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"It was a great experience and everyone in school should go to this retreat."
7th Grader, Courage Retreat

Kindness Retreat Assessment Summary

Edmund Sass, Ed.D., Professor of Education, College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University

  • The goals of the Kindness Retreat are that students:
    • Understand how others are affected positively or negatively by their actions and words. 
    • Identify positive ways to deal with bullies and bullying.
  • Students were given an opportunity to positively practice kindness through an action or behavior.             
  • Initial questionnaires were administered within one week of the retreats. Follow-up questionnaires were administered approximately 60 days later.
  • The initial questionnaires focused on student and teacher perceptions of the retreats' overall quality, the extent to which students participated in the various aspects of the retreats, the accomplishment of initial retreat goals and suggestions for improvement.
  • Follow-up questionnaires were designed to determine student and teacher perceptions of the retreats' long-term impact on students' attitudes and behaviors.
  • The initial Kindness Retreat questionnaires were completed by 704 students from seven schools.
  • Follow-up Kindness Retreat questionnaires were completed by 620 students from seven schools.
  • Twenty-six teachers, whose students had attended Kindness Retreats, completed initial questionnaires and fourteen teachers completed kindness follow-up questionnaires.

A large majority of students who completed initial Kindness Retreat questionnaires were very positive in their appraisals of the retreat they had attended. Their responses indicated that all individual retreat goals were accomplished quite well. The most favorable ratings were obtained on items pertaining to ways of being kinder, the importance of students not being bullied or picked on at school, including others in activities and being kinder to others at school. More than 93% rated statements regarding the accomplishment of these goals as "True" or "Mostly True." The only statement that fewer than 80% of students rated as "True" or "Mostly True" pertained to feeling more a part of their class (514 of 704 or 73%). Written comments indicated that students found the retreats to be both "fun" and excellent learning experiences. Students' opinions regarding the overall quality of the retreat they had attended confirm the positive results described above as more than 88% (621 of 704) gave their retreat an overall grade of A = "Excellent" (594 or 70%) or B = "Very Good" (137 or 19%). Only about 1% believed that it was D = "Not Very Good" (7) or F = "Terrible" (2). The remainder (55 or 8%) thought it was C = "Okay." (See Bar Chart I below.)

Results of follow-up questionnaires (completed approximately 60 days post-retreat), were also quite positive as more than three-fourths (77%) believed that their "classroom has been a kinder place since the retreat" (See Bar Chart II below). Additionally, more than 70% of respondents believed that students had included each other more since the retreat and that their class had started to get rid of the unkind acts they had chosen to ban. Nearly as many (69%), thought students had been kinder to their teachers since the retreat. However, only about 56% felt that students had been kinder to each other, and about 59% thought there had been less bullying since the retreat.

Teachers also offered very favorable reviews of the retreats their students had attended as 19 of the 26, who completed initial questionnaires, gave overall ratings of "Excellent" and seven gave ratings of "Very Good." Additionally, 22 of the 26 teachers indicated that their students' reaction to the retreat had been "Very Positive," and the remaining four believed student reaction had been "Mixed, but mostly positive." All fourteen teachers, who completed kindness follow-up questionnaires, reported that students continued to speak positively about the retreat they attended. Additionally, all fourteen felt that their students had stood up for each other more since the retreat, and all felt that, overall, their class had been kinder since the retreat.

In conclusion, the results of the Kindness Retreat assessment are very positive. Students and teachers typically found Youth Frontiers Kindness Retreats to be of high quality, with most initial retreat goals well met. Follow-up results were also generally favorable, as most believed that there had been long-term, positive changes in their school or class as a result of their retreat.

Bar Chart I

Initial student ratings of the Kindness Retreat N=704

Bar Chart II

"My class has been a kinder place since the retreat." (60 days post retreat) N=620

The above information is drawn from the program evaluation conducted during Fall 2004 by Edmund Sass, Ed.D., Professor of Education, College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University.