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The Raising of America Evaluation Report

1. Build Internal Consensus

Who within your group has the time to take the lead developing your event, supervising publicity and logistics, and overseeing follow-up activities?
2. Choose Your Audience

How can you engage your members and constituents with the series?
3. Brainstorm Actions

How will you answer the audience member who asks: What can I do?
4. Find Success Stories

What policy win(s) can you share to inspire audience members?
5. Choose Episodes, Panelists and Co-sponsors

Who are the experts that can paint local landscapes and inspire powerful conversation?
6. Ask New Questions

From: How can we get more mothers to breastfeed?
To: How can we ensure workplaces provide breaks, privacy and refrigeration so mothers can pump at work?
7. Avoid Conversation Pitfalls

Does your facilitator know how to reframe the conversation when someone says,
“We need to talk about parent responsibility”?

We're beginning to see a shift in the way Americans think and talk about early childhood.

More than 730,000 people as of this writing have screened and discussed one or more episodes of The Raising of America: Early Childhood and the Future of Our Nation in structured settings since the series’ 2015 release and its broadcast on public television. Events have been convened by more than 3,200 organizations in all 50 states as part of this public engagement initiative. Some of these events have been internal (for staff, member and leadership development), others external (with existing and new partners, constituents, the public and policy makers).

This Evaluation Report looks at how the series has been used in these structured settings—who used it, what worked and what didn’t, the victories won, the opportunities missed, and the lessons learned.

The Report includes insights gleaned from a 35-question online Survey, two Case Studies which dive deeper into how the series was used, along with a Discussion and Recommendations for using film for social change.

Read the full Evaluation Report (PDF)

Read the Executive Summary (PDF)

Summary of Recommendations

1. Early childhood equity is a framework, not an issue. Apply the lens of the young child to assess the impact of your existing and future programs, initiatives, policies and practices.

2. Start with internal screenings and conversations.

3. Don’t organize around the film; use the film to help organize around an existing issue.

4. Allow adequate time for thoughtful goal setting, planning and for the screening event itself.

5. Offer audiences specific opportunities for action and next steps which support your goals.

6. Make the screening about "us" not "them". Invite participants to reflect on how they personally, their families, friends and/or their workplaces are affected by the issues depicted on the screen.

7. Be prepared to redirect the conversation from “good” or “bad” parenting to the larger systems and policies which help or hinder parents to be the parents they want to be.

ACTION TOOLKIT

Eight Ways to Use the Series to Advance Your Work
Six Elements of a New Conversation
Planning a Successful Screening

Major funding provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The California Endowment, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Additional funding from Kaiser Permanente and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota Foundation

This website was supported by Grant Number CE002079 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibilities of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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