. Students also seem to really believe that faith helped the people to exit the unhealthy lifestyles they had.
Over half of students reported that they used "Table Talk," a take-home activity that facilitates parent-child discussion of prostitution.
Student and Parent Phone Interview
Wilder Research Center staff conducted telephone interviews of four students who had participated in Wise as Serpents, as well as one of each of their parents. The students seemed to have some basic knowledge about what situations might be dangerous to them, and what they should do in those situations to keep themselves safe. Interviews of the four parents gave indications that stories of small-town young people who became involved in prostitution motivated them to allow their children to participate in the Wise as Serpents course, and to talk with their children about it. Two of the parents were grateful for the opportunity they were given to view the curriculum so they were prepared when they did the "Table Talk" with their children.
Teacher Evaluation Questionnaire
Teachers from 22 churches completed the Teacher Curriculum Questionnaire. They rated the curriculum very highly. Over 90 percent of teachers who used the curriculum rated its layout, organization and usefulness as a 4 or 5 on a five-point scale. Nearly all teachers gave the video, written materials and overall course a 4 or 5 on the same scale. In addition, almost all teachers would recommend the curriculum to a colleague.
Teacher Training Questionnaire
Teachers from 54 churches completed the Teacher Training Questionnaire. Seventy-two percent of teachers who completed the Teacher Training Questionnaire gave the highest rating to the overall training. They also said that instructors were well-prepared, responded effectively to questions, that the training was well-organized and that it provided useful tools and knowledge. Teachers strongly agreed that it gave them greater commitment to helping youth to not be exploited or exploit others.
Issues to Consider
Students' open-ended responses indicate that watching the people on the video made a big impression on them, and the video made the dangers of being targeted for prostitution seem real. As a result, it seems likely that all parts of the curriculum are most effective when students have seen at least some of the video. A-STOP staff may want to strongly recommend that teachers use the video, and that their students view at least part of the video early in the course.
It is likely that the Wise as Serpents curriculum has a different effect on girls than it has on boys. It might therefore be beneficial in future research instruments to ask respondents to give their gender, so any gender differences can be examined.
In a course which strives to keep young people out of prostitution, measuring success is not an easy task. In addition to the sensitive nature of the topic, the intended outcome should not be measured until several years after the young person's exposure to the program. A more cost-effective strategy might be to measure changes in students' knowledge, skills and attitudes related to dangerous situations they might encounter. This would require finding out about students' knowledge both before and after the course, for example in a pre- and post-test.
If pre- and post-tests are to be used in the future, a focus on skills as well as knowledge might be useful. For example, open-ended questions might ask respondents to describe what options they would have in different dangerous situations, and students might be encouraged to list as many options as possible. A questionnaire might also ask students to list signs which indicate that they may be in danger.
Interviews done by telephone make it possible to probe participants' responses, which makes them especially valuable for collecting in-depth information about the extent of students' knowledge. Interviewing participants in person may prove to be an even better method of collecting data, since the interviewer would be better able to establish a rapport with the young person.
Another possibility would be to conduct focus groups at the beginning, middle, and end of sessions. Intimidation and manipulation are vital factors in the dynamics of prostitution. Students' peers can be a protective factor if their cultural values are pro-social. For these reasons it might be appropriate to include the influence of students' peers while observing student attitudes. In addition, researchers may want to observe/ participate in Wise as Serpents sessions along with students, to better understand how students react to the ideas being taught, and how their peers influence their opinions and reactions.
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