In the final blog of this four-part series, we discuss how camps evaluate their character-focused work and the lessons they learned from evaluating their programs.

As the Character at Camp grant application opens soon, it’s a great time to share results from our recent landscape scan.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the Character Academy webinar series!

A quick note about character before we get to the results: ACA has adopted a broad definition of character for this initiative, like the one the Character Lab provides: “Intentions and actions that benefit other people as well as ourselves.” Rather than tell you what “good character” looks like, our intent is for every camp to consider what character means to the communities and youth they serve.

ACA created a survey, which we call the Landscape Scan, at the start of this new initiative to learn more from the field about how character already shows up at camp and where there are gaps in knowledge and resources. We launched the survey in early October and received over 700 responses from camp professionals!

In the final blog of this four-part series, we describe the findings about how camps evaluate their character-focused work, including lessons learned from evaluating character-focused work and external resources from ACA’s Character at Camp Landscape Scan.

(If you missed any of the blogs in this series, you can find all of them here.)

What We Learned

Half of respondents reported that they evaluate their character-focused work at camp, while the remaining half either do not evaluate their character-focused work (26 percent), or were unsure/did not know how to evaluate their character-focused work (24 percent).

How Camps Evaluate Their Character-Focused Work

Illustration: respondents reported a variety of ways they evaluate their character-focused work
  • Over two thirds (72 percent) of respondents reported using surveys to evaluate their character-focused work. Respondents said they give surveys to youth campers, parents/guardians, and/or camp counselors and employees. Respondents also reported different strategies in administering surveys, including administering various surveys at different times throughout the camping season.
  • Approximately 17 percent of respondents reported using a form of reflection as their evaluation method. Reflection sessions typically include camp counselor and other staff debriefings, both during and after the camping season. For example, one camp evaluates their character-focused work through morning meetings where staff openly share their thoughts and feelings about their campers in relation to their character-focused work and their organizational objectives. Some respondents reported holding reflection sessions for youth campers too.

“At the end of the summer, we evaluate each goal with our camp team, asking ourselves whether we achieved it and why. These reflections help us refine and improve our plans for the following summer.” 

  • About 10 percent of respondents evaluate their character-focused work through observation. This can include formal observation, where a trained staff or external evaluator observes the camp’s character-focused work using a validated observation protocol, or informal observation, where camp staff observes the relationships between campers, campers and staff, and how both relationships respond to their organization’s character-focused work without using a validated observation protocol.
  • Nearly 10 percent of respondents reported using an external organization to support evaluation of their character-focused work. This includes partnering with an organization who has developed or administers a specific validated survey; for example, the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s Camper Satisfaction Survey, the 4-H Common Measures Camp Survey, the Boston After School and Beyond organization, or a larger university system.
  • A small group of respondents (7 percent) used staff reports on perceived camper growth and peer feedback forms to evaluate their character-focused work. One respondent reported that at the end of each camp week, camp cabin leaders evaluate each campers’ growth based on their organizational values. This method allows for a standardized method to answer key questions determined by the camp about campers’ growth but still allows for additional narrative from the report authors.
  • About 5 percent of respondents reported using recognition of youth living the camp’s values to evaluate their character-focused work. For example, one respondent reported collecting real time feedback from youth campers by using glass jars as a mailbox for positive feedback. Youth campers can give their peers this feedback when they see them using “courage, confidence, or character.” The feedback is then randomly pulled from each jar and shared with the campers during a flag ceremony.

“We program opportunities for campers to strengthen our relationship to our values. Every day at line up, we give out accolades to the campers who are voted by their peers for being ambassadors to our values.”

  • Lastly, approximately 3 percent of respondents reported using time diaries/logs to evaluate their character-focused work. This method is different from surveys because data is collected numerous times over a set period of time to see patterns of change. Some camp organizations reported using daily diaries/logs, while others reported making entries weekly or monthly.

So, what have camps’ evaluation findings told them about the effectiveness of their character-focused work?

