Jackson, MS Quantum Opportunities Program
Director: Dr. Ollye Shirley
Jackson Medical Mall
Jackson, MS
601-362-0547
The Quantum Opportunities Program (QOP) occupies space in a unique community facility, an urban mall that has been converted to a full service medical mall. The Jackson Medical Mall, offers a variety of health, behavioral health, government, and social services, along with eating establishments and several small retail businesses.
Jackson has an exceptionally strong Quantum program. The Jackson Quantum program is in its second year of operation, at Lanier High School. It serves a cohort of 30 African American high schoolers. There also is an evaluation control group of 30 other students, at Lanier. Currently, Jackson’s Quantum students boast some of the highest test scores and grades of any students in Lanier High School. In addition, the cohort of Quantum students has the highest percentage of users of Quantum’s online computer learning system of any Quantum site. The system tests and then assigns self-paced learning programs to students.
The Quantum program is located within the Jackson Medical Mall, so the site director has been diligent in providing “job shadowing” opportunities in the healthcare field for program youth. Jackson continues to receive program and capacity building technical assistance from Eisenhower staff on an ongoing basis.
There are a number of ways of objectively measuring the success of a Quantum Opportunities program. Most measures need more than a single year of performance to demonstrate the impact of the program. In earlier evaluations at other sites around the nation, one of the first measurable improvements was academic grades. However, where there was an observed improvement, it wasn’t until the 18 month point that a statistically significant improvement occurred.
The Eisenhower Foundation’s initial evaluation analysis computes Grade Point Average (GPAs) in core subjects only – for example, English, Math and Science. (Excluded from the analysis were grades in chorus, orchestra, band and physical education.) The participant and control groups were selected randomly, so their academic performance, on average, should be the same at the beginning of the first semester.
By the end of the first semester of the second year, the GPAs of Quantum youth had increased to 78.0, while the control group GPA had dropped to 74.0. A simple statistical analysis, using a T-test, demonstrates that the Quantum participants therefore have significantly (p<.05) improved their GPA, when compared to the performance of the controls.
In FY 2008, this Quantum success at Lanier will be continued and strengthened.