Abstract
This is a qualitative case study of Project SUCCESS, a nonprofit education organization which for 20 years has worked within English classrooms in selected Minneapolis and St Paul public middle and high schools providing a personal growth program that links student dreams and goal setting with theater experiences and college visits. Follow up survey research with students and classroom teachers have established that the program accomplishes its mission. This study focused on the organization’s founding, development and day-to-day operations. The case study within the portraiture tradition used participant observation in classrooms and at special events and in-depth interviews with founder/executive director, Adrienne Diercks, program directors, facilitators, office staff, two superintendents, two principals, two founding board members and an artistic director of Guthrie Theater. The study traced the organization’s core values from its “kernel” beginning to today when it partners with 16 schools and 35 theaters, has 22 staff members, a 16 member board, a 1.5 million budget and a strong donor base. Project SUCCESS committed to individual growth within community, does not have a specific target population but serves all students in a school; it values families, inviting them to participate in theater and other special events. Students of varied economic, racial, cultural and academic backgrounds are mixed at theater events and in college visits. Analysis within goal-setting/aspiration research literature shows a match with mastery learning, the importance of consciousness raising, action plans and adults who express positive assumptions and support for adolescent dreams and goals. The analysis also traces connections between Project SUCCESS and John Dewey’s writings on schooling and aesthetic education.