Wildwood Outdoor Education Center

7095 W. 399th Street
LaCygne , KS 66044
phone: 913-757-4500
website: www.wildwoodctr.org

Wildwood has provided hundreds (typically 300-600) youth from Kansas City’s Urban Core in an experiential outdoor education program as part of the Kansas City Missouri School District summer school program. Wildwood became ACA accredited in 2005. The Wildwood Summer Learning Program has specific curriculum designed to teach science, problem-solving & personal/social development. Campers utilize the natural world, high & low ropes courses experiences and conflict resolution/teaching tolerance activities to meet KCMSD 5th grade outcomes in science (ecology concepts), problem-solving (problem-solving model, communication/decision making/prioritizing activities) and social/emotional development (conflict resolution & teaching tolerance concepts & skill development). Recreational activities during each session include swimming lessons, arts & crafts, cookouts, canoeing, hiking, fishing, astronomy & cooperative games. The Summer Learning Program bolsters self-concept, prevents educational slippage over the summer months and offers a positive educational experience to all youth who attend, even if they fall below grade level on school assessments. Program evaluation is crucial for Summer Learning, as it dependent financially upon community support and the KCMSD. Since 2002, we have administered a comprehensive outcome evaluation of the Summer Learning Program—it was developed by a professor at the KU School of Social Welfare and is a pre and post test with questions linked to specific KCMSD 5th grade outcomes in the areas of problem solving, science and social/emotional development. These tests are administered to each camper on their arrival day (Monday) and departure day (Friday). Each summer campers have consistently scored higher on their post tests in the three respective target areas (science, problem-solving & social/emotional development), than they did on their pre-tests, with the lowest percentage in increase being 8% and the highest percentage of increased correct answers being 33%. The summer staff reviews both tests each Monday after the previous session to make sure they are on target with program content and to be able to integrate feedback (there is a camper survey on the post test as well). The Assistant Director and Co-Executive Directors review the tests to ensure quality of program content & delivery, and to assess for changes needed. Success for this program can be measured by numbers (we try to serve 500-600 students in this program each summer), and by the number of returning Summer Learning Campers enrolled in the Open Enrollment session (our first session each summer). Last year 47 of the Campers in SL session I were returning campers. In addition, Summer Learning Campers who are too old for the Summer Learning Program often request a scholarship for one of the two Summer Adventure sessions or the WOW (Women of Wildwood) session. The request for these scholarships exceeded the number available again in 2009 (due to difficultly fundraising, we were only able to offer 35 scholarships for these three sessions—we typically offer 50-60). We also began tracking the number of campers who are second generation Summer Learning participants--in 2009, 17% of our campers had a parent attend and 37% had a sibling/neighbor/other relative attend.