Excerpt: A new independent evaluation in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, adds to the growing evidence that Global Game Changers can strengthen how students see themselves, connect with others, and understand their ability to make a difference. The evaluation also helped GGC earn inclusion in the CASEL Program Guide at the SELect level, while follow-up data one year later showed that positive outcomes were sustained.
Encouraging new evidence from Muhlenberg County
At Global Game Changers, we believe that a strong mission should be matched by a strong commitment to evidence. During the 2024-2025 school year, GGC partnered with Muhlenberg County Schools in Kentucky for an independent evaluation of our elementary program. Developed as a quasi-experimental design (QED) study to meet the most rigorous standards, the resulting report found positive social-emotional outcomes for students at Muhlenberg South Elementary, where GGC was implemented from kindergarten through fifth grade.
Most importantly, the findings reflect areas that matter in students’ daily lives: believing they have talents, knowing how to talk about feelings, solving problems, asking for help, showing leadership, caring about others, feeling supported at school, and believing they can help make the world better.
What the evaluation found
The report found a significant positive difference in student-reported social-emotional wellness favoring the GGC school after accounting for where students began the year and their grade levels. In practical terms, students who experienced GGC ended the year with stronger outcomes than would have been expected from their starting point alone.
[T]his suggests that the program helped students close an initial gap and build confidence in skills related to self-awareness, purpose, and positive interaction with others.
Jarrett Lopez, Evaluator
The evaluation also gathered feedback from educators, who described the curriculum as clearly structured, straightforward to implement, and compatible with existing classroom routines. Teachers reported strong student engagement and greater comfort discussing emotions, relationships, and personal strengths over time.
No single study or measure tells the whole story. Some results were stronger than others, and the report appropriately notes the limits of an evaluation involving two schools. Even with those cautions, the overall picture is encouraging: the independent analysis found a meaningful positive pattern in the student outcomes most closely connected to GGC’s goals.
Positive outcomes remained visible one year later
GGC continued collecting data after the original evaluation year. In spring 2026, a follow-up examined students who remained at Muhlenberg South to see whether social-emotional outcomes had returned to baseline, held steady, or continued to grow.
Student self-reports remained above their original baseline, suggesting that the progress seen during the first year was sustained. Teacher observations showed an even stronger pattern: ratings of cooperation, participation, helping, problem-solving, positive self-esteem, and other classroom behaviors continued to improve through the follow-up period.
Across students with baseline and follow-up data, 60% scored higher on the student survey and 65% improved on teacher observations. Because the follow-up did not include new comparison-school data, it should be understood as evidence of continued positive development in the GGC school rather than a new causal study. Still, it is encouraging to see that outcomes did not simply fade when the original evaluation ended.
From evaluation evidence to CASEL SELect recognition
The Muhlenberg County evaluation became the qualifying study for GGC’s review by CASEL, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. CASEL requires a completed evaluation that meets its rigorous evidence criteria before a program can be considered for inclusion in its Program Guide. The positive findings from Muhlenberg County allowed GGC to move forward through that review process.
After CASEL also reviewed GGC’s curriculum design and implementation supports, Global Game Changers was included in the CASEL Program Guide at the SELect level. The designation recognizes GGC as a well-designed, evidence-based program and gives school and district leaders an independent resource for determining how the program aligns with their goals for students.
Each program in the Guide is vetted by PhD-level experts for quality and assessed for evidence of effectiveness…. These experts review these these evaluations against a set of criteria including program features, research design, statistical analysis, and outcome measures, and implementation and design experts review all the curricular and training materials against criteria that captures best practices.
CASEL
SELect programs meet or exceed all criteria.
For GGC, this recognition is both a milestone and a continuation of the work. It affirms the strength of the program and its evidence while reinforcing our responsibility to keep measuring outcomes, learning from educators, and improving the experience for students.
Reinforcing what we have seen before
These results and recognition are especially meaningful because they do not stand alone. The independent evaluator noted that previous evaluations of GGC have generally supported the program’s impact on student behavior and engagement. These new findings reinforce positive signals seen in earlier GGC impact data in an urban setting while adding evidence from a rural Kentucky school district and a one-year follow-up.
That consistency strengthens our confidence in the direction of the results. It also reminds us that impact develops over time. Social-emotional growth is rarely one dramatic moment; it appears through changes in how students understand themselves, participate in class, work through challenges, cooperate with peers, and recognize their own capacity to contribute.
Data collection is part of the work
For GGC, evaluation is not a one-time exercise or a final stamp of approval. It is part of an ongoing commitment to listen, learn, and improve. We collect data so we can understand where the curriculum is working well, where educators need more support, and how student experiences may differ across grades, schools, and communities.
That learning informs decisions about curriculum, training, digital tools, implementation supports, and future evaluation. It also helps us ask better questions. How do outcomes develop with sustained implementation? Which parts of the program are most meaningful to students? What tools make GGC easier for educators to use consistently? Where should we look more closely next?
Positive results give us reason to celebrate, but they also create responsibility. We will continue expanding the evidence base, following outcomes over time, and sharing what we learn with the schools and communities we serve.
Helping educators understand impact locally
Educators do not need to wait for a large independent study to begin learning from data. Thoughtful student reflection, consistent teacher observation, and simple before-and-after measures can reveal meaningful patterns within a classroom or school.
The GGC Educator Portal includes data-collection tools that educators can use alongside implementation. These resources support student feedback, teacher observations, reflection, and conversations about progress. They can help teachers understand their learners, make informed adjustments, share growth with families and school leaders, and identify areas that may need additional attention.
Local data do not replace independent evaluation, but they are an important part of continuous improvement. When educators and GGC gather information together, we build a fuller picture of how students are growing and how the program can serve them even better.
Celebrating recognition and continuing to learn
We are proud that the Muhlenberg County evaluation found positive outcomes for students who experienced Global Game Changers. We are also honored that this evidence helped lead to GGC’s inclusion in the CASEL Program Guide at the SELect level, and encouraged that follow-up data showed positive outcomes remaining visible one year later.
We are grateful to the students, educators, school leaders, and independent evaluator who made this work possible. Their participation helps GGC do more than share a hopeful message. It helps us examine how that message takes root in real classrooms – and continue improving the ways we help every child discover and use their superpower.