Results Part 1: How Growth Planning Helps Achieve Life-Goals

Our most recent growth planning group was made up of 12 African-American 9th & 10th grade males who completed Phase One of our program in the summer of 2010 at The Bridge of Northeast Florida in Jacksonville. 

When asked on the Phase One Evaluation Form ... "To what extent do you think building and implementing a personal Growth Plan will help you achieve the kind of life you would like for yourself 5 to 10 years from now?” ... on a 10-point scale their average rating was 8.92.   

And, when asked, "why did you select this number?" ... they wrote these comments, along with their selected rating number.

  • I personally feel that I am learning a lot from this Growth Plan and it is helping me a lot with my everyday life.  [Rating Number: 9]
  • I have circled this number because I think it will help us achieve the kind of life I would want; it will help me achieve a wonderful life. [Rating Number: 9]
  • It will help a lot because it gives us the chance to get our life on-track and make good decisions. [Rating Number: 9]
  • I circled 9 because you can’t be a perfect 10 but you can have a lot of things going, good and few things going bad.  So, 9 was a good accurate number.  [Rating Number: 9]
  • You have to have a plan to know what you want to do, and the best way to achieve your goals is to have a plan.  [Rating Number: 10]
  • I circled this number because it made me a bit clearer about my future.  [Rating Number: 7]
  • Implementing a personal Growth Plan will help me a lot.  It will help me decide what I want to be in life and help me set goals. [Rating Number: 10]
  • I circled 8 because I like to help people.  I don’t like it when people are feeling down.  [Rating Number: 8]
  • I chose this because coming up with a Growth Plan can really help you become a better person and a better learner.  [Rating Number: 10]
  • My Growth has taught values and morals on how to be successful in life. [Rating Number: 10]
  • I put an 8 because it will help a lot, but then again, I already have been prepared for the future.  [Rating Number: 8]
  • Because you are going to find out what you want to do … or just an idea of what you want to do.  [Rating Number: 8]

When asked if they thought other students like themselves should be able to participate in the growth planning program ... on a 10-point scale, their average rating was 9.00.  

And, they wrote 40 comments explaining why they selected the number they did, a representative sample of which include:

  • So they can get a good start in life.
  • So they can find out who they are.
  • So they can find out what they want to be when they grow up
  • I think it would be beneficial to most teens my age.
  • This could help keep teens off the street.
  • It would give them something to do.
  • They can see how great this program is.
  • They can get cash for college as well.
  • Also, they will be able to set goals, achieve their goals, and find out what they want to be in life.
  • Because it help realize that you need to plan early, and it starts now.
  • It makes people think on things.
  • It gives people a positive mindset.
  • When a person is about to do wrong, it makes them think “is it worth it to mess up my future."