DOCUMENT RESUME ED 047 823 24 PS 004 494 AUTHOR Ball, Samuel; And Others TITLE The First Year of Sesame Street: An Evaluation. Final Report, Volume III of V Volumes. INSTITUTION Educational Testing Service, Princeton, N.J. SPONS AGENCY Childrenls Television Workshop, New York, N.Y. BUREAU NO BR-8-0475 PUB DATE Oct 70 GRANT 0EG-0-8-080475-3743 (007) NOTE 442p. EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF-$0.65 HC-$16.45 DESCRIPTORS Audiences, Disadvantaged Youth, *Educationally Disadvantaged, *Educational Television, *Learning, Measurement Instruments, Parent Attitudes, Preschool Children, Program Content, *Program Evaluation, Research Design, Research Methodology, Teacher Attitudes, *Television Research, Television Viewing IDENTIFIERS *Sesame Street ABSTRACT This study evaluates the impact of the first year of "Sesame Street" cn preschool televiewirig audiences in five sites (Bostcn, Mass., Durham, N.C., Phoenix, Ariz., suburban Philadelphia, and northeastern California). Chapter I introduces evaluational questions and the research strategy. Chapter II presents sampling procedures for pretest and posttest data on 943 children, explains criteria for development and selection of measurement instruments assessing children's learning, program content,, parent and teacher attitudes, and describes field operatiois. Chapter III analyzes results in three parts: (1) a descriptive analysis of the viewing population (age, sex, advantaged children, Spanish- speaking children, rural children, and disadvantaged at-home and in-school viewers) , (2) a probing analysis investigating in depth the characteristics of at-home, disadvantaged,- high-viewing children in relation to home background and high or low learning, (3) an inferential analysis examining the overall effectiveness of the television series in achieving its goals. Chapter IV presents the summary, conclusions and recommendations. Extensive appendixes include detailed information on "Sesame Street" goals and evaluation instruments. (WY) PP4-2.4 U. Dr:PARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE BV,-8-ovvt! OFFICE OF EDUCATION Pr\ THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY ASRECEIVED FROM THE 04 PERSON OR ORG \NIZATIGN OR:':'!,P:TING IT. POINTS OF VIEWOR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICEOF EDUCATION Nft POSITION OR POLICY. 0 THE FIRST YEAR OF SESAMESTREET: AN EVALUATION LIJ Volume III of VVolumes by: Samuel Ball, Project Director and Gerry Ann Bogatz, Directorof Measurement F. Reid Creech in chargeof Sampling and Data Analysis Randolph Ellsworth incharge of Observational and Content Data Collection Sandra Landes in charge ofArt Production A report to theChildren's Television Workshop Educational Testing, Service Princeton, New Jersey October 1970 "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISCOPY- RIGHTED MATERIAL HAS BEENGRANTED BY C-;20A, OPERATI G TO ERIC AND ORGANIZATIONS 12122jita31)-2?-14UNDER AGREEMENTS WITH THE U.S.OFFICE OF EDUCATION. FURTHERREPRODUCTION OUTSIDE THE ERIC SYSTEM REQUIRESPER- MISSION OF THE COPYRIGHT OWNER" Copyright 01970 by Educational Testing Service. All rights reserved. OUTLINE OF REPORT (This outline with page numbers referenced can be found at the end of the report) Preface Acknowledgments Chapter I. Introduction A. The Beginnings of the Sesame Street Evaluation B. Evaluational Questions and Research Strategy Chapter II. Preparing for the Evaluation A. Sampling Procedures 1. General Considerations 2. Site Selection 3. Selection of Children B. Measuring Instruments 1. General Considerations 2. Pretests of the Children 3. Posttests of the Children 4. Pretest Parent Questionnaires 5. Posttest Parent Questionnaires 6. Viewing Records t. Observation Records 8. Content Analyses of Sesame Street 9. Sesame StreetParent-Teacher Guide Interviews 10. Teacher Questionnaires C. Field Operations Chapter III. Results A. Descriptive Analyses 1. Descriptive Analysis of All Children 2. All Descriptive Children 3. Disadvantaged Children Subdivided by Age 4. Disadvantaged Children Grouped by Sex 5. Disadvantaged At-home Children 6. Disadvantaged At-school Children 7. Advantaged Children 8. Spanish-cpeaking Children 9. Rural Children 10. Content Analysis of Sesame Street 11. Observations 12. Teacher Questionnaire 13. Sesame Street Parent-Teacher Guide interview B. Probing Analyses 1. The Age Cohorts Study G.."1 The High vs. Low Learning Study C. Inferential Analyses 1. All Disadvantaged Children 2. Advantaged Children 3. The Age-Cohorts Chapter IV. Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations A. Summary of Project Activities B. Summary of Results C. Conclusions Preface Television is potentially a major factor in the lives of most Americans. Its actual impact is debatable.This is because almost all we have to evaluate television's impact is a large number of opinions, usually without supporting evidence. Presumably, in the past, unsupported opinion has been sufficient basis upon which to make policy decisions. Unfortunately, opinions vary as the following quotations indicate. "As a disease, memory is not malignant and in many people it is clearly benign. A severe attack, however, can lead to hyper- tension, insomnia, micturition and panic.... Risk in high exposure areas such as classrooms, libraries, and lecture halls appears to be relatively low, judging by the amount of infection for the number of hours of exposure. Nonetheless, persons who are vulnerable should avoid such places, but may attend political rallies, engage in sports, or watch television without hazard." Phillips, M. Ian, Is Memory a Disease?, Worm Runners Digest, Vol. 11, No. 1. "Television runs a game, I mean runs it on us all...each and evvy one you know. And unless you're one of those cases who never sits slumped and lifeless before that chilled and chilling gray eye, the number is being run on you, too.... Worry about it? Naw. No chance.... So who do you worry for? (Got to worry for somebody.) How about the kids? Cool, that's a good move; worry for the kids." Clayton Riley, The New York Times, February 8, 1970. "'I'll shoot you dead! Bang, bang!' shrieks Mommy's little darling, aged 3, aiming his imaginary gun. That sort of upsets Mommy.... She may be aware that somebody named Eisenhower...issued an ominous report...which stated that 'Television enters powerfully into the learning process of children.... Violence on television encourages violent forms of behavior.'" Beatrice Berg, The New York Times, Nclvetiber 9, 1969. "There are, no doubt, numerous items aroundyour house such as basic art supplies, that will provide hours of exciting and creative play. And when you help your youngster learn how touse these materials you will be fostering hisown inborn creativity, not to mention taking him away from the television set.' Ellen Kort, American Baby, June, 1969. vi "One has only to listen to a child singing a television jingle...to realize that 'the tube' is teaching him something.... The medium is there; it is only the message which needs changing." Television for Preschool Children. A Proposal, Children's Television Workshop, February 19, 1968. p6. The report that follows is an evaluation of the impact of a nationally telecast show on a relatively small but important segment of our society -- 3- through 5-year-old children. It is be hoped that this study, unprecedented in scope, will soon have many palallels and will be useful in improving television programming. vii Acknowledgments One of the problems of viewing the annualtelevised presentations of the Motion Picture Academy Awardsis that there are so many awards. The viewer is liable to get bored and tune in toanother channel. But one of the rewards of staying tuned in is that anexcellent understanding can be obtained of the myriad people who are needed to provide necessary technical and artistic support for a motion picture. On a different plane, but in a similar manner, there is a danger that all the acknowledgments here might bore the reader. However, a little perseverance will insure an understanding of the extent of the subsurface support for this evaluation. It is not only out of respect for copyright laws and the Motion Picture Academy that the awards to be presented here will not be called Oscars. For those who know Sesame Street, the name Oscar connotes grouch- iness, and that is an inappropriate emotion to arouse on these pages. What is needed is a name that conjures a spirit of friendliness and appreciation. Instead of Oscars we have chosen Ernies (we know Bert won't mind), but to indicate that these awards are thoroughly deserved we have modified the spelling. Thus, for our purposes, Ernie is renamed Earnie. Earnies for outstanding field work in coordinating, tes*ing, and observing in our major sites: Mrs. Mary Adams for her performance in our Boston TV Party. Mrs. Ellen Landau of Beaver College, Glenside, Pa. for her performance in our Suburban Philadelphia Story. viii Mrs. Anne Borders-Patterson who, for our purposes, proved finer than Dinah in the State of Carolina, - specifi- cally Durham, North Carolina Reverend G. Benjamin Brooks who was responsible for insuring that our Phoenix sons (and daughters) rose to the occasion. Earnies for cooperation in providing data that have added extra dimensions to our evaluation: Mrs. Sara Haydon of Oroville, California who showed that Horace Greeley's advice, "Go west, young man, go west," was still timely, even for male researchers of a more mature age. Miss Suzanne Settle of Channel KERA TV 13, Dallas, Texas, who helped us find out if preschoolers knew their ABC's in Big D. Earnies to educators, administrators,