For 20 years students at Talbot Hill Elementary have been participating in their own mini adult world, called MicroSociety.

Started in 1993, the program has taught many kindergarten through fifth grade students life skills, creating a mini-society of student-run businesses, nonprofits and agencies. School staff is now assessing the influence of MicroSociety on its many graduates in the hopes of increasing funding for the program.

Talbot’s MicroSociety is the only one in the state, although there have been others, according to staff. It is largely supported by private funds, with little district support.

“It’s not about did they get higher scores on their test scores that one day that you take a test,” said Sally Boni, Talbot’s MicroSociety coordinator.

The data the school hopes to collect from graduates is more comprehensive than just test scores, Boni explains.

“Everybody is successful in Micro,” she said. “That is the time of day when everybody can figure out how to make it work for them – what job they should take on, how they can be involved.”

The program has changed in some areas over the years, with greater effort to hone-in on what students retain.

“I think one of the ways it’s evolved now is that we’ve really tried to make it not just about student empowerment, but very intentional that students understand how it’s connected to their learning.”

Students have their own Talbot Hill Board of Education, made up of fourth- and fifth-graders, who interview class representatives. The student representatives report on the academic standards they learned in MicroSociety, the lessons learned and how they used their knowledge.

Fifth-grader Nico McMillan has been a crafter, small business employee, bank manager, senator, vice president and he’s now president of Talbot’s MicroSociety. He likes the lessons students learn in the classroom and get to use in their student-run businesses and agencies, he said.

“I’m very excited every single day to work on the technology that I do and teach the younger kids,” McMillan said.

Outside of his student body position, McMillan works as a technology manager in MicroSociety  teaching students about Microsoft Office.

On Jan. 13, Talbot Hill students held their inauguration for their new student government leaders, including McMillan, complete with an official swearing in of officers by Judge Robert McBeth. McBeth is a former King County District Court judge, who has also been involved with the program since its inception. McBeth has helped students create their own court and trained them to be judges, prosecutors and police officers for MicroSociety.

“I think it teaches kids how to function in real life so they learn that there are laws that govern their activities each day,” McBeth said.

Real-world applications are incorporated into the curriculum and have translated into higher academic achievement the school reports. In a spring 2002 assessment, 90 percent of the students surveyed said they understood demographic principals and used them in problem-solving. Of Talbot Hill students, who attend the school for three years or more, 80 percent said they used math or reading in their MicroSociety activities and 87 percent recognized the value of writing skills.

“In reality we shouldn’t be teaching anything that a kid’s not going to use someday,” said Boni. “Who has time for that? Everything that we learn should have some sort of application in your life; so that’s what we’re doing.”

Boni and school staff hope that collecting more longitudinal data on the success of the program from graduates will help secure more funding for the program, which is pricey. It costs between $40,000 to $50,000 to fund MicroSociety a year, said Boni.

Members of the Talbot Hill Educational Trust Fund, a nonprofit, raise funds for the program. Donations come from businesses such as Boeing, the United Way and private donors. Funds cover materials, field trips, supplies, staff development and one staffer, who does data tracking and logistics.

Staff hopes MicroSociety receives more funding from the district in the future, as the value of the program is realized. They also hope to tap into community resources, as fundraising is a constant effort.

Because MicroSociety requires teachers to create their own curriculum for lessons that are out-of-the-box and adapt it for multiple grade-levels, the program takes extra attention as well as funds.

“I”m sure our staff would say it’d be much easier if we didn’t do (MicroSociety),” said Boni. “But our staff gets it, how important it is for the kids. And if you talk to the kids they get it.”