  • A little less than half (44 percent) of respondents say that their evaluation findings tell them that they are generally successful in supporting character development at their camp. Respondents have learned that their character-focused work is enjoyed and/or valued, by youth campers and their parents/guardians.
  • One third (33 percent) of respondents said that their organization has opportunities for growth in terms of their character-focused work. However, 14 percent of respondents reported that their evaluation findings informed them on what to do next in specific and practical ways:

“Over the past two years, we realized that we need to do more listening and less reaction to our campers and the community as a whole. If we are asking our campers to be kind and respectful and to see diversity, then we have to do the same as well. Instead of simply reacting to a situation, we need to listen more to the people involved to understand more clearly the situation.”

“Our summer staff surveys from 2023 led us to fully reevaluate our staff training and implementation model for 2024, which led to stark improvements in staff experience.”

“The evaluation process has informed us of the need to individualize our program to meet staff and campers where they are. Character development is a process, not an end goal. The individual is continuously evolving and growing. Our process is to recognize growth and to set the stage for the next steps forward.”

So, what do camps’ evaluation findings say about increases in campers’ Social-Emotional (SEL) competencies?

  • Thirty-nine percent of respondents reported some specific area(s) of character-focused development (see Figure 1), while 5 percent of respondents reported that their evaluation findings suggested overall increases in campers’ Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) competencies generally speaking.
Figure 1. Specific Growth Areas Reported from Evaluation Findings
  • Twelve percent of respondents reported that they did not have enough data to conclude how effective their character-focused work is.

What External Evaluation Resources Do Camps Use?

  • When asked about external resources used to evaluate character-focused work, 41 percent of respondents indicated they either do not evaluate this work or do not use external resources for evaluation. However, half of respondents (50 percent) reported that their organization does evaluate its character-focused work. The remaining respondents were either unsure about their organization’s evaluation practices or stated that no evaluation occurs. This discrepancy highlights that while half of respondents affirm evaluation efforts, a significant portion either lacks clarity on the process or does not engage in evaluation, as reflected in their responses to the follow-up question on external resource use.
illustration
  • Twenty-nine percent of respondents reported that they evaluate their character-focused work internally with no external resources or support. For example, one respondent reported familiarizing themselves with other camps and comparable organizations in the camp industry and the resources they are using with success.

So, What Does This Mean?

The results from this landscape scan provide an important snapshot of how camps evaluate their character-focused work. We now know (from a fairly large number of camps) how camps typically evaluate their character-focused work: through the use of surveys, group and self-reflection, staff reports, and time diaries or logs. We also know what external evaluation resources camps use, and we have a clearer picture of what evaluation findings have told camps about the effectiveness of their character-focused work, including the specific social-emotional competencies that camps’ evaluation findings indicate their camp targets in campers.

What Are Three Things You Can Do as a Camp?

  1. If your camp doesn’t already emphasize character in your evaluation plan, think about how to evaluate your character-focused work throughout the camp season by including different ways to collect feedback from diverse perspectives. You might consider how to collect this feedback as your organization prepares for, implements, and reflects on the implementation of its character-focused programming.
  2. Connect with and learn from other camps who are evaluating their character-focused work to learn about what is working and not working for them.
  3. Attend ACA’s Character Academy events to learn more about the Character at Camp Initiative and how you can use these resources to improve the evaluation of your character-focused work.

What Are the Next Steps?

ACA will use this information to inform future phases of the project, including the application process for the grants that camps will apply to, in-person and virtual training opportunities, and educational tools and resources we provide to camps. ACA plans to improve access to character-related resources and to make them more usable to support camps’ character focused hiring and training strategies.

Stay tuned for more information about ACA’s Character at Camp Initiative. Learn more about the initiative here or email character@ACAcamps.org with questions.

Authored by Kevin Geoghegan, MA (University of Utah), Sarah Acheson-Field (Abt Global), Rob Lubeznik-Warner, PhD (Delta Consulting Group), and Allison Dymnicki, PhD (Abt Global)

The views and opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Camp Association or ACA employees.