Federally Funded Projects
Life that Counts was an early adopter of tools such as the parent consent form and student assent form for those students participating in our school-based programs, which met during the school day with our local education agency partners. We also championed things like keeping a full copy of the curriculum on hand in the school counselors’ offices for parents to review at their availability. From the very beginning, we have encouraged students to develop a vision and set goals for their lives, then work to back into those dreams and goals by thinking through what risks should be avoided, healthy relationships be developed, and hard work be executed to arrive at where they hope to see themselves one day. In addition, we incentivized students who participated in focus groups and areas where an extra level of effort for data collection was required.
Every Life that Counts program carries a strong message of hope and focuses on future self and what steps are required to arrive there. Today’s teens are really bright and quick with information at their fingertips in a digital age. Our sexually abstinence based messaging presents medically accurate and real world considerations for the consequences of teen sex, teen pregnancy, and contacting an STI/STD. We emphasize whole person health, the importance of developing resiliency, and also abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, vaping, and other drugs not prescribed by one’s medical doctor. We equip teens with the most current knowledge and information content for making the best decisions they can for keeping themselves healthy and pursuing their future goals. Life that Counts values healthy relationships, hard work, a commitment to excellence, bringing value to one’s community, and one day creating strong families.
In 2018, we were awarded a HHS ACH FYSB General Departmental SRAE grant, where we worked with another organization to create the RELENTLESS Peer2Peer Mentoring Curriculum for high school participants. We tested RELENTLESS using a quasi-experimental design during our 3 year General Departmental SRAE funding, and it demonstrated to be evidence promising. RELENTLESS is an innovative approach to SRAE utilizing upperclassmen 11th and 12th grade students mentoring 9th grade students in peer based groups with group sizes being no more than six 9th grade mentees to one upperclassmen mentor.
For the RELENTLESS program, we ran programming in Alabama and Indiana with project staff in each state communicating on a regular basis and learning from one another along the way. The Indiana staff served 3 high schools while the Alabama team served all 5 high schools in Marion and Cleburne Counties.
In September of 2021 ITMESA, the third party federally contracted principal investigative firm, reported the findings of the 3 year quasi-experimental design. In Alabama, we observed a 79.03% completion rate of programming by all high school freshmen at each school. Abstinence attitudes in the 7 Alabama schools increased 74.9% to 80.5%; a significance of 6.6% p estimate value increase. In the combined cohorts of 1,408 students participating, abstinence attitudes until marriage increased from 44.3% to 52.3%; an 8% p estimate significance. The Alabama cohort, as reported by Chicago based ITMESA, demonstrated a 21-22% higher statistical difference than the Indiana cohort from students answering the questions: “I plan to delay having sexual intercourse until I’m married,” and “I plan to be married before I have a child.” 77.47% of 9th grade students in the 7 Alabama schools stated that it was important to them to abstain from sexual intercourse because it would affect their future plans.
When completing exit surveys, 57.7% of all participants reported they “felt respected as a person” all of the time and 26.8% reported most of the time. 12.4% said some of the time while 3.1 said none of the time.
In 2019, Life that Counts was awarded a HHS ACF FYSB SRAE General Departmental for our Rural Alabama Montana Project (RAMP) serving middle school age youth, 6th-8th grades. We selected an evidenced based, middle school age appropriate, and medically accurate curricula which aligned with our historical abstinence based values for this implementation.
The logicgraph above was presented for peer review at the Administration for Children and Families’ Family and Youth Services Bureau (ACF/FYSB) 2019 Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Grantee Conference, “Partnering to Promote Positive Outcomes for All Youth,” on June 25 – June 28, 2019 in New Orleans, LA. Life that Counts was selected by Mathematica to participate in a national impact study to determine longer term outcomes.
In September of 2022, Washington Park Research and Evaluation, WPRE, led by principal researcher Dr. Galena K. Rhoades of the University of Denver, delivered outcomes of the 3 year quasi-experimental design of RAMP as facilitated by program staff in Alabama and Montana. Marion, Morgan, Lauderdale, and Cleburne County 6th-8th grade middle school youth were served. Of the 2,541 entry surveys conducted, 2,204 exit surveys were completed yielding a 86.7% completion rate across all 3 years in all three grade levels.
The data collected for the Rural Alabama and Montana Program (RAMP) indicate that students across all three curricula reported program feedback in the desired direction. Program feedback indicated students’ interest in the content, clarity of the material as measured by their understanding of content, perception of the discussions/activities, and sense of agency and comfort in the classroom. For example, among those in the 7th grade curriculum, 88% of students reported that they “felt respected as a person” all or most of the time. In the 8th grade curriculum, 87% of students “felt the material presented was clear” all or most of the time.
Analyses of the four primary program outcomes reveal that, according to students’ self-reports, the program impacted them in the desired direction across all three curricula. Students said their participation in RAMP resulted in increased self-efficacy to (1) “resist or say no to peer pressure,” (2) “manage emotions in healthy ways,” (3) “make plans to reach goals,” and (4) “better understand what makes a relationship healthy.” For example, in the 6th grade curriculum, 81% of students reported that being in the program made them much or somewhat more likely to better understand what makes a relationship healthy, and 80% of students reported that they were much or somewhat more likely to make plans to reach their goals.
WPRE added the following in their report: “The data presented above demonstrate that despite various interruptions and scheduling changes – including those due to the COVID-19 pandemic – RAMP positively impacted students. These middle school participants learned skills and lessons to help them navigate relationships and various other challenges that arise when growing up. In addition to the content they learned, students reported positive experiences within the classroom across all three curricula. The program staff has also developed protocols to connect students with additional help if they mention something that suggests they may be at risk.”
We intentionally take a multi-pronged approach which includes consistently addressing how to arrive at future focused goals and what makes a healthy relationship. Because we are known for these approaches in the field of SRAE, Mathematica brought Life that Counts on as a subcontractor to facilitate and deliver the Real Essentials Advance curriculum by The Center for Relationship Education founded by Joneen Mackenzie, now led by Lauren Reitsema. Dr. Russell Cole was our direct contact on the project. Life that Counts contributed 2 years of service to this project running concurrent programming in Cullman, Marion, and Walker Counties, as well as with local education agencies within a 117 mile radius of the greater Great Falls, Montana area.