October 3, 2003

Professor George E. Capowich and students work with United Way to improve academic achievement among city's littlest learners

Loyola professor George E. Capowich teaches the research methods class in the sociology department and requires each student to be involved in an applied research project in the community. This year and last, his students worked with a community group convened with the United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area, Success By 6 (SB6). SB6 is based on the very simple principle that much a of child's development that determines their future success or failure, happens before the age of six.

SB6 is the result of the efforts of the Women's Leadership Initiative (WLI), which focuses the group's leadership, philanthropy, and advocacy efforts on the health and human services needs of young children up to the age of six, in order to prepare them for school and help them reach their full potential. These efforts led to a collaboration of dozens of influential public and private organizations who meet monthly to combine their resources and expertise to help prepare our children to go to school successfully.

In the fall semester 2002, six sociology students conducted a process evaluation of the SB6 efforts. They studied the planning process and made several recommendations. This semester two groups, a total of 12 students, are again working with SB6. One group will develop and validate a survey questionnaire and a second group will develop and test appropriate impact measures for assessing SB6 success. All the students are gaining actual experience with applied research by making research contributions to the initiative's design and to the children of New Orleans.

Helen Ellis, co-chair of Loyola's 2003-2004 United Way campaign