Banner Image: Students in the Big Ideas Lab at the Boys and Girls Club in Pineville, Florida learn how to test the electrical conductivity of different fruits to make a battery.
next generation creativity assessment CRoC's signature assessment tool, the Next Generation Creativity Survey, was developed in 2012 by James S. Catterall, Ph.D.in collaboration with Mark Runco, Ph.D.. The survey was piloted during 2012-13 in eight art, science, and social problem-solving programs across the USA. The second phase of pilot testing in 2013-14 took place in art and science programs in California, Connecticut, Florida, New York, Nevada, and Tennessee.
Program leaders from Disney Musicals in the Schools (New York and Nashville), ArtScience Prize, New York Hall of Science, Playworks, and Inner City Arts Graphic Design and Theatre also participated in the development of the tool to assess creativity, creative self efficacy, collaboration, and empathy. In 2015, critical thinking was added as a dimension to the survey. In 2017, after further refinement, the name was changed to Next Generation Creativity Assessment The NGCA is administered in pre- and post-format. It includes Likert scale questions, plus writing and drawing exercises to capture self-reported and demonstrated creativity. Items that demonstrate creativity are scored by CRoC trained raters.
The NGCA is one of several options of assessment tools available to clients when designing a study. We draw upon existing assessment tools and methods to conduct research, and we develop customized tools and methods to meet the goals of each study. CRoC encourages the use a variety of data collection methods, including surveys (written and/or online), guided observations, focus groups, and personal interviews to form a multi-dimensional data pool.
Our style is collaborative. Though we bring substantial expertise to the table, we do not come to a project as 'the experts' in relation to your work, programs, goals, and the people that you serve. In these respects, we come in as learners, who ask questions and draw upon the collective expertise of project partners to develop main research questions and inform study design.