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Gwich’in Outdoor Classroom

What was the Gwich’in Outdoor Classroom?

The Gwich’in Outdoor Classroom was a culture-based crime prevention program located in the communities of Fort McPherson and Aklavik, NT. Funded by the Crime Prevention Investment Fund of the National Crime Prevention Strategy from 1999-2004, this project targeted Aboriginal children aged 6-12 at risk of, or engaged, in the early cycles of criminal activity.

The targeted children lived in northern, remote, high-need communities and faced multiple risk factors associated with crime, including: lack of attachment to school and high levels of early school leaving; lack of continuity of community role models; suicide; addictions; a rising prevalence of youth gangs and youth crime; few intervention programs; and lack of parental and community involvement in the lives of children in this age group.

The main components of the project included an outdoor camp, a morning breakfast program and an in-school program involving elders, life skills and communications programming, and traditional learning. It is important to note that the morning program was not part of the original project proposal but was later adopted in response to a need that was identified in the community. The program integrated the Gwich’in tradition through the use of Dene Kede Education: A Dene Perspective and modern-day social skills instruction.

What was the Gwich’in evaluation methodology?

A process and outcome evaluation was conducted by an independent, third party evaluator, Chalmers and Associates Consulting. The evaluation of the Outdoor Classroom was based on a quasi-experimental design. It was able to gather pre- and post-test data and to establish a separate comparison group in the Aklavik community. In total, 112 participants took part in the evaluation.

The evaluators combined standardized and non-standardized measures to uncover data. Data-gathering methods included formal interviews, informal community and regional discussions, and program observation. Evaluators paid careful attention to cultural and environmental factors when gathering data. The findings summarized below are taken from Chalmers and Associates’ evaluation reports.

What were the project’s key findings?

Process evaluation findings

Implementation of the Outdoor Classroom project started off well, but participation rates decreased towards the end of the project. Changes in project administration and the role of the project advisory group appeared to have played a significant role in this change.

The strength of the original model -- in terms of project proposal, goals and objectives, support from the community and hard work and dedication from individuals -- held the project together through difficult times and a high rate of staff turnover. The project’s major strength was its emphasis on culture-based crime prevention programming. The project was culturally relevant and encompassed Gwich’in traditions, values and customs. The Outdoor Classroom project was well accepted by the Gwich’in community, and elements of the project are continuing past NCPC funding -- including the Outdoor Classroom at Tl’oondih, the Morning Program and the Social Skills Program.

Outcome evaluation findings

The third-party evaluation conducted by Chalmers and Associates drew promising results from this project while finding that, overall, it was more effective with boys than girls.

The project was successful in affecting the pro-social skill development of boys aged 6-9. Also, a statistically significant difference in school achievement levels (reading, math and spelling) was found for both boys and girls at the intervention site compared to those at the comparison site. The morning program was also found to influence school attendance positively.

In fact, the evaluation found a 20% difference in monthly school attendance rates between the intervention and comparison schools. Teachers from the intervention site reported that 75% of students who performed below the average grade level in the standard classroom, outperformed their peers when being taught in the outdoor classroom in the development of cultural skills.

What are the implications of the findings?

The evaluation of this project was quite rigorous, so a fair degree of confidence can be placed in the findings. However, since the intervention and comparison sites were not randomly assigned, the generalization of these findings should be limited.

Additional evaluations of similar projects in other Aboriginal communities in Canada should be conducted before conclusive statements of effectiveness are made. Overall, this project should be viewed as a promising crime prevention through social development model for Gwich’in boys.

Evaluation findings regarding differential project effects according to gender were quite interesting and point to an area for future research. The evaluators also noted the importance of conducting longitudinal evaluation studies for gathering data related to crime, especially for populations that are below the age of criminal responsibility at the time of the intervention.

What were the key lessons learned from this evaluation?

Many valuable lessons were learned from this project including:

• The use of a collaborative approach for social development projects encourages community ownership, the best use of limited resources and expertise, and is particularly important for developing culturally appropriate interventions;
• a project advisory group that is strong and that remains in place until the project’s completion is vital to ensuring project continuity and integration;
• the morning program was a very important and popular element of the project despite not being identified as an original project activity;
• boys and girls learn differently, so social skills and academic subjects very likely need to be taught differently as well. On average, boys need more physical release than girls in order to manage their behaviour. Girls need physical activities as well, but their needs revolve more around friendships and social support networks;
• the program’s model needs to be evidence-based, consistent with local/regional practices and beliefs, practical, user-friendly and integrated within an existing setting, such as a school or community program;
• trust-building with key partner groups and stakeholders is very important to the evaluation. Effective teamwork between the project group and the evaluation team’s members made for a working evaluation model that was respectful of the Gwich’in people;
• use of crime statistics as an outcome measure was problematic since the project targeted children in the pre-offending timeline of childhood; and
• it is important to educate school staff and resource persons about evaluation and research strategies -- including data collection, type of evaluation design, basics of statistical analyses and consent procedures.

For more information or to receive a copy of the final evaluation report please contact the National Crime Prevention Centre at 1-877-302-6272